Overview
- The Department of Justice filed a federal lawsuit against Colorado on July 23, making it the 14th state targeted in a coordinated campaign over in-state tuition policies for students who are not lawfully present.
- The complaint relies on Section 1623 of the U.S. Code and argues Colorado’s rules unlawfully extend postsecondary education benefits to non-lawfully present aliens that are not available to U.S. citizens regardless of residence.
- Associate Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward Jr. said the policy amounts to a taxpayer subsidy and that the department will press the administration’s promise to block benefits to illegal aliens.
- Colorado’s ASSET Act and later laws, passed in 2013 and revised in 2019 and 2022, let students who meet residency or Colorado high school graduation rules access lower in-state tuition and some state aid.
- Federal courts have reached mixed results so far—rulings in Texas and Oklahoma struck down similar policies, Kentucky ended its program after suit, and a Minnesota case was dismissed—so more injunctions, appeals, and state defenses are likely and could directly affect students who grew up and went to high school in those states.