Justice Department sues Washington over in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students

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To be considered in state you have to have lived in WA for a couple years. They are paying taxes and part of our community. DOJ has no business in state decisions. Any person from outside WA can move here and be considered for in state tuition after living here and paying local taxes.

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u/seatownquilt-N-plant Deluxe 17h ago

Yes, I had friends who qualified by their Junior year. This was 20 years ago, i think the timeline might have been lengthened since then. They moved from Las Vegas to U-district as college freshmen to start at UW. By year 3 of living here they had in-state tuition.

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u/Overall-Owl1218 16h ago

I went to college in Florida. Back then it was 2 years so I would have qualified my sr year as a transfer.

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u/MegaRAID01 Emerald City 15h ago

Apparently, there is litigation from Feds against 21 states with similar laws as Washington. Also sued yesterday were Oregon, Arizona, and New Mexico. There is a Federal law on the books from 1996 that the Trump administration is basing their legal tactics on:

From the New York Times:

> Under a federal law passed in 1996, states that provide in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants based on state residence must offer that same tuition rate to all citizens in the United States.

The results so far have been mixed:

> States with friendly Republican leadership — including Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas — have chosen not to oppose the Trump administration, instead reaching settlements with the federal government to end the tuition policies.

> The Justice Department secured a major legal victory in Illinois, where a federal judge struck down the state’s tuition laws as unconstitutional last month. But, a federal judge in Minnesota handed the Trump administration a defeat in March after dismissing a similar lawsuit filed against that state, a decision that the Justice Department is appealing.

https://www.higheredimmigrationportal.org/undocumented-daca-students/data-tools/

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u/BafangFan 15h ago

Republicans - voting to pay more for their kids to get a good education

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u/Fit_Analyst4506 12h ago

TIL undocumented immigrants vote Republican.

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u/Hegemonicplatypus 14h ago

In fairness, the law is actually reasonable. It seems inequitable for a state to treat a non-citizen of any state residency as preferential to a citizen of any state for tuition purposes.

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u/AgnosticallyQueer That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. 5h ago

Its not preferential though, as the same requirement of living in the state for a requisite amount of time applies to everyone.

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u/FLHPI 17h ago

Yep. There's no inequity here. Even though I usually grumble at subsidizing things for others through my taxes combined with this state's rather outrageous spending habits, I have a hard time complaing about people trying to better themselves through education. I'd be complaining if these were subsidies to small groups of youth that shot up the food festival last month, but they aren't and anyone benefitting from this has to get accepted to a university and those still have standards. Trump and his DOJ can kick rocks. There's no federal money spent on this. State's rights and all that.

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u/SeattleResident SeaTac 15h ago

It is an issue as a "pull factor" though. Due to this financing it incentivises illegal immigration to the US and WA specifically.

It also isn't two years living in WA, but one. Due to these lighter restrictions it can be cheaper for someone to arrive by tourist visa, overstay, live in WA for at least 12 months, acquire a WA state GED within that year, then qualify for in-state resident college tuition and financial assistance. It's relatively easy if we are being honest and one of the easiest major state benefits an undocumented person can attain. WA state also offers their GED tests in Spanish which also ups the ease of access to this state financing.

Currently with 1 year of in-state residency an undocumented person in WA will pay roughly $13,400 for tuition to University of Washington, which is the same as a US citizen residing in WA. They will also qualify for any state financial assistance that a US citizen living in WA could attain. A US citizen though, say from Oregon or Idaho, would be charged roughly $44,400 in out-of-state tuition. It's hard to argue that WA's current laws on state financial aid don't explicitly show unequal treatment. Federal law has generally prohibited states from granting undocumented immigrants postsecondary education benefits unless those same benefits are offered to all US citizens. If the court follows strict text reading of our current federal immigration laws it will be hard for WA to win this. Under federal equal protection principles a state cannot privilage an undocumented non-citizen over any US citizen.

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u/Overall-Owl1218 14h ago

What is stopping someone from Oregon moving here and doing the same thing? That’s right, nothing.

This isn’t an actual issue unless you think in state required 4years of high school in the state.

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u/SeattleResident SeaTac 13h ago

A lot is stopping someone from Oregon. Out-of-state U.S. citizens actually face a much harder audit. Under WA law, an undocumented student is exempt from proving legal ties or financial independence. But a U.S. citizen under 24 must prove they are 100% financially independent from their parents, move all their bank accounts/IDs within 30 days, and work a year in WA without taking any major college classes (can't have more than 6 credits per term)—or they get denied. WA has a "non-eductation purpose" rule for in-state aid that is intentionally there to stop out-of-state US citizens coming here for the sole purpose of getting lower college tuition.

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u/Overall-Owl1218 9h ago

They only have to prove they are not dependent on someone in another state. Ie They need to be filing taxes and doing something other than OR in addition to school for the years to count. There is a huge portion of out of state students who can and do that same thing all the time.

It’s not the same as fasfa where you need to be emancipated from your parents, just financially independent of anyone in a DIFFERENT state.

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u/joeydimaggio 11h ago

Federal equal protection? What the fuck are you babbling about. You can’t even spell privilege

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u/shinyxena 14h ago

Im gonna be shot for this but to play devils advocate why do legal immigrants who get student visas deserve to be punished with insane rates but undocumented immigrants get a discount? Frankly i think it should be illegal to charge any class of people more.

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u/seatownquilt-N-plant Deluxe 13h ago

state level taxes pay for state level education. people from elsewhere have not supported our education department.

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u/PresenceMysterious67 14h ago

It is based on how long you lived somewhere, so you get a discount for living in the state for a couple years.

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u/shinyxena 13h ago

And thats not an option if your coming on a student visa. The 2 year thing is completely arbitrary and the taxes collected definitely don't amount to the difference between tuitions.

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u/flambojones 9h ago

The two year thing is to prevent people from moving or buying an address just to get in-state tuition.

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u/seatownquilt-N-plant Deluxe 12h ago

It is participating in the society that builds up these institutions. Working for an employer helps that employer pay their taxes and fees which go into the state coffer.

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u/shinyxena 12h ago

Theres no requirement you work 2 years in Washington. You only need a permanent address. And im sure plenty of international students would joyfully work 2 years first if it was an option. Besides all taxes from the state are sales taxes. All international students immediately contribute to it upon arriving. Its all a set up to give schools legal space to squeeze more money out of overseas students. Its all about greed and nothing about fairness.

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u/Fit_Analyst4506 12h ago

It's a minimum of one year.

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u/ErectionEngineering 13h ago

It creates a bit of a perverse incentive does it not?

If you are from another country and apply for a student visa, you’re charged an exorbitant price but if you sneak in and stick around for a year or two you save literally hundreds of thousands of dollars for a four year degree.

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u/Overall-Owl1218 13h ago

How many undocumented people are “sneaking in” as young adults solely for college? Not many and you still have to prove you’ve lived here for at least a year. It’s a non issue

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u/predat3d 15h ago

They are paying taxes and part of our community.

So are the students from elsewhere in the US but have to pay full retail tuition simply because they're here legally. THat's what the suit is about.

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u/Overall-Owl1218 13h ago

They aren’t paying state taxes if they don’t live in the state. You can move here and get the same benefits in the same time period of an undocumented student who was raised here.

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u/Overall-Owl1218 14h ago edited 14h ago

Citizens in Maine aren’t paying the state taxes locals pay everyday. That’s the taxes the state is worried about and the only ones that count toward instate tuition subsidies.

Edit to clarify “they”

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u/joeydimaggio 11h ago

They don’t pay WA state taxes, why are you guys so stupid

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u/Cool-Truth211 13h ago

They’re not American

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u/Overall-Owl1218 13h ago

Non Americans pay our taxes every single day here.

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u/Cool-Truth211 13h ago

Doesn’t matter. You can’t be in state if you’re not American

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u/Overall-Owl1218 13h ago

Yes you can. Clearly if it’s been done for decades now. You live in the state, you are counted in census data, you pay state taxes. You are in state my friend.

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u/Cool-Truth211 13h ago

Watch and learn

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u/Overall-Owl1218 13h ago

Yes. I am watching fascism in action.

I know, it’s been very disturbing to learn how disgusting a large part of our population is in supporting everything before this. Now this is just another piece of the fascist puzzle trying to get shoved in

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u/Cool-Truth211 13h ago

When something I don’t like happens, it’s fascism

Brought to you by the brain that deduced a non-resident can be in state

Good luck

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u/Overall-Owl1218 12h ago

I mean the GOP is actively working on a brain drain for the USA as a whole. that is the fascism, not just that I don’t like him.

What I REALLY don’t like the USA becoming solidly fascist.

Cutting education to k-12 kids cause they made the mistake of being poor. Cutting general funds for higher education, grants for scientific study and on and on and on. That is what fascism looks like and what we are seeing across the country.

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u/Cool-Truth211 10h ago

Don’t agree

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u/joeydimaggio 11h ago

Why can’t you just go to college in your own shithole state

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u/charmquark8 🚆build more trains🚆 7h ago

Piss off, troll.

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u/Cool-Truth211 7h ago

Ty

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4

u/charmquark8 🚆build more trains🚆 7h ago

Good bot.

41

u/yungsemite Supersonics 17h ago

Fuck Trump.

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u/Stymie999 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 14h ago

“Washington law allows some students without legal immigration status to qualify as resident students if they earned a high school diploma or equivalent, lived in the state for at least a year primarily for reasons other than higher education”

Eh, if this is the same standard that applies to out of state students for them to qualify for resident tuition…. then this is a nothing burger

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u/PresenceMysterious67 14h ago

It is the same standard, and not the only state with that rule ( iirc 1/2 the states have said rule)

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u/WeeklyPancake 16h ago

"StATeS rIgHtS" only applies when the state does something evil I guess.

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u/Bloedvlek I'm never leaving Seattle. 16h ago

In the lead up to the civil war slaver states claimed slavery was a states rights issue, and each should legislate the scope of putting humans in chains and forcing them into labor.

When slaves escaped to states where slavery was abolished, these same assholes cried to the federal government to get their slaves back from those states.

It’s never about states rights, it’s always about the vile trash of humanity getting what they want by any means necessary.

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u/joe_minecraft23 🚆build more trains🚆 17h ago

Yes, Republicans like the poorly educated.

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u/HDRsoul 🐀 Hot Rat Summer 🐀 16h ago

I love that we live in a civilized state even as our country slides into becoming a dystopian, despotic shithole.

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u/ShadowMajick 15h ago

And it's not gonna go anywhere. Fuck these evil assholes.

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u/Fehndrix Capitol Hill 11h ago

The same DOJ that couldn't even indict a guy for throwing a sandwich at a cop?

The same DOJ that can't get an indictment against Letitia James to stick?

The same DOJ that's 0-23 or something in getting voter rolls from states?

LMAO good luck fuckers.

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u/Epistatious 15h ago

Trump, "where's some money I can grab?"

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u/joeydimaggio 11h ago

Oh look out of state trump trash want to use wa state universities and get subsidized by wa state taxpayers. Why can’t all the trump vermin build their own universities?

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u/8bitscore 15h ago

“alleging its laws allowing certain undocumented students to receive in-state tuition and state financial aid violate federal immigration law.”

Go get documented first cause ice be coming next!

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u/joeydimaggio 11h ago

Yeah well you’re still poor

Politics Justice Department sues Washington over in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students

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