Dive Brief:
- A federal judge on Wednesday signed off on a joint motion from the U.S. Department of Justice and Nebraska to strike down the state’s two-decade-old law allowing certain undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges. The order also revokes those students' eligibility for certain state scholarships.
- In April, DOJ alleged that Nebraska’s policies violated federal law by illegally offering undocumented immigrants educational benefits not available to all U.S. citizens, including out-of-state students. State officials sided with the federal agency and joined in asking the courts to strike down the legislation.
- This week's ruling marks the fourth time a DOJ lawsuit has ended state policies like this one. Five similar DOJ lawsuits are pending in other states.
Dive Insight:
In 2006, Nebraska's Republican-controlled Legislature passed a law allowing undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates at public colleges if they:
- Lived in Nebraska for at least three years prior to graduating from high school.
- Lived with their parent, guardian or conservator while attending a Nebraska high school.
- Graduated from a high school or earned a GED diploma in Nebraska.
- Provided their college with an affidavit that they would "file an application to become a permanent resident at the earliest opportunity he or she is eligible to do so."
This spring, four days after Nebraska's most recent legislative session adjourned, the DOJ announced it had filed a lawsuit over the longstanding law. The same day, Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers joined the agency by filing a joint motion seeking to have the law ruled invalid. The motion also targeted state scholarship programs like the Nebraska Opportunity Grant and the Access College Early Scholarship Program that use the same eligibility criteria.
U.S. District Judge Brian Buescher’s approval of the deal Wednesday took effect immediately.
Buescher also denied a request from two Nebraska nonprofits to intervene in the case.
The organizations, which both support immigrants pursuing higher education, alleged that the speed at which Nebraska sided with the Trump administration "implies significant collaboration and coordination between the parties."
Hilgers, they said, "abdicated his statutory responsibilities to defend the constitutionality of the challenged state statutes, choosing instead to concede defeat and abandon the law before even being served with the complaint."
But Buescher ruled that the nonprofits lacked standing to intervene, as the law’s revocation would not impact them meaningfully or directly enough.
The judge also said the groups' involvement in the case could allow the contested policy to remain on the books into the next academic year — which he called "contrary to the public interest."
"The fact that potentially unconstitutional state statutes have remained unchallenged for several years does not warrant further delay in determining their validity," Buescher said.
Republican Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen on Thursday called the ruling "a great decision" that was "long overdue." He thanked the DOJ, Hilgers' office and President Donald Trump for their work to undo his state's legislation.
The Trump administration's DOJ has argued that Nebraska's law and similar state policies conflict with federal immigration law.
The difference between in-state and out-of-state tuition is steep at many public colleges, and those in Nebraska are no exception.
The University of Nebraska at Omaha lists in-state tuition and fees at $9,768 annually in the 2026-27 academic year, compared to $26,092 for out-of-state students.
DOJ has so far filed lawsuits against eight other states over their in-state tuition policies for undocumented students: Texas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Illinois, California, Virginia and New Jersey.
These legal challenges have delivered results that some conservatives have called for but been unable to achieve through the legislative process.
In Nebraska’s last legislative session, at least two conservative-led bills attempted to repeal the state's tuition law for undocumented students. But they didn’t advance — even with a Republican supermajority.
In states with Republican attorneys general, DOJ lawsuits have quickly led to in-state tuition eligibility being revoked for undocumented college students. As in Nebraska, Republican officials in Texas, Kentucky and Oklahoma sided with the DOJ in federal court and had their policies struck down.
Although Virginia was poised to follow the same path, the November election replaced the state’s Republican attorney general with a Democratic one who has sworn to fight DOJ's lawsuit.
In March, a federal judge ruled in favor of Minnesota’s tuition laws, but DOJ has since appealed. The remaining cases are still pending.
