Justice Department sues Maryland over undocumented students' tuition aid
The lawsuit could threaten lower-cost college access for undocumented Baltimore students at CCBC, Coppin, Towson and UMBC, where Dream Act guidance is already posted.
The Justice Department filed a lawsuit Thursday in federal court in Maryland seeking to block state tuition aid for undocumented students.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, names the State of Maryland, the Maryland Higher Education Commission and the University System of Maryland Board of Regents as defendants. It seeks declaratory and injunctive relief and argues that federal law bars “illegal aliens” from receiving certain public postsecondary benefits.
Community colleges and public universities in and around Baltimore maintain public pages on tuition and aid questions for undocumented and DACA students. Maryland is a “Comprehensive Access” state for undocumented students.
About 2,000 undocumented students graduate from Maryland high schools each year, and the state has used the Dream Act framework for more than a decade to keep some of those students in Maryland classrooms.
Maryland voters approved the Maryland DREAM Act in 2012 through Question 4, after the law passed in 2011. The original statute let students who attended and graduated from Maryland high schools qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities if they met the law’s requirements. In 2019, House Bill 262 expanded eligibility by removing a prior requirement that some students earn an associate’s degree or 60 community-college credits before qualifying at a four-year public institution.
UMBC’s registrar says that, effective July 1, students, parents or legal guardians must file Maryland taxes for two years, rather than three, to qualify for the non-resident tuition exemption, and that Fall 2026 requests may be reviewed under the new standard while updated forms are pending. Anne Arundel Community College says the Maryland Dream Act has been in effect since Dec. 6, 2012.
A 2025 bill, SB 268, would cut the tax-filing requirement from three years to two years for some students seeking the tuition exemption. Attorney General Anthony Brown called Maryland’s in-state tuition law lawful and said it serves Maryland students.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
