Feds sue Utah, seek end to law that lets immigrant university students tap lower in-state tuition

SALT LAKE CITY — The U.S. Department of Justice is suing state education officials, pressing for an end to provisions of Utah law that allow students in the country unlawfully to pay lower in-state tuition at public universities here.

"No more placing illegal aliens over American citizens on this Department of Justice's watch," Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley E. Woodward, Jr., said in a statement announcing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit maintains that the tuition law in question is unconstitutional while also targeting state financial aid that Utah students who are in the country illegally can tap. The measure allowing students in the country illegally to pay in-state tuition dates to 2002.

The Department of Justice filed the lawsuit against Utah on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, similar to lawsuits simultaneously filed against Hawaii, Arkansas and Washington, D.C. The new lawsuits echo legal action previously filed by federal officials against 21 other states with similar policies related to in-state tuition.

The lawsuit was filed against the Utah Board of Higher Education and Geoffrey Landward, who leads the Utah System of Higher Education, or USHE. USHE helps govern the University of Utah, Weber State University, Utah Valley University, Utah State University and the state's other public universities, technical schools and community colleges.

Utah education officials have not yet responded to the lawsuit, but USHE issued a statement in response to the legal action.

"Education is at the heart of our mission. We support students who meet the eligibility requirements established in state law and defer to the Utah Legislature's authority to set tuition policy for our public colleges and universities. We will continue to administer that in accordance with legislative direction," the statement reads.

While the University of Utah does not track students' migratory status, school officials estimate around 200 to 300 "undocumented students" study on the campus based on applications for in-state tuition and other engagement. The U. offered no reaction to the new lawsuit, but, like USHE, stressed that it abides by state law.

"In 2002, Utah's Legislature passed, and the governor signed, House Bill 144. ... This law allows qualified students, including undocumented students, to pay in-state tuition if they meet specific high school-based criteria. HB144 does not provide financial assistance; it only permits eligible students to be charged the resident tuition rate," the U. said in a statement.

The new federal lawsuit takes aim at a state law that allows those who have attended high school in Utah for three or more years and graduated from a Utah high school to tap lower in-state tuition at Utah's public universities, irrespective, by and large, of their migratory status. Students from outside Utah have to pay higher tuition at public universities here.

For the 2026-2027 year, in-state tuition and fees total an estimated $10,480 at the University of Utah. That compares to $32,932 for non-resident students and $15,720 for students under the Western Undergraduate Exchange program.

The lawsuit also targets the state's Utah Promise Program and the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which the lawsuit says students in the country illegally can also potentially tap.

"Beyond establishing eligibility for in-state tuition benefits to illegal aliens, other Utah laws and regulations make illegal aliens eligible for scholarships and grants based on their residence in Utah while denying the same benefits to U.S. citizens in other states," the lawsuit reads.

That, the federal officials charge, violates a provision of federal law that essentially says that those unlawfully present in a state may not be able to tap any postsecondary education benefit that is unavailable to U.S. citizens from other states.

"Utah's postsecondary education benefits scheme engages in blatant unequal treatment that favors illegal aliens over U.S. citizens," reads the lawsuit.

The law making immigrants in the country eligible for in-state tuition was targeted earlier this year by state lawmakers in HB386, but the measure ultimately stalled.

The varied lawsuits are another facet of efforts by the administration of President Donald Trump targeting illegal immigration. A federal judge in Kansas on Wednesday ruled that a law in that state allowing in-state tuition for those in the country illegally is unconstitutional, the Department of Justice said, similar to prior rulings in Texas, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Illinois.

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