Overview
- The Justice Department, which filed the suit Thursday, asked a federal judge to halt New Jersey’s 2013 tuition statute and its 2018 expansion of state grants and scholarships.
- Prosecutors argue the measures conflict with federal law that forbids residency-based college benefits for people lacking lawful status unless the same terms apply to all U.S. citizens.
- The DOJ says the policies favor noncitizen residents over citizens from other states by offering lower prices and state aid unavailable to out-of-state Americans.
- New Jersey officials said they will defend the statutes as consistent with federal requirements, noting residency and high school attendance criteria for eligibility that students have used to access lower rates and aid.
- The department describes this as its ninth such lawsuit, citing wins against similar laws in Texas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma, with other cases pending in Illinois, Minnesota, Virginia, Nebraska, and California.