The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana alleges that the Indiana state scholarship program denies college scholarships to American-born students whose parents are not U.S. citizens. The lawsuit argues that the program's eligibility requirements violate both the U.S. Constitution's equal protection clause and federal immigration policies set by Congress. Approximately 10,000 lower-income Indiana students may have been denied scholarships.
The lawsuit was filed on behalf of a northern Indiana teenager who applied for a scholarship under the program in the seventh grade and was approved to receive one. But the lawsuit states that she will now be denied a scholarship due to her recent application that required she disclose that her parents are neither U.S. citizens nor legal aliens.
