Illegal immigrants in Kentucky will no longer qualify for in-state tuition rates following a legal settlement that ended the practice, state Attorney General Russell Coleman confirmed Thursday.
Coleman told Fox News Digital that the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (KCPE) agreed to revise its tuition policy two months after the Justice Department brought a lawsuit claiming the arrangement violated federal law.
“Under current federal law, any illegal immigrant is barred from eligibility for postsecondary education benefits, like in-state tuition, unless the same benefits are offered to every U.S. citizen,” Coleman explained.
When the lawsuit was first filed in June, former Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi said, “No state can be allowed to treat Americans like second-class citizens in their own country by offering financial benefits to illegal aliens.”
The federal government’s case relied in part on a previous successful challenge to a similar tuition policy in Texas, according to the Department of Justice. Coleman argued that Kentucky’s original policy created an incentive for noncitizens to study in the commonwealth over states without such tuition discounts.
Although the agreement has been reached, Coleman noted it will not be finalized until a federal district judge signs off—something he described as typically a formality.
He added that while KCPE ultimately complied, the decision only came after federal intervention. “I do applaud the fact that (KCPE) did the right thing and followed the law,” Coleman told Fox Digital. “But it took the Justice Department and all of its legal leverage and the chief law enforcement officer of the state opining on the legality before they did right thing. That’s disappointing.”
The settlement would also put an end to efforts by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) to block the change. The civil rights group recently argued in court that the federal government had no constitutional authority to override Kentucky’s tuition rules.
MALDEF warned that if the state’s regulation were struck down, affected students could see their tuition bills rise sharply—by as much as 152 percent in some cases, from $446 to $897 per credit hour.