MINNEAPOLIS – A federal judge has struck down a Minnesota law that barred certain religious colleges from participating in a popular state program allowing high school students to earn college credit. The decision, issued Friday, August 22, 2025, by U.S. District Judge Nancy Brasel, found the provision violated religious freedom under the First Amendment.
The central question involves Minnesota’s Postsecondary Enrollment Options (PSEO) program, a 40-year-old initiative that enables high schoolers to take tuition-free college courses for credit at public or private institutions. Since its inception, nearly 60,000 students have taken advantage of the program, which is funded by the state. The program, as stated in the ruling, is “To promote rigorous academic pursuits and to provide a wider variety of options to high school pupils by encouraging and enabling secondary pupils to enroll full time or part time in nonsectarian courses or programs
in eligible postsecondary institutions.”
Seal of the State of Minnesota [public domain
The controversy arose after legislators amended the program in 2023 to exclude colleges that require students to sign a statement of faith, as institutions such as the University of Northwestern–St. Paul and Crown College do. The change was part of a sweeping education bill passed when Democrats, under Gov. Tim Walz, gained full control of state government for the first time in eight years.
The broader $72 billion “One Minnesota Budget” included measures for free school meals, tuition-free public college for families earning less than $80,000, paid family leave, abortion rights protections, and voting rights expansion. At the signing ceremony, Walz hailed the package as transformational, saying, “It’s gonna mean a fairer, more inclusive, better and more prosperous Minnesota.”
But the exclusion of faith-based colleges from PSEO drew immediate challenges. Parents and students who had been earning credits at Northwestern and Crown, or hoped to do so, argued that the law unconstitutionally denied them access to schools aligned with their values. They were represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
“Minnesota tried to cut off educational opportunities to thousands of high schoolers simply for their faith. That’s not just unlawful — it’s shameful,” said Diana Thomson, senior counsel at Becket, in a statement Saturday. “This ruling is a win for families who won’t be strong-armed into abandoning their beliefs, and a sharp warning to politicians who target them.”
The Minnesota Department of Education had long opposed allowing schools with mandatory faith statements to participate, attempting to bar them as early as 2019.
In 2023, Democrats gained control of both legislative chambers, and the ban was written into law as part of a broader push to strengthen LGBTQ+ protections while ensuring nonsectarian access to the program.
The legislation prohibited not only faith statements but also discrimination in admissions based on gender, sexual orientation, or religious beliefs.
Image credit: Blogtrepreneur – CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50979400
Judge Brasel, however, ruled that both provisions were unconstitutional.
She wrote that the case required the court “to venture into the delicate constitutional interplay of religion and publicly-funded education,” and emphasized that Supreme Court precedents give “special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations.” While states are not obligated to fund private education, she added, “once they do, they can’t disqualify private schools solely because they’re religious.”
Judge Brasel added that the schools’ admissions practices, specifically requiring applicants to sign a statement of faith consistent with their tenets and giving preference to applicants who share those beliefs, are protected under Minnesota’s Human Rights Act exemption that allows religious institutions to “limit admission or give preference to applicants of the same religion.”
Crown College’s Community Covenant requires applicants to pledge commitment “to the Word of God as our authority,” “to the Lordship of Christ,” and “to live out Christian character toward one another.” Similarly, the University of Northwestern–St. Paul’s Declaration of Christian Community requires students to affirm that they will “honor Christ,” “seek Christ-centered community,” and “stand together against all that the Bible clearly condemns.”
“These faith statement requirements are means for the Schools to achieve the ends of limiting admission and giving preference to applicants who share their religious beliefs,” Brasel concluded. As a result, she held that the colleges’ PSEO admissions practices are exempt from the Human Rights Act’s prohibitions on discriminatory practices in education.
Her ruling means that faith-based colleges can once again participate in PSEO, even if they require adherence to statements of belief or make admissions decisions on religious grounds. Both sides had previously agreed that the restrictions would not be enforced while litigation continued.
The financial stakes are significant. Northwestern was Minnesota’s largest PSEO provider in 2021, receiving more than $33 million from the state between the 2017–18 and 2022–23 academic years. Crown College received nearly $6 million during the same period.
As Pagan communities continue to develop educational programs and cases like this highlight the delicate balance between public funding and religious identity. The Minnesota ruling reinforces a baseline protection: religion itself cannot be the reason to deny access. At the same time, it affirms that schools may use faith commitments to identify students who share their practices.
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