Imagine qualifying for college grants and then losing your tuition assistance because you majored in a ministry degree.
That’s exactly what’s happened to several Liberty University students in Virginia. Now, their cases have been appealed to the United States Supreme Court.
Virginia offers residents attending a private college or university up to $5,250 a year for undergraduate students, and more for graduate students, through its Virginia Tuition Assistance Grants (VTAG) program.
Students at Liberty University had those funds denied for pursuing majors related to ministry, like pastoral leadership, music and worship, youth ministry and a Master of Divinity.
Alliance Defending Freedom, First Liberty and National Legal Foundation, among other law firms, are challenging state policy on behalf of these students.
The question before the U.S. Supreme Court is: Can a state offer tuition assistance to students generally, and then take it back when a student chooses to prepare for a career in ministry?
Virginia says a 2004 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows it to deny funding to some students.
The students argue the Supreme Court’s more recent religious liberty decisions make that kind of distinction unconstitutional.
Bethany Hall enrolled at Liberty University as a Music Education major. She qualified for a $5,000 grant from Virginia.
Later, she felt called to ministry and changed her major to Youth Ministries and Music & Worship. She was told that those degrees made her ineligible for the grant.
Hall sued Virginia, arguing the state violated her First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. A federal district court dismissed her case, and in May 2026, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit upheld the lower court decision.
Both courts relied on a U.S. Supreme Court case called Locke v. Davey.
In Locke, the Court ruled 7-2 that Washington state could exclude students from scholarship money for pursuing theology degrees. Justices Scalia and Thomas dissented, arguing that to exclude students pursuing a ministry degree amounted to religious discrimination.
In Hall’s case, the Fourth Circuit maintained that Locke is binding law.
Hall has now appealed her case to the U.S. Supreme Court in hopes that the Court will overturn Locke.
Bethany Hall is being represented by a coalition of lawyers including First Liberty, Alliance Defending Freedom and National Legal Foundation.
A second case involves several Liberty University students: Cameron Johnson, Luke Thomas and graduate student Trace Stevens. They are represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) and National Legal Foundation.
Johnson wants to major in Pastoral Leadership and minor in business. Thomas plans to major in Music and Worship and start his own business. Stevens is in the National Guard, already has a B.S. in Religion from Liberty University, and now wants to pursue a Master of Divinity.
ADF contends all three students have been treated as second-class citizens because their majors were deemed too religious by the state.
The students sued in May 2025.
In March 2026, a federal judge dismissed the students’ claims and ruled that Locke was binding law.
In April, ADF appealed the lower court’s decision and filed an emergency motion to the Fourth Circuit. The emergency motion was denied.
Last month, the students asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up their case.
Religious freedom is a foundational American right. It protects not only the right to believe, but also the right to live out those beliefs in the public square without discrimination.
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider adding both cases to the docket for the term beginning this October.
The Daily Citizen will continue to follow these developing cases.
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