Fisher v. University of Texas: Predict the SCOTUS decision

Parents Forum
681

<p>Great, except that post 677 misses the point entirely. UT would not charge more as the COA is the same for all. Such post simply underscores a mediocre understanding of the basic tenets of attending college. College expenses are on the other side of the ledger from scholarships and financial aid. Fwiw, even an entirely ultra-conservative SCOTUS could not touch racially diversified endowed scholarship. I could offer a scholarship to UT that applies to anyone except ABC and be entirely legitimate. Or offer one for left-handed red-haired Latino.</p>

<p>Beliavsky and Mini should join forces and attack the lack of football scholarships going to Asians at UT. But then one only is actually sarcastic.</p>

682

<p>Seems “let the chips fall where they may” could apply to Fisher, herself.</p>

683

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<p>and yet for many legal Texas residents who have paid into the system, this is in essence what’s happening:</p>

<p>[Perry’s</a> support for in-state tuition for illegal immigrants draws fire | 2012 Presidential…](<a href=“http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/13/3365413/perrys-support-for-in-state-tuition.html]Perry’s”>http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/09/13/3365413/perrys-support-for-in-state-tuition.html)</p>

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<p>jc40, this is something that has been a sore spot.</p>

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<p>Xiggi, UT-Austin doesn’t give race based scholarships (funded with public funds). That’s crazy talk, UT wouldn’t touch that with a ten foot pole. Instead they would and do target “students in economically disadvantaged and historically underserved Texas communities”. This has the same effect, without being “race” based.</p>

<p>Using the report you linked in post #679:</p>

<p>(page 32)</p>

<p>“The University of Texas at Austin first offered LOS awards to students in economically disadvantaged and historically underserved Texas communities in 1999. These scholarships are unique in that they are a community‐based, rather than individually based, financial aid program. A fixed number of scholarships are set aside for LOS high schools and awarded to their most deserving students. Virtually all of those students are eligible for automatic admission under SB 175. Many students from LOS high schools also receive PAS offers, which are designed to recognize high school students who performed at a high academic level compared to their peers. These scholarships range from $5,000 to $15,000 per year and can be awarded for up to four years. LOS and PAS work together to enhance economic and ethnic diversity at the university.”</p>

<p>Increasing these “targeted” scholarships would help with URM recruiting, a case they make in the report.</p>

<p>From page 31:</p>

<p>"Declines in need‐based financial aid also affected underrepresented students in the University’s 2011 freshman admit pool.</p>

<p>Funding for four need‐based federal grant programs that previously supplemented Pell Grants was reduced or eliminated beginning in 2011‐12. More importantly, a reduction to the University’s original TEXAS Grant allocation resulted in the awarding of smaller grants to fewer first‐time freshmen than in 2010. The per student grant amount for 2011 equaled $2,500 per semester, which was 26% below 2010’s amount of $3,390 per semester and, based on its original TEXAS Grant allocation, the University was able to offer TEXAS Grants to only about 1,000 incoming freshmen as the 2011‐12 academic year
opened."</p>

<p>Some other interesting stats from the report.</p>

<p>SES diversity of Enrolled (admitted is about the same %) students(page 27):</p>

<p>Household income Top 9% Non Top 9% Total %
Less than 60K/year 37% 16% 31%
Greater than 100K/year 41% 61% 46%</p>

<p>Overall SES diversity is fairly high, while most admitted under the holistic process are high SES (which is to be expected). The high SES % in holistic admissions does support Texaspg post #676, holistic admissions does recruit high SES students.</p>

686

<p>The legality of race-based scholarhips was discussed in a previous thread <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15175285-post996.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15175285-post996.html&lt;/a&gt;, citing the article
[Colleges Open Minority Aid to All Comers
By JONATHAN D. GLATER
New York Times
March 14, 2006](<a href=“Colleges Open Minority Aid to All Comers - The New York Times”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/14/education/14minority.html&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

687

<p>…yes, but. Not all handled this in the same manner.</p>

688

<p>@Beliavsky</p>

<p>Egads! that thread has 1,362 post…I’m already getting enough “homework” with all of the links in this thread… stop that :)</p>

<p>Today, we can expect SCOTUS opinions in argued cases at 10 am eastern. Fisher is the oldest case, that hasn’t been announced. If it is announced, I would recommend SCOTUS.Blog for early analyses (vs.CNN or the rest).</p>

689

<p>I’m on there now, Gator. They think it’s unlikely to be 4-4.</p>

690

<p>No decision today. Maybe Thursday</p>

691

<p>And the wait continues …</p>

692

<p>Joy, three more days of micro analyzing UT-Austin’s admissions…anyone want to chart Asian holistic admit rates over the last 10 years? I’m busy working on Urban and Suburban High School enrolled students vs. Non Public or Not reported as it relates to Top 9% and non Top 9% (in 2012). It makes a nice PowerPoint presentation!</p>

693

<p>^ Well, for the first half of it’s history I know UT black admissions were zero. (The data doesn’t indicate whether the denials were holistic.) But I digress …</p>

<p>One of the things I admire most about Texans is their common sense. While investigating Gator88NE’s question, I found this: “Since it could serve no useful purpose …”</p>

<p>“A longhand letter dated November 2, 1961, addresses to Whitis Co-operatives, Texas university, signed “Jeanne” was received in the Division Office. The letter concerned the integration problem and presented much inflammatory material and many derogatory statements concerning the African American race. Since it could serve no useful purpose, the letter was held in the Division Office.”</p>

<p>Contrast that with my own state, where reporters are suing the State and the town of Newtown to release ALL photographs taken inside the Elementary School Classrooms. Clearly we could use more Texans here.</p>

694

<p>@NewHope, I didn’t know you were also from CT. :slight_smile: The battle over releasing the SH photos is ridiculous. We could definitely use some Texan logic on that count.</p>

<p>I am really curious as to how this SCOTUS case will turn out. Bummed it wasn’t announced today.</p>

695

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<p>Gator, compare your sentence to the terms I used. I talked about dedicated funds that are used to lower the COA. Scholarships is often used as a proxy to merit aid. Others use it also to describe need-based aid. The portion of grants can come from various dedicated pockets of private money, which is used at the discretion of the finaid officers but according to the terms of the donors. This is different from scholarships that students have to apply to.</p>

<p>Fwiw, one could use a geographical qualifier to easily boost certain racial groups. Increasing grants to El Paso or the Valley would result in a higher percentage of Hispanics. Same for San Antonio. South Dallas versus North Dallas would yield different target groups. One could also use SES distinctions. Recipients from the bottom quartile would inherently be from the URM basket.</p>

<p>PS I hope you are enjoying the ten percent reports. I spent much time on the 588 versions in the past and used the data to counter the apocalypse claims from the various suburban Shangri-Las when reducing the percentages was debated in Austin.</p>

696

<p>I believe the decision might not be as imminent as some suggest.</p>

697

<p>I’m certain that Americans are no longer race-conscious, and I’ve developed a quiz to PROVE it. Just fill in the blanks:</p>

<ol>
<li>Driving while .</li>
<li> supremacist.</li>
<li>____ Tiger Mom.</li>
<li>Los Angeles ___ riots.</li>
<li>Bi-____ couple.</li>
</ol>

<p>Correct answers: 1. Alert; 2. Aryan; 3. Bengal; 4. Nighttime; 5. Coastal.</p>

698

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<p>Try to be too cute, and maybe whites will start filing and winning “disparate impact” lawsuits. Why do you need programs other than need-based financial aid to enable accepted students to attend?</p>

699

<p>My school changed donor scholarships for “males” to for “students.” And for “white males” to “students.” While those for minority groups, certain religions, women, specific geo areas, etc, were reviewed and often left as is. Depending. This was in response to a separate lawsuit at another school- and proactive. Fwiw.</p>

700

<p>Beliavsky, this has nothing to do with “being cute” and everything to do with what IS important in Austin. Read the entire reports of 588 and 175 for a hint! What is the common denominator of most of the narrative? Isn’t it about multiplying the efforts through outreach programs and additional support for a group of students? </p>

<p>This part of the discussion was about what UT could do in the unfortunate event the SCOTUS decides to rule for Fisher. Again, the school could EASILY augment its “URM critical mass” by increasing the financial aid and “sell” the school to students who did EARN an automatic admission. </p>

<p>The ten percent legislation is still a work in progress as it adapts to the changing demographics of Texas. And those changes are inevitably pointing to UT at Austin becoming a more diversified school that it is today, all the while avoiding the abysmal version of diversity sought by the UC in California.</p>