“Kentucky’s policy of granting in-state tuition to illegal immigrants appears to be at an end after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reached a federal settlement with the commonwealth’s higher education council,” reports Campus Reform:
The Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE) had allowed anyone who graduated from a Kentucky high school to qualify as an in-state resident for tuition purposes. That meant students without legal status paid the same as lifelong Kentuckians, while U.S. citizens from neighboring states paid out-of-state rates.
Federal officials sued in June, calling the arrangement both unconstitutional and unfair.
The DOJ cited federal law barring states from offering higher education benefits to illegal immigrants unless those same benefits are extended to all U.S. citizens.
“No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi earlier this year. “The Department of Justice just won on this exact issue in Texas, and we look forward to fighting in Kentucky to protect the rights of American citizens.”
A joint motion filed in the U.S. District Court stipulates that Kentucky’s policy broke the law. The settlement permanently bars the council and its president from reviving in-state tuition for illegal aliens in the future. Kentucky did not pay the federal government’s legal costs under the settlement.
“Final approval from U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove is still pending, but once signed,” the settlement will take effect, and become a binding consent decree.
