McDonald’s to Open Latino Scholarship Program to Non-Latino Applicants

A McDonald's restaurant in an undated file image. Adam Gray/AFP via Getty Images

McDonald’s has agreed to stop accepting only Latinos into a scholarship program, as part of a settlement in a lawsuit alleging the program was discriminatory.

McDonald’s has only accepted students with Latino heritage to its HACER National Scholarship Program since the program was started in 1985. The company says more than 17,000 students have received more than $33 million in scholarships through the program.

Going forward, the requirement that recipients have at least one parent of Latino heritage is no longer in place, McDonald’s said in a Jan. 31 statement.

“The program will not have any eligibility requirement or preference based on applicants’ race or ethnicity,” the company said in a court filing stipulating the dismissal of a lawsuit.

Applicants to the program are still required to “demonstrate their impact and contribution to the Hispanic/Latino community through their activities, leadership, and service,” according to the company.

The American Alliance for Equal Rights in January sued McDonald’s over HACER.

The program “blatantly discriminates against most high-schoolers based on their ethnicity,” the nonprofit, which says it is dedicated to challenging distinctions and preferences made based on race and ethnicity, said in a statement when it lodged the suit.

The group had asked a federal court in Tennessee to declare that the program violated U.S. code that states in part that people have equal rights under the law.

Edward Blum, president of the American Alliance for Equal Rights, also founded the Students for Fair Admissions organization.

The U.S. Supreme Court prohibited U.S. colleges from using racially discriminatory admission practices in 2023, following a case brought by Students for Fair Admissions.

The suit against McDonald’s mentioned the ruling, as did McDonald’s in its settlement announcement.

McDonald’s said it disagrees with the allegation that its Latino heritage requirement was discriminatory but that fighting the suit would mean this year’s applicants would not be able to access any scholarship funds.

“In discussions with franchisees, community leaders and organizations, educational leaders, past recipients of HACER, employees and more, we reached the conclusion that settling this lawsuit and evolving the program is the right thing to do for its recipients,” the company said.

Blum told The Epoch Times via email that he welcomed the development.

“McDonald’s has wisely agreed to end this discriminatory scholarship program,“ he said. ”It is a shame that over many years thousands of students were shut out of this program because they were not the preferred ethnicity.”