Promoting Equity in Higher Education: Legal, Financial, and Educational Remedies to

Race-conscious remedies to inequality in educational opportunity are under assault, and the use of affirmative action in college admissions has been banned in some states in spite of the Gratz and Grutter (2002) decisions of the Supreme Court establishing the legality of this process through 2027. Race-conscious strategies in outreach, admissions, and student financial aid have provided institutions of higher education means of maintaining diversity of students, but have not fully addressed inequities in prior educational opportunity and the inability to pay for college that confront many families in American society. To address this broader context for public policy it was necessary to reframe the problem in relation to reasonable standards of fairness of justice. Since K-12 education is mandatory in the U.S., this level of schooling can be considered a basic right. During the past two decades, the standards for high school diplomas have been redefined to include advanced math and other college preparatory courses as part of that basic right. Financial inequalities in the ability to pay for college create additional injustices if students who qualify for four-yea