Begun in the 2002–3 academic year, the African American Incentive Grant program provided incentive grants to African American students who had demonstrated an ability to succeed academically by their high school records but whose scores did not qualify them for the African American Achiever Scholarship. Funding for the program came through contributions, and the state matched the contributions as part of its funding efforts to desegregate higher education in compliance with provisions of the court rulings in the 1968 Geier case, brought to desegregate higher education in Tennessee. The grant was renewable for an additional three years if the required GPA of 2.3 was maintained.
The program was first operated for the 2002–3 academic year and was closed to new members after fall 2006, with the dismissal of the 1968 Geier case. From 2001 to 2006, there were 1,322 students admitted to UT with Geier-based scholarships. Initiation of the program was controversial among African Americans enrollees. Many, like Stephanie Cox, felt that it made the university “look desperate” to increase African American enrollment, or, like Howell Evans, who wondered whether students would want to go through life “knowing that they got into the same college but at a lower standard than everyone else.”
See also African American Achievers Scholarships; Geier Lawsuit and Consent Decree.