Trump admin takes Penn State to court over in-state tuition for undocumented students

The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Pennsylvania State University, challenging its policy of granting in-state tuition rates to some undocumented students in a move that expands the Trump administration’s campaign against state and university policies providing educational benefits to immigrants living in the country illegally.

The complaint, filed on Thursday, argues that Penn State’s tuition policy violates federal law by extending preferential treatment to undocumented immigrants over US citizens. The legal action is part of a broader federal effort to dismantle in-state tuition concessions for undocumented students, policies that have traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support in several states.

At one point, nearly two dozen states offered such tuition benefits, allowing eligible students who graduated from local high schools and met residency requirements to pay the same rates as other state residents. However, the administration’s legal challenges have prompted several states, including Kentucky, Illinois, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas and Florida, to end or change their policies.

More recently, the Justice Department has shifted its attention towards individual higher education institutions. Last month, it filed a similar lawsuit against the University of Delaware. Penn State, which has an enrolment of approximately 86,000 students, confirmed it was aware of the complaint and was reviewing the legal challenge.

"The Department of Justice today continues its efforts to ensure that no state law or university policy gives preferential treatment to illegal aliens over our Nation's own citizens," Stanley Woodward, a senior Justice Department official, said in a statement.

The federal government maintains that immigration law bars states from extending preferential benefits to undocumented immigrants, even when they satisfy the residency conditions required of other students.

Supporters of the tuition policies, however, dispute that interpretation. They argue that the arrangements do not violate federal law when undocumented students receive the same tuition rates as US citizens who meet identical requirements, such as living in the state and graduating from a local high school.

Many of the affected students were brought to the United States by their parents as children and have grown up attending local schools and becoming part of their communities. Advocates say denying them access to affordable higher education overlooks their educational journeys and the communities in which they have spent much of their lives.

The lawsuit against Penn State also comes at a politically significant moment, as the country assesses the implications of the Republicans' poor performance in the recent midterm elections and considers how the administration's education and immigration priorities may evolve. The outcome of the case could have wider implications for undocumented students seeking affordable college education and for universities navigating the legal boundaries of state tuition policies.