Hynes proposes legislation to help veterans get into college

American soldiers abroad. Credit: U.S. Army

For Dan Hynes, coming back home means going back to school.

The Illinois Comptroller and Democratic candidate for governor today announced a proposal that would help give military veterans who have struggled academically access to higher education.

"Anyone who has served our country honorably has earned the chance to attend a public university in Illinois,” Hynes said in a statement. "This proposal will make sure our service members can attend college regardless of their previous academic standing."

The proposal would specifically help veterans with subpar grades attend college. It would require:

• all public colleges and universities to ask on their undergraduate admissions applications whether a prospective student has served in the military,
• all public colleges and universities to give "substantial" consideration for qualifying military service, including making military service the equivalent of a certain number of points on a college-admissions exam, for any applying veteran,
• all public colleges and universities to give the applications of veteran students priority over those candidates of equal caliber who have not served in the military,
• all public colleges and universities to refer the denied applications of veteran students to the Illinois State Board of Higher Education, and
• the Illinois State Board of Higher Education to place veterans whose applications are denied at a state college or university more appropriate to their academic abilities.

According to the Hynes campaign, about 22,159 Illinois veterans use the G.I. Bill, which helps them earn an education after their service.

Ofer Malamud, an assistant professor at the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy, has conducted research on veterans and higher education.

While he cautioned that he has not studied the proposal in depth, he says that it could present some economic and social questions, as well as a legal one.

"There is just a potential efficiency aspect," Malamud told me. "If a more academically strong student can take better advantage of college material, do we want to put a less academically able veteran there instead?"

Doing so would essentially equate to affirmative action, Malamud said. In some cases, veterans might be equally qualified as nonveterans, but when they are not, giving them preference could lead to a backlash from better-qualified candidates.

In 2003, the Supreme Court struck down the University of Michigan's use of a point system to give preference to minority applicants over white ones. The Hynes proposal differs from that case in that it relates to military status rather than race, but Malamud drew the comparison to illustrate how giving veterans additional points on an entrance exam could backfire.

"I could see a case of a nonveteran filing a suit, saying, 'I shouldn't be denied access given to someone who is inferior academically.'"

Malamud said an alternative might be to further subsidize veterans' education financially, rather than delve into admissions policy — an approach that would be politically difficult to achieve given the state's financial woes.

I have contacted the Hynes campaign for further comment on the plan and will update this post if I receive a response.