Kentucky reverses course, allows religion major to receive financial aid
In October, Cumberland College junior Michael Nash was told he couldn't receive financial aid from the Kentucky Education Excellence Scholarship program because he declared a major in philosophy and religion. (The state says it won't help students in theology, divinity, or religious-education degree programs).

Six weeks ago, the American Center for Law and Justice sued on Nash's behalf, and last week the state reversed course, saying Nash and other religion majors could receive state funds.

Joe McCormick, executive director of the Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority, told the Associated Press that the state agency hadn't changed its policies at all. "It's just a re-examination of the course of study that he is in fact enrolled in," he said. But a letter he wrote to Cumberland College President James Taylor said his agency will be "notifying schools of our revised guidance regarding which majors are eligible" to receive state scholarship funding."

"It is encouraging that the state is moving to ensure that students who study religion are treated equally when it comes to the distribution of state scholarship funds," ACLJ senior counsel Francis J. Manion says in a press release. "Unfortunately, it took a federal lawsuit to bring about this change in policy."

Last summer, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down a Washington State law barring theology students from receiving financial aid.

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