Texas directs public universities to identify undocumented students

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Texas is asking public colleges and universities to identify which of their students are living in the country illegally so they can start paying out-of-state tuition, as required by a court ruling earlier this month.

In a letter to college presidents last week, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Commissioner Wynn Rosser said undocumented students who have been paying in-state tuition will need to see tuition adjustments for the fall semester. A spokesperson for the agency said it has no plans to provide further guidance on how schools can go about identifying undocumented students.

“The real lack of legal clarity just leaves institutions again having to come up with their own process,” said Kasey Corpus, the southern policy and advocacy manager of Young Invincibles, a group that advocates for policies that benefit young adults in the state.

Undocumented students who have been living in Texas for some time lost their eligibility for in-state tuition soon after the U.S. Department of Justice sued the state over the Texas Dream Act, a 2001 state law that allowed those students to qualify for the lower tuition rates at public universities. The state quickly asked the court to side with the feds and find that the law was unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor did just that, blocking the law.

It’s unclear if any Texas university already knows which of its students are undocumented. Students do not have to provide proof of citizenship or disclose their Social Security number to apply for college. And colleges rarely track the citizenship status of students who are not here on a visa, said Melanie Gottlieb, the executive director of the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

“There is not a simple way for an institution to determine if a person is undocumented,” said Gottlieb. “It’s a challenging question.”

The Texas Tribune asked several schools in the state earlier this month whether they collect this information. The University of Houston System said its applicants do not have to share their immigration status. Other schools — including Texas A&M University, Lone Star College, the University of Texas at Dallas and UT-Rio Grande Valley — did not respond to the question. Some said they were still trying to understand the ruling and what it means for their students.

The state already maintains some higher education databases that likely include undocumented students attending Texas schools. The Texas Dream Act required students who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents applying for in-state tuition to sign an affidavit saying they would seek lawful permanent residency as soon as they become eligible. Undocumented students have often applied for state financial aid since they do not qualify for federal financial aid.

Gottlieb said getting information from students about their immigration status will likely change the landscape of applying to college. It’s unclear what documentation schools might ask students to provide as proof of immigration status and who will have access to that information. The coordinating board did not respond to a request for comment about how this information will be protected.

Federal privacy law prohibits schools from sharing students’ data, including their immigration status, with federal immigration authorities, said Miriam Feldblum, the executive director of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. Those privacy protections cannot be waived on the basis of a students’ undocumented status alone.

Before schools take away a student’s in-state tuition eligibility over their immigration status, the student should also get a chance to appeal in a due process hearing with school officials and explain their circumstances, Feldblum said. For example, their immigration status may have changed without the school’s knowledge, she said.

As schools scramble to figure out what compliance looks like, thousands of students are still wondering what the directive will mean for them.

“That just leaves a lot of students in limbo,” Corpus said. “How are they going to come up with a way to find scholarships or grants or come up with that money to make up the difference if they are going to be held to those rule changes? Or for some students, they might be thinking, Am I going to have to totally just switch schools or drop out?”

Jessica Priest contributed to this report.

The Texas Tribune partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.

Disclosure: Lone Star College, Texas A&M University, University of Texas - Dallas and University of Houston have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

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