24-04-2025
Texas Senate hears bill to ban undocumented students from in-state tuition rates, aid
Texas lawmakers could soon decide whether to repeal a 24-year-old state law allowing students without legal authorization to be in the U.S. to access in-state tuition at public colleges and universities — potentially affecting 20,000 students.
In 2001, state lawmakers with bipartisan support passed House Bill 1403 — the Texas DREAM Act — which made access to higher education easier for thousands of students without legal status if they graduate from a Texas high school and have lived at least three years in the Lone Star State. These students are also required to sign an affidavit asserting their intent to pursue U.S. citizenship at their first opportunity.
Texas was the first state to pass such a law, and, like the current proposal to repeal it, legislative committees have in the past considered calls to do away with the provision. But as the Trump administration steps up efforts to deport people living in the U.S. illegally and international students who participate in pro-Palestinian advocacy or who have criminal violations, Florida has reversed its in-state tuition for students without legal status, and the Texas proposal's author, Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, has said the state must follow suit.
'Senate Bill 1798 addresses the long-standing concern of subsidized higher education benefits and free tuition being granted to individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States,' Middleton said at a Senate K-16 Education Committee hearing on the bill Tuesday. 'This ensures that public funds are reserved for students with legal standing in the United States and reinforces the importance of lawful status in accessing state benefits.'
Currently, 24 states, including Texas, grant students without legal status access to in-state tuition and 19 states, including Texas, also allow such students to access state financial aid. Students who are in the U.S. illegally do not have access to federal financial aid.
SB 1798 would bar students without legal status from accessing in-state tuition and from receiving state financial aid. Middleton said it's a 'necessary measure' to ensure the state is fiscally responsible.
He estimates that Texas lost $150 million per year from the roughly 20,000 students without legal status that pay in-state tuition as opposed to out-of-state tuition. According to Every Texan, a social justice advocacy nonprofit, students without legal status accounted for less than 3% ($17.3 million) of the state's total $579 million dispersed in financial aid and grants in 2021.
A study by the American Immigration Council, however, found that Texas could lose $461 million each year if residency standards are changed. This is because having a bachelor's degree increases such students' earning potential by 57%, helping the state through taxes, buying power and filling workforce needs, it states.
Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, who questioned the bill's purpose and warned of its potential effect, said SB 1798 would make it impossible for many people without legal status to attend and afford college despite such students in his district having often 'only known this country as their own' and having attended local schools and worked in and helped their communities.
'By all measures, they've established residency in this state,' Menéndez said. 'I don't agree with the premise that we lost $150 million because they should have been paying outside tuition because of the fact that they were living here.'
Several people who benefited from the state's DREAM Act testified Tuesday about how the bill transformed their lives, allowing them to pursue paths to education, successful careers and U.S. citizenship.
In-state tuition for public colleges and universities and in-district tuition for community colleges is designed to charge students from tax-paying families lower education costs, said Sarah Keyton, deputy commissioner for administration and operations at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, who testified as an expert witness.
The Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center states that persons in the U.S. regardless of immigration status pay taxes, with those without a Social Security number using an individual taxpayer identification number to do so, but they receive less in government benefits.
Testimony in the Senate hearing on SB 1798 lasted nearly three hours, with representatives for the Intercultural Development Research Association, Texas Civil Rights Project, ACLU of Texas, and the Council of Islamic-American Relations Texas testifying against the proposal and representatives from Texans for Strong Borders, True Texas Projects and Texans for Fiscal Responsibility for it.
Supporters of Middleton's bill emphasized how Texas must use discretion with its public money and argued that the existing law encourages or rewards unlawful residence. Those against the proposal said it would hurt the state economically and unjustly punish students who dream of opportunities as they find a path to citizenship.
One student, who expects to graduate in May from a UT System institution, testified against the bill in his cap and gown, saying he would not have been able to graduate without it.
In response to Menéndez's concern that this bill will stop students without legal status from attending higher education institutions and cost Texas money, Middleton retorted that 'our citizen constituents are going to fill those spots' and tuition won't go unpaid.
'If we had a secure border this whole time, this wouldn't be an issue,' Middleton said.
SB 1798 was left pending in committee Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Senate hears bill to end Texas DREAM Act, restrict in-state tuition
