Texas Directs Colleges To Keep Track of Undocumented Students, Instructing Them To Pay Out-of-State Tuition

Texas is asking public colleges and universities to identify which of their students are undocumented and instruct them to pay out-of-state tuition, a new court ruling said.

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, Texas Tribune said. A spokesperson for the agency said it has no plans to provide further guidance on how schools can go about identifying undocumented students.

“The real lack of legal clarity just leaves institutions again having to come up with their own process,” said Kasey Corpus, the southern policy and advocacy manager of Young Invincibles, a group that advocates for policies that benefit young adults in the state.

It’s unclear if any Texas university knows which of their students are actually undocumented, given that students are not required to provide proof of citizenship or disclose their Social Security number when they apply or enroll in school. Likewise, colleges rarely track the citizenship status of students, unless they are international students on a visa.

“There is not a simple way for an institution to determine if a person is undocumented,” Melanie Gottlieb, the executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers told Texas Tribune.

The state, however, maintains some higher education databases that likely include undocumented students attending Texas schools. The Texas Dream Act required students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents applying for in-state tuition to sign an affidavit saying they would seek lawful permanent residency as soon as they become eligible. Undocumented students have often applied for state financial aid since they do not qualify for federal financial aid.

The recent decision is the latest attack on undocumented students in the Lone Star State. Earlier this month, a Texas court ruled that undocumented students would no longer be eligible for in-state tuition. The decision was quickly celebrated by the Trump administration, as they continue to target students from foreign nations, regardless of their immigration status.

“Under federal law, schools cannot provide benefits to illegal aliens that they do not provide to U.S. citizens,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement Wednesday. “The Justice Department will relentlessly fight to vindicate federal law and ensure that U.S. citizens are not treated like second-class citizens anywhere in the country.”

Texas began grinding in-state tuition to undocumented students in 2001, becoming the first state to extend eligibility.

Although Texas undocumented students are not eligible for federal financial aid, there are different opportunities that aim at helping that community. For instance, TheDream.US scholarship, the largest scholarship program for undocumented students, seeks to help undocumented students get an affordable education. Under that program, hundreds of Texas students have been awarded scholarships into nursing and education, professions that are struggling with shortages.

Now, as the state requires institutions to keep track of undocumented students, thousands remain wondering exactly what the directive will mean for them.

“That just leaves a lot of students in limbo,” Kasey Corpus, the southern policy and advocacy manager of Young Invincibles said. “How are they going to come up with a way to find scholarships or grants or come up with that money to make up the difference if they are going to be held to those rule changes? Or for some students, they might be thinking, Am I going to have to totally just switch schools or drop out?”