Arizona Voters Approve In-State College Tuition For Undocumented Students

While Arizona captured recent national headlines when its voters rejected notorious election-deniers like Kari Lake, Blake Masters and Mark Finchem in the 2022 midterm elections, the state’s voters also approved Proposition 308, which will allow its public universities and community colleges to charge in-state tuition to students who graduated from an Arizona public high school, regardless of their immigration status.

With more than 98% of the vote counted, support for Proposition 308 was outpacing votes against it by a margin of 51.3% to 49.7%, about a 60,000 vote difference.

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It’s estimated that more than 3,600 undocumented students who graduate from Arizona high schools every year could benefit from the new measure.

With Proposition 308’s passage, Arizona’s “Dreamers” will now be able to pursue higher education at Arizona’s public colleges and universities at a much more affordable price. Published in-state undergraduate tuition and fees is about $13,000 a year at the state’s two biggest universities – Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.

By contrast, undocumented students who attend an Arizona high school for at least three years and graduate have been required since 2019 to pay 150% of in-state tuition, rather than the listed nonresident tuition rates that exceed $30,000. Proposition 308 will also make them eligible for state financial aid at the public universities and community colleges in Arizona.

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Exit polls showed that the ballot initiative enjoyed considerable support across partisan lines, with 81% of Democrats, 53% of independent voters and 27% of Republicans voting for it. Its success signals a remarkable turnaround in attitudes toward undocumented students in Arizona, which has previously approved several anti-immigration measures. In 2006, for example, the voters approved a law that prohibited non-citizens from receiving in-state tuition and state-funded scholarships or financial aid.

The proposition’s passage will ramp up calls and expectations for federal legislation that would provide permanent, national protection for hundreds of thousands of undocumented students. Recent polling suggests that extending legal status to eligible undocumented youth and giving them a pathway to citizenship enjoys strong bipartisan support across the country.

The need for that protection has once again moved front and center as the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, established by President Obama in 2012, faces possible termination. Under DACA, young undocumented immigrants meeting certain criteria have been protected from deportation.

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Donald Trump tried to end DACA in 2017, but the Supreme Court decided that although the Trump administration had the power to end the program, it did not follow proper procedures to do so. Then, last year, a Texas court ruled the DACA program unlawful and prohibited approval of new applicants, but it stayed its ruling, allowing existing Dreamers to continue renewing their DACA status and work authorization. The Biden administration appealed the ruling and wrote new regulations that replace the 2012 rules, which the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit had found unlawful. A court decision on the new regulations is anticipated soon.

“Arizona continues to lead the country in historic shifts in the political tides, and so that really marks this moment of, at a federal level, the country is also ready to support our immigrant communities and being able to see legislation in favor of our immigrant communities,” said Alejandra Gomez, the executive director for Living United for Change Arizona.

Echoing those comments, Christian Penichet-Paul, Director of the Higher Ed Immigration Portal and State Policy, said, “Arizonans have delivered a resounding message to the nation: undocumented students are and should continue to be integral parts of our communities. We congratulate our Arizona partners, the bipartisan coalition, and the many undocumented students that delivered this victory on Proposition 308. We must also note that this victory does not absolve Congress from the need to act. Congress needs to pass a permanent, legislative solution before the end of this year to ensure Dreamers and other undocumented students have an opportunity to stay in the U.S.”

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Counting Arizona, about 20 states now have legislation that extends in-state college tuition to undocumented students.