By Fatima Iqbal

May/Jun 25

Studying and attaining knowledge is a form of active participation in Islam. As the Quran states, “They could devote themselves to studies in religion, and admonish the people when they return to them – that thus they (may learn) to guard themselves (against evil)” (9:122).

There is no denying that college degrees have long played a crucial role in opening doors to opportunity for many Muslim families. However, with increasing workforce competition and unprecedented economic pressures, the pursuit of higher education has become costlier than ever before. 

For Muslims, attaining a degree in higher education can become even more challenging as they try to navigate away from riba (interest-based) loans in an attempt to decipher the halal and haram aspects of financial aid packages.   

Most college students rely heavily on riba-based loans, including private and subsidized student loans. For Muslims, it is our responsibility to protect our families from the dangers of riba and find meaningful ways to invest for our children’s education outside of the interest-based loan system. Grants, work-study, deferred interest loans (if paid before graduation), or gifts from grandparents and relatives may provide students with some financial help. However, these options may still not cover the entirety of the costs. Saving and investing are therefore at the heart of any successful college financing plan.

Understanding How Much to Save 

For decades, college costs have risen faster than inflation, and this trend is expected to continue. Annual college costs are expected to increase at a rate of 3 to 5% per year. As a result of these increases, average annual costs are estimated to reach as high as nearly $100,000 for private colleges and $47,000 for public in state schools by the 2033-34 school year.

There are several considerations that will influence the total amount required to fund your child’s college education. First, consider the type of school they might attend. Will it be a public or private institution? Do you want to save for 2-year, 4-year or graduate level degrees? Regardless of whether your child is old enough to have a plan for their higher education, it’s important to set a realistic and attainable financial goal for their educational future. 

As such, it may be worth asking yourself, “How much education would I ideally want to pay for my child?” Second, consider your child’s cost of living during college. Their living costs could vary substantially based on whether they live at home, on campus, or in off-campus housing. Finally, it is important to consider the number of years they have left before they start college. The more time they have before college, the more opportunity there is to save and invest. College savings calculators can be a very helpful tool to understand how much you should save based on your child’s age and goals.  

Next to buying a home, funding a college education is often the largest purchase that parents make for their children. The key to overcoming such a daunting task is to start early and take small steps towards this financial goal.  

1. Regular and recurring contributions can go a long way toward saving for a major purchase like college. By automating your savings, your money can work for you gradually over time without the psychological stress of making large lump sum deposits. Review your budget and set up manageable, recurring, and regular contributions to your child’s education account. Monthly contributions reformulate the price of college into bite-sized monthly “payment amounts.” In doing so, the cost of a $200,000 education becomes more attainable when saving and investing gradually over many years.  
2. In addition, starting to save early maximizes the amount of time you have to invest, giving you as much time as possible to build up returns in your child’s college fund. It’s best to open your child’s account as soon as they’re born but it’s never too late to start.
3. College Savings Vehicles are accounts geared towards saving for college education. Many of them offer benefits to reduce tax on money put away for education. However, these plans each have their pros and cons..

 College Savings Plans

529 Plans are a common tax-advantaged college savings option. These are state government-sponsored plans with some states offering state income tax deductions on contributions. 529 contributions also grow tax-deferred, and earnings can be withdrawn tax-free when used for qualified education expenses. However, the biggest drawback of 529 plans for Muslim families is the lack of halal investment options.  

UTMA/UGMA Custodial Accounts are a way for your child to hold assets in his or her name with an adult acting as custodian. Assets in the account can then be used to pay for college or anything else for the child’s benefit. All contributions to the account are irrevocable, and your child will generally gain control of the account when he or she turns 18 or 21 depending on your state’s rules. 

But earnings and capital gains generated by assets in the account are taxed each year. Under the 2025 “kiddie tax rules” for children under the age of 19, and for full-time students under the age of 24 who don’t earn more than one-half of their support, the first $1,350 of earned income is tax-free, the next $1,350 is taxed at the child’s rate. Anything over $2,700 is taxed at the parent’s rate.

While UTMA/UGMA Custodial accounts do not offer the same tax benefits of 529 plans, you can select halal investments that have more flexibility for uses other than just education. For example, if your child does not use the account for education expenses, they can use it for future wedding expenses, buying their first home, or starting a business. UTMA/UGMA Custodial accounts can also have a larger impact on your child’s eligibility for need-based financial aid.  

Coverdell Education Savings Accounts are accounts named for their primary champion in the United States Senate, the late Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.). These unique savings vehicles allow contributions up to $2,000 per year per child. The money grows tax-deferred, and earnings are tax-free if the money is used for qualified elementary, high school, or college expenses. With Coverdell, you can invest in the full marketplace of halal funds and investments. However, individuals with incomes over certain thresholds may not be eligible to contribute and not all national brokers offer this type of account.

Planning for the Future

Establishing a college savings plan for your children while they are young can help cover educational expenses and minimize their reliance on interest-bearing loans. More importantly, it is an investment in your child’s future helping them to achieve one of the most valuable assets they can have – an education. 

Parents must prioritize their retirement savings as well in order to avoid placing a financial burden on their children down the line. Remember, there is no financial aid or federal grants available for retirement. While parents may be able to tap into retirement savings in an emergency, it’s best to have a well-thought-out plan in place. Consider working with a financial planner who can help you balance these competing priorities while creating a customized plan that supports all your financial goals.

Fatima Iqbal, CFP, is senior investment strategist and financial planner with Azzad Asset Management, Inc.

The post Three Sharia-Compliant Ways to Fund Your Child’s College Education appeared first on Islamic Horizons.

By Naazish YarKhan

Mar/Apr 25

In November 2024, Northwestern University made waves among its Muslim students when sophomore Nur Yalinbas spotted bacon labeled as “halal” in the dining hall. She double checked with dining hall staff if the food was indeed halal. She also asked if it was bacon. The staff member responded in the affirmative to both questions. 

Weinberg College freshman Rayan Lahlou-Nabil shared similar stories of mislabeled food and cross-contamination, like pork placed next to halal chicken or workers using the same gloves for everything, as reported by the campus newspaper, The Daily Northwestern. There were instances where wine was mentioned as an ingredient in recipes for foods labeled as “halal”, only for students to be told it was a “database error”. Repeated incidents like this have made it hard for students here to trust the food they’re served. 

Muslim students say the administration hasn’t addressed these concerns. For years, Yalinbas and others in the Muslim-cultural Student Association pushed for better labels, proper training for staff on halal standards, and separate halal stations like the kosher stations in two of the dining halls. At the end of the day, it’s not just about food – it’s about feeling like you belong, contend these students.

An increasing awareness of the concept of halal among administrators and service providers, the growing availability of halal foods, and the certification of kitchens by certifiers such as Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA), have made halal food on U.S. college campuses far more common. Still, it’s not ubiquitous. 

“At Northern Illinois University, even in 2024, we have no halal dining. Even our vegan and vegetarian options are very limited,” says Arif Khan, a freshman. “It feels like the school isn’t inclusive nor cares about our religious needs. It makes me consider transferring to Illinois institutions that are.”  

While it is easy to feel discouraged in an age where instantaneous results feel like a birthright, Muslim students must strive to inspire change through the right avenues. “Like all students, Muslim students will benefit from communicating intentionally, proactively, and respectfully. . . about their unique situation and particular needs. This is especially true during Ramadan,” reads the University of San Diego Muslim Student Life page. 

The school has a dining hall that stays open late during Ramadan and offers take-out for suhoor. While this is a win for Muslim students, they may have requirements, too. To facilitate such conversations, three email templates have been provided for students to customize. 

It bears remembering that success has always been rooted in student advocacy whether garnering assistance towards bringing halal services to campus, or improving dining hall standards. Nowhere is this more evident than when reflecting on the inroads halal food has made across U.S. campuses.

Want Something? Work to Make it Happen. 

In 1999, a freshman at Virginia Tech found himself in a quandary. Obligated to live on campus in the dorms and pay for the meal plan, he found his requests for halal food options ignored. When salads, pasta, and bread were cited as alternatives by the school, he demanded equal service for equal fees. His parents rallied too. If they were paying the same as every other student for meals, why didn’t their son have the same access to foods that he could actually consume? 

For many Muslims like them, questions swirled around vegetarian options, too. Could they be sure the rice and beans their child was consuming had no cross-contamination with meats previously cooked on the same surface? What about the french fries? Were those cooked in oil that may have been used for other meats? Were the baked treats and biscuits ever made with lard? Were salads invariably dressed with bacon bits? In fact, in 1990, McDonald had proudly announced that it had started frying French fries only in vegetable oil without added tallow, only after it was sued by a California Hindu attorney.

Despite having an MSA on campus, it was the first time in Virginia Tech’s history that a Muslim student had made such dietary demands. Perhaps it was the fear of possible legal trouble but the school acquiesced. However, the paucity of resources on halal food options at that time meant the student and his family had to help the school find a halal meat distributor or vendor who met its various requirements and regulations. Working with Al Safa Halal, Virginia Tech’s first halal window was inaugurated a year later, in January 2000. 

It Takes a Community

In 1999, MSA-National launched the Muslims Accommodations Task Force (MATF), an initiative intended to help students advocate for their religious needs – halal food options, prayer spaces, and other necessities of Muslim student life. Using its successful campaign with Villanova University as a template, MATF created a step-by-step manual guiding students how to lobby and guide school administrators. It even connected students to those who’d pulled it off successfully on their respective campus. The guide continues to be used to date.   

At Dartmouth, university authorities adopted Muslim students’ burgeoning demands as a means to promote cooperation and understanding in the shadow of 9/11. In October 2004, Yale offered a Ramadan halal food facility for the first time. It was in response to the MSA’s signature campaigns and a demand for rebates since students were opening their fasts and eating elsewhere each night. Also in Fall 2004, the Muslim community at NYU secured their right to halal meals.  On September 4, 2006, Texas A&M was the first college in Texas to offer halal food on its campus, as reported by The Battalion. Once students had petitioned successfully for administrative support, Nadeem Siddiqui, former executive director for dining services (now assistant vice president of campus dining at Princeton), helped implement the program, just as he had done with halal and kosher food programs at Cornell University and Stanford University. In October 2006, during Ramadan, the MSA of Hofstra University secured its first halal food facility at one dining hall. The school’s Committee for Religious and Spiritual Life had supported their Muslim students’ campaign. 

It Takes Time

The University of Chicago (UChicago) introduced its halal food services in 2011; it reflects the unrelenting collaboration between its MSA and campus Dining Services. The effort, first initiated in 2006, began with the MSA reaching out to Dining Services with Ramadan needs. 

“The students wanted dates, fruits, fruit juices and asked how we could provide them, so they could break their fast, since our dining halls would close by then,” said Richard Mason, executive director of UChicago Dining, in an interview with Halal Consumer Magazine. 

At San Diego State University, the Warren College marketplace, when launched in 2020, was deemed “the largest halal-certified residential dining facility in the nation.” A huge win for inclusivity. More than seven years prior, a seed had been planted when students from the Union of Jewish Students and the Muslim Student Association “lobbied for more halal and kosher options.” The school’s Housing, Dining, and Hospitality team partnered with IFANCA to create a fully halal eatery in 2020. Hundreds of recipes were reviewed as were over 1,000 ingredients from seven vendors, according to UC San Diego Today. Today, the school also offers frozen and fresh halal-certified food options at all its Aztec Markets. These are made in-house on SDSU’s campus and labeled as halal. The Halal Shack, a fast-casual national restaurant chain, too, has found a home amongst campus restaurants within East Commons. 

Making halal a campus priority has been a long journey. Even in 1972, the fledgling MSA at Syracuse University successfully lobbied the food service department to allow Muslim students to be served at iftar time, and to pre-order takeout packaged food for suhoor. Halal options were really slim, besides eggs, vegetarian dishes, and some alcohol and bacon free salads. There is a long road ahead at so many more schools.

Keys to Halal Success on Campus

Find Allies: Allies are important. Your efforts could carry more weight when collaborating with other student populations that also observe dietary restrictions such as Hindus, Jews,, and Orthodox Christians. 

If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Fail A well-planned and strategic approach is vital. So is the awareness that success may or may not happen during one’s time on campus and efforts cannot be left to wilt when students graduate. There has to be documentation, and a formalized hand-off between batches. Saalika Mela (UC ‘13; Cambridge, G ‘14), one of the MSA members who collaborated with UChicago Dining and Undergraduate Student Housing to make halal on campus a reality, discussed how halal would help recruit Muslim students. The MSA also conducted surveys on Muslim students’ satisfaction with dining hall food, their needs, what they would like to see more of, and food contamination issues.  

Use it or Lose it According to the MATF, “a number of campus halal food programs have discontinued or failed. The top reasons for failure? Yucky food, lack of variety, and inadequate Muslim student commitment.” Just getting halal food on campus isn’t enough. If students don’t actually use their halal service — especially if the options are bland or unappealing — the university might decide to shut it down. Reviving it could be hard. At Stanford, where halal food has been available since 1997, students are smart about spreading the word to the whole community. Educating fellow Muslims and non-Muslims on campus is also about encouraging them to see halal as the preferred choice, the best option, not just a necessity for those who observe the practice. 

Variety Sells As important is ensuring Dining Services understand that the Muslim palette is not relegated to one regional cuisine. At University of Chicago, multiple dining halls offer a range of Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and other halal cuisines. So popular is the variety that even those who don’t observe halal for religious reasons have reason to eat it.

At a time when so much about the future seems foreboding, and so much in the world seems wrong, it’s worth remembering that change can happen. That even rocks and mountains crack under the consistent deluge of water. The caveat? It takes time. Further, we can’t just wish for it, we must work for it. Relentlessly. 

Naazish YarKhan is a college essay coach. The owner of WritersStudio.us, her writing has been translated into several languages, and featured in more than 50 media platforms including NPR, Chicago Tribune, and in anthologies.

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