In-state tuition no longer offered to some immigrant students in Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma higher education officials on Thursday voted to revoke a policy that allowed some immigrant students lacking legal status to pay in-state tuition at state colleges and universities in limited circumstances. 

The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education were previously permitted by state law to do so, but a federal judge on Friday ruled the Oklahoma law is unconstitutional and violates the Supremacy Clause.

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Oklahoma over the statute last month and argued the measure extended eligibility for in-state tuition to some immigrants while not extending that treatment to U.S. citizens in other states. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond filed a motion in support of the lawsuit. 

The policy change is predicted to affect around 400 students attending Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities, said Chancellor Sean Burrage. The change is effective immediately.

“It’s my understanding that all the institutions have been in constant communication with the students that attend that institution,” he said. 

Immediately following the State Regents’ Thursday meeting, Burrage said the Regents interpreted the order to mean that students who have already enrolled in classes and paid in-state tuition before Friday’s order will not have to pay non-resident tuition. 

The agency later received guidance from the Attorney General’s office Thursday afternoon indicating it was their opinion that the order prohibits these students from being eligible for in-state tuition beginning with the start of the semester, not the day the order was issued, a spokesperson for the Regents said in a statement Thursday evening.

All Oklahoma colleges and universities are expected to comply with the law, the spokesperson said.

Oklahoma was one of 23 states and Washington D.C. that offered in-state tuition and financial aid benefits for some students without permanent legal residency status, according to an analysis by the Higher Education Portal, which is a platform for data, resources and policy analysis regarding immigrant student populations.

Under the now-defunct law, Oklahoma’s public colleges and universities were allowed to offer in-state tuition to anyone who graduates high school in the state and resides in Oklahoma for at least two years prior to graduation.

The lawsuit argued this included “undocumented immigrants.”

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 5:55 p.m. Thursday to include new guidance from the Oklahoma Attorney General’s Office.