Overview
- The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied on Thursday the appeal and requests to intervene, leaving a lower court ruling that ended the decades-old in-state tuition policy in place.
- The challenge began after the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas in June 2025 and the state declined to defend the law, with Attorney General Ken Paxton joining the federal request to end the policy.
- The court said a 1996 federal statute bars states from giving postsecondary benefits based on residency to people without lawful status, and the majority found that intervenors could not successfully defend the statute.
- The decision was split 2-1, with one judge dissenting and noting unanswered constitutional questions, and the appeals court’s refusal to allow intervention leaves the procedural posture unchanged.
- Thousands of students will remain subject to out-of-state tuition rates, affecting an estimated pool of tens of thousands of undocumented students and reversing a policy that research said had contributed about $81 million in tuition and fees to Texas colleges.