Two Republican senators have introduced legislation aimed at protecting students preparing for religious vocations from losing federal financial aid because their chosen careers may lead to lower earnings.
Sens. James Lankford, R-Okla., and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, introduced the Religious Education Fairness Act last week to amend federal higher education law and protect certain theology and religious studies programs from becoming ineligible for Title IV aid based on graduate earnings.
The measure would cover theology, religious vocations, philosophy and religious studies programs at institutions that qualify for Title IX’s religious exemption.
Lankford argued that students pursuing ministry should not be disadvantaged simply because many religious vocations are not highly paid.
Students who feel “called to pastor a church or serve as a missionary should not lose access to student aid because Washington measures the value of that calling by a paycheck,” he said.
The proposal comes in response to a U.S. Department of Education rule finalized in July that measures college programs in part by how much their graduates earn. Programs with low earnings outcomes can lose access to federal student aid.
Critics say the standard could place ministry programs at a disadvantage because pastors, missionaries and other religious workers often earn less than graduates entering other professions.
Alliance Defending Freedom endorsed the legislation.
“Young people who go into ministry are not in it for the money. Their calling is to serve God and to serve their neighbors — and the government shouldn’t punish students who pursue a religious vocation just because, in its judgment, they won’t earn ‘enough’ income,” ADF Senior Counsel Greg Baylor said in a statement.
The bill has also drawn support from religious higher education groups, including the Association for Biblical Higher Education, the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Department of Education has defended the earnings standard as a way to hold institutions accountable for programs that leave graduates with weak financial outcomes.
“If a program cannot show that it leaves its graduates financially better off than if they had never enrolled, it should not be underwritten by federal taxpayers,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said.
The Association for Biblical Higher Education, which represents 165 institutions serving 86,639 students, has also criticized the potential loss of aid for ministry students, calling the government’s broad approach to higher education “one of the missteps.”
