Liberty University sues Governor Northam for denying financial aid to some online students

RICHMOND, Va. (AP)- Liberty University sued Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on Friday, accusing his administration of wrongfully denying financial aid to some of the evangelical school’s online students.

At issue is a budget change Northam and the Democrat-controlled General Assembly implemented last year that made incoming students enrolled exclusively in online programs ineligible for the state’s long-running Tuition Assistance Grant program for Virginia residents. Exempted from the change were students who had to shift their studies due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Students at Liberty, which has an enormous online presence, had been the leading recipients of the grant for years, and the change became a sore spot for the university and its former president, Jerry Falwell Jr., who repeatedly lashed out at Northam.

The lawsuit alleges that the eligibility changes were designed specifically to harm Liberty, and “threaten to wreak severe economic and reputational harm” on the school.

It asks the court to stop the exclusion of online students from the grant program, saying it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment “because no rational basis exists to distinguish between ‘online’ and ‘place-based’ education.”

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in the Western District of Virginia, also names Peter Blake, director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, as a defendant. The state agency manages the administration of the grant.

Northam’s spokeswoman, Alena Yarmosky, said she could not comment on pending litigation.

A spokeswoman for the council, Laura Osberger, also said she could not comment.

The grant program created in 1972, which is not need-based, helps defray the cost of college for Virginia residents enrolled full time at participating private nonprofit institutions.

Yarmosky said in January, as the legislature was taking up Northam’s budget proposal, that the program was particularly intended to address the “brick and mortar” costs associated with attending college, such as housing. Northam’s proposal increased the grant amount for residential students.

“Online programs, by their very nature, do not incur the same myriad of brick and mortar costs,” she said at the time.

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