Illegal aliens living in Kansas will no longer receive in-state tuition at Kansas universities after federal judge Holly Teeter ruled that federal law preempts a Kansas law giving in-state tuition to illegal aliens. The ruling permanently prohibits Kansas from enforcing its law granting in-state tuition to illegal aliens.
“For years, Kansas universities have been violating federal law by giving in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens, while nonresident U.S. citizens have to pay much more in tuition,” Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said in a release. “The governor tried to intervene in this case, because she wanted to continue giving in-state tuition benefits to illegal aliens. With this decision, the court rejected her illogical arguments, and once again, U.S. citizens will be treated better than illegal aliens by Kansas universities.”
The United States Department of Justice sued Kansas on June 24, 2026, alleging that the 2004 statute unlawfully extended in-state tuition to aliens who are not lawfully present in the United States while U.S. citizens from other states pay higher nonresident rates.
Governor Laura Kelly attempted to intervene and “resisted the conclusion” that illegal aliens were receiving in-state tuition.
In her ruling, Teeter said Kelly gave “three hypothetical situations to show that education, not residence, drives eligibility. But her hypotheticals largely sidestep the plain and unambiguous text of K.S.A. 76-731a and ask the Court to apply a definition of ‘resident’ that differs from K.S.A. 76-731a”
Kelly offered a hypothetical:
A student living in Kansas City, Missouri, could attend a private, but accredited Kansas high school for three years, graduate from that high school, apply to a Kansas postsecondary educational institution, and complete the required affidavit. If the student is undocumented and has no student visa, that student, although a resident of Missouri, would not be eligible to enroll in any Missouri, or other, public post-secondary educational institution because Missouri has no statute comparable to K.S.A. 76-731a.
Teeter said that conclusion does not fit with the plain language of the statute.
“The Kansas statutory language does not leave room for confusion,” Teeter wrote. “It is straightforward: the only way to receive the postsecondary education benefit is by being a resident. Kansas lists criteria for one to be a resident.”
Regardless of the governor’s arguments, Teeter found the law did, indeed, make illegal aliens eligible for in-state tuition.
“In sum, the Court finds that K.S.A. 76-731a makes an unlawfully present alien eligible for a postsecondary education benefit (e.g., in-state tuition) on the basis of residence within Kansas,” Teeter wrote.
She said federal law preempts the statute because “it confers a postsecondary education benefit on an unlawfully present alien based on a state-defined residency conclusion without making that same benefit generally available to United States citizens and nationals regardless of their residence.”
This aligns with the February 2026 Attorney General Opinion 2026-5, which concluded that K.S.A. 76-731a conflicts with federal law. The statute deems certain persons without lawful immigration status to be Kansas residents for tuition and fees if they attended an accredited Kansas high school for three or more years, graduated or earned a Kansas GED, and filed a required affidavit. The court agreed that this residency-deeming mechanism, not merely high-school attendance, triggers the benefit—and that isolated exceptions for military members or reciprocity agreements do not satisfy the federal law.
