What to know about Texas ending in-state tuition for undocumented students

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Texas is asking public colleges and universities to identify which of their students are living in the country illegally so they can start paying out-of-state tuition this upcoming fall.

The change comes after the Trump administration demanded the state to end the policy earlier this month.

Soon after the federal government sued Texas over a state law allowing the practice, Texas quickly asked the court to side with the feds and deem the law unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling did just that and immediately blocked the law.

Trump administration officials said they were able to get rid of the policy in "six hours" by communicating ahead of time with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to a recording obtained by NBC News. A group of undocumented students is seeking to intervene in the case, arguing the lawsuit was "contrived" to keep their voices out.

This is what is known so far about the ruling and its implications. This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Who does this affect?

Under the 2001 Texas Dream Act, Texas university and community college applicants who lived in the state three years before graduating from high school (or receiving an equivalent diploma) could seek in-state tuition, even if they were not permanent residents or U.S. citizens. To qualify, those students had to sign an affidavit stating that they would apply to become a permanent U.S. resident as soon as they became eligible.

More than 19,500 students in the state signed this affidavit in 2023, according to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. This figure, however, includes not only undocumented students but also students with visas allowing them to legally accompany family members who have been approved to work in the U.S., according to state data.

Last week’s ruling specifically blocks the Texas law “as applied to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States.” Because the Texas Dream Act didn’t require tracking a student’s immigration status, it is currently unclear how many affidavit signers are undocumented students or how colleges would determine which students no longer qualify for in-state tuition.

Students enrolled in summer classes are not yet expected to be affected since tuition bills and financial aid for those courses have already been distributed.

In a letter to college presidents last week, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Commissioner Wynn Rosser said undocumented students who have been paying in-state tuition will need to see tuition adjustments for the fall semester. A spokesperson for the agency said it has no plans to provide further guidance on how schools can go about identifying undocumented students.

When does the ruling go into effect? Can it be appealed?

The federal ruling blocked the law immediately. The ruling was final, and Texas indicated it will not seek an appeal.

A group of undocumented students has asked the federal judge in charge of the case to let them intervene in the case, the first step in their ultimate goal to overturn the ruling.

If U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor doesn’t allow them, they could appeal to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The 5th Circuit’s obviously a very conservative court, but part of that conservatism is a pretty limited view of the role the courts should play in legislation,” said David Coale, a Dallas appellate lawyer. “It’s a tricky case for them to review.”

A 24-year-old University of North Texas student who has benefited from the Texas Dream Act, the Austin Community College and La Unión del Pueblo Entero, an advocacy group in the Rio Grande Valley founded by farmer rights activists César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, later filed another motion to intervene in the case. The organization Immigrant Families and Students in the Fight, which goes by its Spanish acronym FIEL, also said it was considering its options to challenge the ruling.

How much more is out-of-state tuition in Texas?

How long a student has been living in Texas is one of the biggest factors in determining a student’s tuition, or coursework bill. (Tuition does not account for other college fees and housing and living costs.)

Each college sets their own tuition residency criteria, according to the THECB. Community colleges may also offer even lower tuition rates for people who live within their tax district.

Students from outside the state or country can, in some cases, pay almost four times more than in-state students.

At the University of Texas at Austin, the state’s flagship university, the flat-rate tuition for the fall 2025 and spring 2026 semesters costs $15,848 more for an out-of-state liberal arts student taking 12 or more credit hours than it would for a student with similar course work paying in-state tuition rates, according to the university. Tuition also costs $18,765 more for an out-of-state student studying business and $17,713 more for engineering.

At Lone Star College in Houston, tuition for 12 credit hours for an out-of-state or international student costs $768 more than for an in-state student, and $2,424 more than for a student who lives within the college’s tax district, according to the community college’s 2025-26 rates.

How are Texas colleges and universities responding to the ruling?

The Texas Tribune asked the six four-year universities and three community college districts with the most affidavit signers if they will request affected students who had already been billed or made a payment for summer classes to immediately pay the difference between in- and out-of-state tuition; what will happen if they can’t pay; and if there will be a grace period. They were the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, UT-Dallas, UT-Arlington, UT-Austin, Texas A&M, University of Houston, Dallas College District, Lone Star College District and Houston Community College.

Five schools have responded. UT-Dallas and the UH and Lone Star College systems said they are still working to understand what the court ruling means for their students and colleges.

“At this time, the full impact on UH System institutions and our students remains unclear,” a UH official said.

A spokesperson for the Texas A&M University System said officials were coordinating with administrators across its campuses “to gather information needed to develop an appropriate plan to implement the requirements of the order.”

A UT-RGV spokesperson said officials would notify affected students directly, but did not offer specifics.

“Our priority and focus are on minimizing disruption to student success consistent with applicable law and helping students navigate this transition with clarity and care,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

What can students do?

The full implications of the ruling may not be known until July or August, said Andrea Guengerich Harper, chief program strategy officer for Breakthrough Central Texas, which helps students who are the first in their family to pursue a post-secondary education. But she worries that students are already getting discouraged from continuing in higher education.

“Regardless of how this plays out in the fall, this is already having a negative impact,” Guengerich Harper said. “It is uncertainty and fear and will knock students off of these post-secondary pathways that they are already enrolled in and committing to and have been working hard for years towards.”

As they await for more information, Breakthrough Central Texas’ team has started to help students search for other sources of financial support or lower-cost education options that might fit each students’ needs and situation.

“No one should be withdrawing, but I think you know planning is going to be necessary, and so [students should start] to think about what other options they have in terms of cheaper pathways potentially to pursue their same credentials, those alternative ways to access dollars,” said Will Davies, director of policy and research for Breakthrough Central Texas.

Taking general courses at a community college may be a more affordable option for new or younger students, but those colleges may not offer the more specialized courses upperclassmen need to finish their bachelor's degrees.

Private universities have a single tuition rate for all their students and can offer merit or need-based scholarships or grants to high-performing students. However, they are generally more expensive and selective, making them out of reach for most students, Guengerich Harper said.

Some private organizations, such as TheDream.US, provide scholarships for undocumented students, including in states where in-state tuition is not an option for them. But Davies said he worries a few foundations or funds won’t be able to cover the vast need among undocumented students in Texas.

How did we get here?

Since Texas became the first state to extend in-state tuition eligibility to undocumented students in 2001, Republican state lawmakers have filed at least 15 bills to undo the state law. While those efforts failed, immigrant rights advocates worried the push to repeal the law would gain more traction during the 2025 legislative session as the Trump administration promised to ramp up immigration enforcement and Texas sought to match its pace. The bill was voted out of committee for the first time in a decade, but failed to advance any further.

Immigrant rights advocates’ relief was short-lived. They were caught off guard when the Justice Department sued Texas last week noting that U.S. citizens living outside of Texas don’t qualify for in-state tuition in the state’s public universities. The feds argued that Texas should not offer undocumented students any benefit not afforded to U.S. citizens.

The state agreed and asked the judge overseeing the case to side with the federal government, which he did and declared the law unconstitutional. Some legal experts have said the speedy way in which the case was resolved makes it seem like federal and state attorneys colluded to coordinate the outcome.

Monica Andrade, an attorney and director of state policy and legal strategy at the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, said the argument that undocumented students were receiving benefits denied to U.S. citizens is false and misleading because, under the Texas Dreamer Act, both groups of people needed to meet the same criteria to qualify for in-state tuition.

Since President Donald Trump’s election in November, several states have moved to end similar tuition policies for undocumented students, Inside Higher Education reported. In February, Florida passed a law that will eliminate in-state tuition for undocumented students starting July 1. Lawmakers in Michigan and Minnesota also filed similar bills. Meanwhile, some states like Indiana and New Mexico have sought to expand in-state tuition eligibility.

The Trump administration and Republicans have sought to end other benefits for immigrants. Under congressional and White House efforts, families with mixed immigration statuses — like those who have some children who are U.S. citizens and parents who are either undocumented or authorized immigrants, like refugees and asylum seekers — could be restricted from accessing programs like Medicaid, Medicare and federally subsidized housing.

Texas in recent years has increasingly mirrored Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda, increasing its law enforcement presence and building its own wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Disclosure: Houston Community College, Lone Star College, Texas A&M University, Texas A&M University System, University of Texas at Austin and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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