How Kansas bill revoking in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants could fail
.JPG "Kansas State Capitol building in Topeka, Kansas.")
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas Legislature sent bill to governor to end in-state tuition.
- Measure passed the House and Senate without enough votes for potential veto override.
- Applicants for public benefits must have status verified via DHS database.
A divided Kansas Legislature this week sent Gov. Laura Kelly a bill that would end the practice of offering in-state tuition to immigrants without legal status in the U.S.
The legislation would also require anyone applying for state or local benefits to prove their status as either a citizen or an immigrant who came to the country legally.
If Kelly objects to the legislation, it would be uniquely vulnerable to failure because neither the House nor the Senate passed it with enough votes to override her veto.
Democrats in the two chambers stood united against Senate Bill 254, and a vocal minority of Republicans offered some of the most scathing critiques of the in-state tuition reversal.
“We’re hypocrites here,” said Senate Vice President Tim Shallenburger, a Baxter Springs Republican, before voting against the bill on Tuesday.
He pointed out that Kansas universities routinely recruit international students by offering full-ride scholarships for athletes, who can now be paid directly by schools.
Undocumented students who have attended at least three years of high school in Kansas and earned a diploma here have been eligible to receive in-state tuition at Kansas public colleges and universities since 2004.
“We’re saying we don’t want someone who’s lived in this state for nineteen years, who has done everything they’re supposed to do — they’ve gone through (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) — they’ve done everything they’re supposed to do,” Shallenburger said.
“I hope the governor vetoes it,” he added.
‘A fighting chance’
Diosselyn Tot, a Wyandotte County resident who grew up as an undocumented immigrant, submitted written testimony opposing the bill. She told lawmakers that without access to federal financial aid, paying out-of-state tuition would have put college out of reach for her.
“I was born in Guatemala, but Kansas City, Kansas, has been my home since I was six year sold,” Tot said in her written testimony.
“The opportunity to pay in-state tuition at the University of Kansas changed my life,” she told lawmakers. “It didn’t erase the challenges — I still worked multiple jobs, balanced long hours, and navigated the stress of an uncertain legal status — but it gave me a fighting chance.”
Kansas Board of Regents data shows that between 2010 and 2024, almost 8,000 undocumented students received in-state tuition at Kansas colleges and universities. To qualify for in-state tuition, a student must demonstrate that they are in the process of applying to become a legal resident.
Last month, the House approved a version of the legislation that stripped out the in-state tuition prohibition. But it was added back in by a conference committee of lawmakers from both chambers earlier this month.
That compromise was made in exchange for dropping an unrelated provision of the bill that would have labeled any noncitizen charged with a crime as a flight risk, automatically denying them bail until a court hearing where a judge would weigh the likelihood of the suspect fleeing to their home country.
Lawmakers kept in a provision that would require applicants for public benefits to have their citizenship status verified through a Department of Homeland Security-run database before being approved to receive benefits.
After months of debate and negotiations, SB 254 passed the House 78-46 last Thursday and was narrowly approved by the Senate 22-18 on Tuesday. At least six House lawmakers and five senators would have to switch their votes to override a potential veto.
‘Compassion goes both ways’
Attorney General Kris Kobach argued that Kansas has been violating federal law for the last 22 years by offering in-state tuition to undocumented students. His legal opinion to that effect pointed out that the Trump administration filed lawsuits against seven states with similar in-state tuition policies in 2025.
Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia currently offer undocumented immigrants in-state tuition, according to the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a nonpartisan coalition of college and university leaders. Missouri law generally prohibits granting in-state tuition to students without lawful immigration status.
Sen. Mike Thompson, a Shawnee Republican who introduced the bill last year, said on Tuesday that the Trump administration will be tracking the outcome of the Kansas legislation closely.
“We either pass this bill now or we end up in court, and it is strict scrutiny language in the federal law, so we would lose and we would either come back and have to pass this law again or we would have to provide in-state tuition to anyone in the United States who wanted to come to any one of our postsecondary schools,” Thompson said.
Multiple courts around the country have ruled that offering in-state tuition to undocumented students doesn’t count as a public benefit, as defined by federal law.
Sen. TJ Rose, an Olathe Republican, said he opposed the bill because it would unfairly target students who were brought to the U.S. as children.
“I believe that the United States of America is a just and compassionate nation, and since we have sealed the southern border, I believe that gives us the opportunity to demonstrate (compassion) to illegal immigrants who are living peaceful and productive lives,” Rose said.
Thompson bristled at Rose’s assertion that reversing Kansas’ in-state tuition policy would run counter to Christian teachings.
“I don’t know how you measure compassion. But in some instances, compassion goes both ways,” Thompson said. “Are you compassionate for the taxpayer who is having a hard time paying their bills? And yet we’re handing out public benefits to people who are here illegally.”
Sen. Virgil Peck, a Havana Republican with a history of making inflammatory remarks about immigration, argued that the students in question don’t deserve “special treatment.”
“We are talking about individuals who are breaking the laws of the United States by being here. We’re not going to give special treatment to other law-breakers, are we?” said Peck, who as a House member in 2011 apologized after joking that the practice of shooting feral hogs from a helicopter could present “a (solution) to our illegal immigration problem.”
Senate Minority Leader Dinah Sykes, a Lenexa Democrat who’s running for insurance commissioner, pointed out that Kansas’ population growth is among the lowest in the country. Undocumented students are vital to the future of the state, she argued.
“With education and training, students who complete the program and go to work in Kansas contribute to the economic and social well-being of Kansas, so Kansas should celebrate undocumented students that have paid in-state tuition,” Sykes said.
Rep. Chuck Smith, a Pittsburg Republican and retired high school math teacher, told his colleagues last week that for many undocumented students, paying out-of-state tuition isn’t a financially viable option.
“Let them get in-state tuition, and if something happens that they go back to their home country, they’ll make their home country a better place,” Smith said.
This story was originally published March 25, 2026 at 1:39 PM.
