States Keep Offering Illegal Aliens Discounted Tuition Despite DOJ Lawsuits, Mandates

The Trump administration is slowly chipping away at discounted tuition for illegal immigrants at public colleges and universities throughout the United States but there is a lot of work to be done since most of the 22 states (and the District of Columbia) that offered the pricey benefit when the president got elected to his second term continue to do so. The cost to American taxpayers is astounding, over a billion dollars annually, according to legislation (Put American Students First Act) introduced earlier this year by a U.S. senator to prevent any alien who is unlawfully admitted for permanent residence from obtaining in-state tuition rates at public institutions of higher education. If it passes the measure will take effect nationwide, though in the meantime the Department of Justice (DOJ) is working on the issue with legal challenges that have been largely ignored or, in some cases, defeated in court.

The agency has sued eight states that give illegal aliens special tuition rates, but only half of them have taken the lawsuits seriously enough to make changes. Texas, Oklahoma and Kentucky were the first to rescind the benefit under federal pressure and just a few days ago Nebraska reached an agreement with the administration to finally end a policy that for over two decades has subsidized the public education of illegal immigrants. Under a consent decree filed this week, Nebraska will permanently end laws that provide in-state tuition and financial assistance for illegal aliens. The agreement will resolve the DOJ’s claims that the state unconstitutionally discriminates against American citizens in favor of illegal aliens. “Specifically, Nebraska’s challenged laws grant reduced tuition to illegal aliens over U.S. citizens, which not only violates federal law but also incentivizes illegal immigration and rewards illegal immigrants with scholarship benefits that U.S. citizens are not eligible for,” the DOJ writes in a statement announcing the consent decree this week. In the press release Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward encourages all states to follow Nebraska’s “commonsense correction” of a policy that gave preferential treatment to illegal aliens over American citizens.

The reality is that most states that provide illegal immigrants with discounted tuition are flipping the finger at the administration. Violators include Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virginia and Washington. California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado and Illinois have disregarded DOJ lawsuits and last month a judge dismissed the agency’s case against Minnesota ruling that the state’s public universities can continue to offer in-state tuition and scholarships to immigrants in the country without legal status. Illinois has not only ignored the administration’s suit filed last fall, but also passed a special law making undocumented students eligible for state and local financial aid, including grants, scholarships and stipends, as of January 2026. The measure includes the same benefits for transgender students who are disqualified for failing to register for selective service.

A 30-year-old federal law known as the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 prohibits giving illegal aliens discounted in-state tuition at public colleges and universities unless the same rates are also offered to out-of-state American students. For years, and in some cases decades, states have violated the law with no consequences. In the Nebraska complaint filed earlier this month, federal prosecutors write that awarding illegal aliens discounted tuition is preferential treatment squarely prohibited and preempted by Congress. Furthermore, the court filing says federal laws mandate that “an alien who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible on the basis of residence within a State . . . for any postsecondary education benefit unless a citizen or national of the United States is eligible for such a benefit . . . without regard to whether the citizen or national is such a resident.” In direct conflict with federal law, over a dozen states continue to reward illegal aliens with discounted in-state tuition rates based on residence within that state, while explicitly denying eligibility for resident tuition rates to American citizens who are not residents. While it is encouraging to see the Trump administration working to get violators to comply, most are not and American taxpayers keep paying the price.