The Trump administration has taken its fight over in-state tuition for illegal migrants to court, suing Pennsylvania State University over a policy that allegedly allows undocumented migrant students to qualify for the reduced rate. The lawsuit puts a basic question at the center of the dispute: Can a university offer undocumented students an in-state tuition benefit when U.S. citizens living outside Pennsylvania cannot receive that same benefit? Apparently, even tuition policy now needs lawyers, a complaint, and a full legal fight.
In a lawsuit filed Thursday, the Justice Department argued that the policy discriminates against U.S. citizens because Americans who live outside Pennsylvania are not eligible for the same reduced tuition rate. The department says that arrangement violates federal law and conflicts with Congress’s direction on tuition benefits. This is not a dispute about a student club or a campus parking rule. The courtroom, rather than the student union, is now where the tuition fight will be argued.
In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate of the DOJ’s Civil Division said, "Congress made a deliberate policy choice that states and their public institutions may not grant tuition benefits to illegal aliens unless those same benefits are made to all U.S. citizens," Shumate said in a statement. He continued, "This university has ignored that mandate. The Department will continue to challenge policies that unlawfully disadvantage American citizens," he continued.
The DOJ accused the university of violating federal law by "prioritizing the needs of illegal aliens over U.S. citizens in defiance of Congress’s commands." The department also said Penn State’s policy "unconstitutionally" discriminates against U.S. citizens who are not offered the same reduced rate. The complaint asks the court to stop the university from enforcing a policy that gives in-state tuition to undocumented students, including illegal migrants who live in Pennsylvania, regardless of whether they are lawfully in the United States.
The filing also seeks to prevent Penn State from adopting any new tuition policy that favors undocumented students over U.S. citizens. Penn State’s website says undocumented students, with or without Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, status may qualify if they meet certain residency requirements. The school’s website states, "These requirements include attending an accredited Pennsylvania high school for at least four years and graduating from an accredited Pennsylvania high school or receiving a Pennsylvania General Educational Development (GED) certificate," the school’s website reads.
Thursday’s lawsuit brings the DOJ’s total to 27 lawsuits challenging in-state tuition for illegal migrants. The department said six lawsuits in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois and Kansas have resulted in favorable orders for the federal government. That broader campaign shows Penn State is not being treated as an isolated policy disagreement. The department is pursuing the same question across multiple states, with equal treatment for U.S. citizens at the center of its legal argument.
Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr. said in a statement, "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," and added, "Congress long ago made clear that states, through their public universities, cannot give reduced tuition to illegal aliens not available to all Americans."
Fox News Digital reached out to Penn State for comment on the DOJ’s lawsuit. For now, the administration of President Trump is asking the court to apply the same tuition rule to everyone, rather than allow a policy it says gives illegal aliens an advantage over U.S. citizens. So much for tuition policy being a quiet line in a campus handbook. This dispute is now another legal fight over whether institutions can create benefits for illegal aliens that are not available to all Americans.
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