Undocumented students in Texas are no longer eligible to receive in-state tuition from public universities, reversing a law enacted in 2001.
The Department of Justice sued Texas Wednesday, arguing the state’s law granting undocumented students in-state tuition rates if they can show they have lived in the state for three years before high school graduation “unconstitutionally discriminates against U.S. citizens.”
Hours later, Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton agreed with the federal agency and asked a district court to find the practice, known as the Texas Dream Act, unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor ruled it was and blocked state officials from applying the law.
“Today, I entered a joint motion along with the Trump Administration opposing a law that unconstitutionally and unlawfully gave benefits to illegal aliens that were not available to American citizens,” Paxton said in a news release. “Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas.”
Department of Justice officials said the practice conflicts with federal law, which prohibits colleges from offering benefits to undocumented students unless citizens, including out-of-state residents, are also eligible.
“The Justice Department commends Texas leadership and AG Ken Paxton for swiftly working with us to halt a program that was treating Americans like second-class citizens in their own country,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a Thursday release. “Other states should take note that we will continue filing affirmative litigation to remedy unconstitutional state laws that discriminate against American citizens.”
Texas’ law is tied to students’ residency in the state, not their legal immigration status, said former state Rep. Rick Noriega, D-Houston, who authored the Texas Dream Act. Citizens, permanent residents or international students in some circumstances are eligible for in-state tuition if they have lived in Texas for at least a year, compared to three years for undocumented students.
President Donald Trump has ordered all agencies to ensure no taxpayer-funded benefits go to undocumented immigrants and block state laws that “favor” them.
State lawmakers attempted to repeal the Texas Dream Act this legislative session. Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, who introduced a bill to do so, argued that any financial aid in Texas colleges and universities should be prioritized for U.S. citizens. That bill did not make it to the Senate floor.
Texas was the first state to extend in-state tuition to undocumented students when former Gov. Rick Perry signed the bipartisan measure into law in 2001. State leaders then highlighted such students’ contributions to the state’s workforce and economy. Now, 23 other states have similar laws.
Noriega said he aimed to “level the playing field” for undocumented high school students who “hit a brick wall, which is the financial wall, to better their education and achieve their dreams.”
“The pathway is still a higher bar [for undocumented students] than any U.S. citizen for the purpose of paying the in-state tuition rate,” Noriega said.
Ending the Texas Dream Act is a “direct attack on the educational aspirations of thousands” of Texas students, Judith Cruz, assistant director for the Houston region for advocacy group EdTrust, said in a statement.
“Dismantling it would not only harm these students but also undermine the economic and social fabric of our state,” she said.
Luis Figueroa, chief of legislative affairs at the advocacy nonprofit Every Texan, said state law does not grant undocumented students any type of benefit that is not available to any other Texas U.S. citizen or Texas legal permanent resident.
“If a U.S. citizen from Nebraska moved to Texas and was here for one year, they would get the in-state rates,” he said.
About 57,000 undocumented students are enrolled in Texas universities and colleges, according to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a nonpartisan nonprofit group of university leaders focused on immigration policy.
In 2023, more than 20,000 students, or 1.5% of all Texas college students, signed an affidavit that indicated they are non-U.S. residents who qualify for in-state tuition, Figueroa told lawmakers at an April state Senate committee hearing on a proposal to repeal the law.
At the hearing, Noriega said the law “has been a model for other states, be they red, be they blue, because it helps us to protect the investments that we’ve made in our young people, watering the roots for the future of our state.”
He said the Texas business community supported the law for its impact on “workforce development.”
“We didn’t want to be importing talent into our state for these critical jobs,” he said.
Texas could lose as much as $461 million every year in earnings and spending power if in-state tuition for undocumented students is repealed, according to a 2023 estimate from the American Immigration Council.
Texas’ undocumented students received “in-state tuition benefits that resulted in an estimated $150 million in subsidies” this school year, Middleton said at the April hearing without detailing what that figure included.
“These are funds that could have been used to support lawful residents, perhaps even used to lower tuition or fees for citizens,” he added.
Texas lawmakers have tried to repeal in-state tuition for undocumented students multiple times over the past two decades. They introduced similar bills last session, which were referred to committees but never received hearings.
In 2022, the Texas Public Policy Foundation, on behalf of the Young Conservatives of Texas student group, sued the University of North Texas for charging out-of-state Americans higher tuition than undocumented students who live in the state. A U.S. district judge ruled the state law was unconstitutional before an appeals court reversed that ruling in 2023, allowing the school to continue its tuition policies.
The DMN Education Lab deepens the coverage and conversation about urgent education issues critical to the future of North Texas.
The DMN Education Lab is a community-funded journalism initiative, with support from Bobby and Lottye Lyle, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Garrett and Cecilia Boone, Judy and Jim Gibbs, The Meadows Foundation, The Murrell Foundation, Ron and Phyllis Steinhart, Solutions Journalism Network, Southern Methodist University, Sydney Smith Hicks, and the University of Texas at Dallas. The Dallas Morning News retains full editorial control of the Education Lab’s journalism.
Milla Surjadi is an Education Lab fellow at The Dallas Morning News. She has previously reported for The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times and Tampa Bay Times. She is a recent graduate of Duke University.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
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