The fate of hundred of millions of dollars in scholarship money is up in the air in Ohio after seven state universities put race-conscious programs on hold to check their legality. The review comes after Dave Yost, the state’s attorney general, advised administrators in a call that using race as a factor to award funds may be unconstitutional.

Yost’s guidance was based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which banned consideration of a student’s race in college admissions, except under limited conditions.

Yost’s interpretation of the court’s opinion should not have been a surprise. The day after the Supreme Court’s decision, he had signaled that schools should clamp down on race-conscious programs. He warned that “disguised” race-conscious admissions policies are still race-conscious admissions policies.

Although Ohio did not consider race-conscious scholarships right after the Supreme Court decision came down, other states acted quickly to place such scholarships on the chopping block. Missouri’s attorney general immediately banned the use of race in financial aid decisions. Officials at the universities of Kentucky and Missouri eliminated consideration of race in scholarships and grants.

This raises a question that goes beyond Ohio: Are scholarships that use race as part of their criteria a thing of the past? The short answer is “no.” But based on a review of the 2023 Supreme Court decision and other precedent, such programs will have to pass a tough judicial test. Even then,........

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