DOJ Sues Penn State Over Tuition Policy for Undocumented Students
The Justice Department argues the university’s in-state rate violates federal law by favoring non-citizens over Americans.
By Tessa Cooper ·
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Penn State on Thursday, challenging a university policy that provides in-state tuition rates to certain undocumented students. The complaint seeks a federal court order barring the school from enforcing that specific policy for residents of Pennsylvania.
The Justice Department asserts that the university’s practice constitutes unconstitutional discrimination. The filing claims the policy grants financial benefits to non-citizens while denying the same reduced rates to U.S. citizens. Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate stated that Congress made a deliberate choice to prevent states and their public institutions from giving tuition benefits to illegal aliens unless those benefits are also made available to all U.S. citizens.
The suit requests that a court permanently stop Penn State from applying the current policy. It also asks the court to prevent the university from adopting any new tuition rules that favor undocumented students over citizens. The department noted that the policy allows some immigrant students who are in the country illegally to pay lower tuition than their American counterparts.
This action is part of a national legal campaign by the Trump administration. Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said the department is working to ensure no state law or university policy gives preferential treatment to people in the country illegally over citizens. The Penn State case is the 27th lawsuit the department has filed over in-state tuition for undocumented students.
The Justice Department said six previous suits in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois and Kansas ended in orders permanently blocking similar laws. One of those orders came from the Fifth Circuit. The department noted that two dozen states once offered such tuition breaks, often with bipartisan support. After the administration began suing last year, the policies ended in Florida, Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Illinois and Kentucky.
Penn State has 86,000 students. A university spokesperson said it is aware of the complaint and is reviewing it. The filing follows a similar suit filed last month against the University of Delaware. The department’s argument rests on the view that federal law bars states from giving preferential benefits to immigrants in the country illegally, regardless of residency requirements.
Supporters of the tuition breaks argue the rates do not violate federal law when U.S. citizens in the same circumstances receive them. In practice, this applies to students who live in the state and graduated from one of its high schools. Many of those students were brought to the United States as children by their parents. Penn State has not yet said how it will respond to the complaint.
