43. Prohibit discrimination on the basis of immigration status in determinations of in-state residency.

Finance 09.6.24

Here’s what the federal government can do:

  • Congress should prohibit the consideration of immigration status when determining in-state status for students.
  • The U.S. Department of Education should provide guidance to higher education institutions on the application of nondiscrimination law in determinations of in-state status.

Here’s what state government can do:

  • State legislatures should set residency criteria that allow students to qualify for in-state tuition rates regardless of immigration status.
  • State legislatures should launch state-wide campaigns that communicate to students and their families that they qualify for in-state tuition rates regardless of immigration status. State legislatures should ensure these campaigns are accessible in languages other than English.
  • Higher education coordinating agencies should provide guidance to colleges and universities to prohibit discrimination in determinations of in-state residency on the basis of immigration status.

Here’s what institutional leaders can do:

  • Higher education institutions should make determinations about in-state status without regard to immigration status.
  • Higher education institutions should establish policies that protect the privacy of students’ immigration status when applying for scholarships and grants.
  • Higher education institutions should launch campaigns to inform students and their families about residency criteria that allow students to qualify for in-state tuition rates regardless of immigration status. Institutions should ensure these campaigns are accessible in languages other than English.

Congress must prohibit discrimination on the basis of immigration status in determinations about in-state residency.

It is essential that immigrant students and students with immigrant parents are granted access to in-state tuition. Congress should ensure students who are undocumented are eligible for postsecondary education benefits.[i] Differences in tuition rates based solely on immigration status, even when students meet all other criteria for state residence, is a xenophobic and discriminatory practice that unjustly impedes pathways to higher education. These practices have no place in the higher education system.

[i]Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act, H.R. 2202, 104th Cong., § 505 (1996) bars states from providing “postsecondary education benefits to students who are not ‘lawfully present’ based on state residence unless U.S. citizens are eligible for those benefits on the same terms, regardless of their state residence.”