Yfat Yossifor/KERA
Colleges across Texas are bracing for the fallout, and uncertainty, of a court decision that could price thousands of students without legal status out of higher education.
For more than 20 years, students in Texas could qualify for lower, in-state tuition at public colleges regardless of immigration status if they lived in the state for at least three years and graduated from a Texas high school or earned a GED. Republicans in power at the time, including then-Gov. Rick Perry, supported the 2001 Texas Dream Act.
But that changed on Wednesday, when U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor declared the law unconstitutional and invalid. His decision came just hours after a joint request from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the U.S. Department of Justice that the two-decades old law be permanently ended.
“Ending this discriminatory and un-American provision is a major victory for Texas,” Paxton said in a statement on Wednesday.
Now, many students and schools are left with questions.
“We are reviewing what this means for our students and how many of them may be affected,” San Jacinto College officials said in a statement on Thursday. “We remain committed to ensuring our students can complete their credentials and will closely monitor this decision and communicate with students as appropriate.”
Several Texas colleges have echoed similar uncertainty. Officials from Texas State University told The Texas Newsroom that they’ll “comply with all federal and state laws,” while officials at the University of Texas at Arlington say they’re currently “accessing the impact.” In a statement, University of Houston officials said the full effect of the decision “remains unclear” but added that they were reviewing its implications.
A spokesperson for Lone Star College, which has several campuses in the Houston area, said in a statement that it’s “working to understand how this will impact students and the college system.”
The ruling is expected to significantly raise costs for students who previously qualified for in-state rates, often paying thousands less than out-of-state tuition. In 2022, there were about 57,000 students without legal status enrolled in Texas colleges, according to a report from the President’s Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration.
“A lot of them are having to work jobs to pay for their school and I think it’s an absolute crime that their position as a student might not be tenable anymore,” said Daniel Ramirez, a sophomore at UT Austin and an advocate for immigrant rights.
Students without legal status who enrolled at Texas universities under the in-state tuition law contributed more than $81 million in tuition and fees in 2021, according to a report from Every Texan. Linda Corchado, senior director of immigration at Children at Risk, told KUT News that the change could have serious economic consequences.
“It goes beyond equity. It really goes into the heart of what makes financial sense for our economy,” Corchado said. “It’s devastating for many.”
State lawmakers considered ending the decades-old policy during this year’s legislative session, but the proposal failed to pass. Thomas Saenz, president of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, criticized the ruling as rushed and said it bypassed the proper legal process. He expects the ruling will be challenged in court.
“What the state of Texas and the federal government participated in is an anti-democratic and unprecedented abuse of the judicial system,” Saenz said. “I guarantee there will be further court action about this abuse.”
Contributors to this story include KUT’s Becky Fogel and Maya Fawaz, along with Houston Public Media’s Colleen DeGuzman.