Battles brew over in-state tuition for undocumented students
Jessica Dickler
April 11, 2026
At least 22 states allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition.
For years, this has been a pathway to a postsecondary education for high school graduates who might otherwise be priced out of college.
Now, however, a number of states are eliminating the tuition benefit, leaving some students in financial jeopardy.
A battle over in-state tuition for undocumented students has been heating up nationwide.
At least 22 states and the District of Columbia allow students — including those in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, who are known as “Dreamers” — to pay in-state tuition at public colleges, regardless of their immigration status, according to the National Immigration Law Center. In order to qualify for the benefit, students generally must have attended a high school in the state for a certain number of years and graduated.
For more than two decades, this has been a pathway to a postsecondary education for students who might otherwise be priced out of college.
Initially, such policies had bipartisan approval. Texas was the first state to pass a law to allow undocumented students to qualify for in-state tuition through the Texas Dream Act in 2001.
