DOJ sues Maryland over in-state tuition and aid for undocumented students

The U.S. Department of Justice sued Maryland on Thursday to block the state from offering in-state tuition rates and state financial aid to certain undocumented students at public colleges, opening a legal fight with immediate practical consequences for campus registrars, bursars, and aid offices. The complaint, filed July 16 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. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown said the state is reviewing the filing and will defend the law. (justice.gov)

What changed is not Maryland’s tuition policy itself, at least not yet, but the level of risk around it. DOJ is asking the court to enjoin Maryland’s Dream Act tuition provisions and related aid rules, arguing they conflict with federal law. That means the policy question has moved from the legislature to a federal courtroom just as public colleges are finalizing FY 2027 tuition tables, fall residency classifications, and state-aid communications for the 2026-27 academic year. (justice.gov)

For colleges, the central uncertainty is timing. A lawsuit does not automatically rewrite a student’s bill, but the complaint specifically seeks an injunction, so campuses now have to plan for the possibility that a court could force changes on a tight calendar. At the University of Maryland, College Park, for example, residency reclassification petitions for Fall 2026 remain open through Aug. 31, underscoring how much classification work is still happening in late July. (justice.gov)

What Maryland’s law does now

Maryland’s statute, Education Article § 15-106.8, explicitly says an “individual” eligible for the nonresident tuition exemption includes an undocumented immigrant individual. To qualify, a student must meet Maryland high-school attendance and graduation requirements, enroll within the statutory window, and satisfy other conditions spelled out in the law. For public four-year institutions, the statute provides a rate equivalent to resident tuition; for community colleges, it provides a rate equivalent to in-county tuition. (mgaleg.maryland.gov)

State aid is part of the dispute too. The Maryland Higher Education Commission says that, beginning with the 2021-22 award year, qualified undocumented students who are eligible under § 15-106.8 may apply for various Maryland grants and scholarships through the MHEC One App rather than the FAFSA. That is why this case matters not only to admissions and registrar teams, but also to financial-aid offices that package state awards and explain eligibility rules to students who are not eligible for federal aid. (mhec.maryland.gov)

Maryland’s own reporting shows the policy is not marginal. In its 2025 annual report on the exemption, MHEC said students at 24 public postsecondary institutions benefited from the nonresident tuition exemption during the 2024-25 year, with total student savings of about $8.96 million. The report breaks that down into roughly $2.37 million at community colleges and $6.59 million at public four-year institutions, though it does not publish annual unduplicated headcounts in order to protect student privacy. (mhec.maryland.gov)

Why campus operations, not just ideology, are now at stake

The defendants named in the case show how broad the operational reach could be. DOJ sued the Board of Regents because it oversees tuition policy across the University System of Maryland, and it sued MHEC because the commission’s community-college residency regulation says immigration status may not preclude an award of Maryland residency if a person has the legal capacity to establish domicile. In other words, even colleges that are not individually named now have reason to review how residency is coded, appealed, documented, and communicated. (justice.gov)

This is where the case becomes very concrete for students. At UMBC, the FY 2027 published undergraduate tuition rate is $9,997 for in-state students and $30,200 for out-of-state students, a gap of $20,203 before room, board, and other costs. For a student who qualifies today under Maryland’s Dream Act rules, losing the exemption would not be a symbolic change; it could radically alter whether a bill is payable at all. That is also why aid offices may have to think about contingency scripts for award notices, payment plans, and holds if the court intervenes mid-cycle. (usmd.edu)

There is also a second-order effect that Maryland colleges will have to manage carefully: trust. Students who use Dream Act processes already navigate separate paperwork, including institution-specific tuition-exemption forms and the MHEC One App. If campuses change website language too early, they risk discouraging students from enrolling under rules that are still in effect. If they wait too long and a court issues fast relief, they could be left revising classifications and aid files under deadline pressure. That tension is now the real administrative story. (registrar.umd.edu)

Maryland enters a broader federal campaign

Legally, DOJ’s case rests on 8 U.S.C. § 1623(a), which says a person who is not lawfully present may not receive a postsecondary education benefit “on the basis of residence” within a state unless U.S. citizens are eligible for the same benefit without regard to residence. DOJ argues Maryland’s statute and regulation violate that rule. Maryland has not yet filed its response on the merits, but Brown’s statement makes clear the state intends to fight rather than quickly settle. One issue to watch is how the court treats Maryland’s eligibility structure, which is written around high-school attendance, graduation, and other state ties, against DOJ’s claim that the benefit is still residence-based. (uscode.house.gov)

Maryland is also not alone. DOJ said Thursday that this is its 13th lawsuit challenging state tuition benefits for undocumented students. In Texas, the department announced that a federal judge formally enjoined the state’s program after the state reached an agreement with DOJ, and in Nebraska DOJ said it filed a complaint alongside a proposed consent decree to permanently block that state’s in-state tuition and scholarship provisions. DOJ also has active challenges on the books in states including New Jersey and Virginia. Maryland, though, appears headed for a more adversarial path because its attorney general has publicly pledged a defense. (justice.gov)

For now, the practical takeaway for Maryland campuses is straightforward: keep current law in place unless a court orders otherwise, but prepare for fast-moving legal developments that could affect 2026-27 tuition coding and state-aid packaging. The next thing worth watching is not only whether Maryland files a forceful legal defense, but whether DOJ asks for — and wins — early injunctive relief before fall billing, residency appeals, and aid disbursement are fully settled. (justice.gov)