{"id":39668,"date":"2026-01-27T09:27:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=39668"},"modified":"2026-01-27T09:27:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T15:27:48","slug":"repeal-of-in-state-tuition-for-certain-immigrant-students-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=39668","title":{"rendered":"Repeal of in-state tuition for certain immigrant students considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

Certain immigrant students would no longer be eligible for in-state tuition at Nebraska postsecondary institutions under a pair of proposals considered by the Education Committee Jan. 26.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Bob Andersen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under current state law, certain categories of non-resident students qualify for in-state tuition, including those who were brought to the U.S. as children, established residency and graduated from Nebraska high schools.<\/p>\n

LB870, as introduced by Omaha Sen. Bob Andersen, would eliminate in-state tuition to students seeking relief under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. It also would no longer require post-secondary institutions to grant in-state tuition to certain homeschooled students.<\/p>\n

Under LB1061, sponsored by Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, current language in state law allowing eligibility for those seeking to attain \u201clawful status under federal immigration law\u201d would be replaced with language limiting eligibility to those who have a \u201cbona fide intention to become lawful permanent residents of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nebraska has allowed DACA students to receive in-state tuition since 2006, when lawmakers enacted the policy over a veto by former Gov. Dave Heineman.<\/p>\n

LB870 would repeal much of that law, Andersen said, and reserve in-state tuition for lawful residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cLB870 is a simple bill to reimplement common sense and fiscal responsibility,\u201d he said. \u201cIn-state tuition rates are lower and [are] a privilege reserved for Nebraska residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Dave Murman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Murman said he and Andersen would work together to advance LB870, warning that Nebraska potentially could face federal scrutiny or costly litigation if the measure does not pass. He cited a 2025 case in Texas in which the U.S. Department of Justice sued over a similar in-state tuition law.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe federal government may move slowly, but I wouldn\u2019t count out that they may very well take a look here at Nebraska,\u201d Murman said.<\/p>\n

Doug Kagan testified in support of both measures on behalf of Nebraska Taxpayers for Freedom, echoing Murman\u2019s comments that failing to act could \u201cincur the wrath of the Trump Department of Justice on our state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ruby Mendez Lopez opposed both measures on behalf of Nebraska Appleseed, saying the current law allows many Nebraska immigrants to access higher education and later contribute to their local communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cImmigrant Nebraskans who have accessed college before because of Nebraska\u2019s in-state tuition policy make valuable contributions to our state and fields like health care, business, education, agriculture, social services and many more,\u201d Mendez Lopez said.<\/p>\n

Lucia Pedroza-Estrada also opposed the bills, saying they would worsen Nebraska\u2019s \u201cbrain drain\u201d by making college inaccessible to some residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou cannot claim to want to retain Nebraska talent while pushing educated, work-ready people out,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re not protecting Nebraska\u2019s future, we\u2019re actively undermining it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The committee took no immediate action on either proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Certain immigrant students would no longer be eligible for in-state tuition at Nebraska postsecondary institutions under a pair of proposals considered by the Education Committee Jan. 26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39657,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[313],"class_list":["post-39668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-sen-bob-andersen"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/LB870-1061Andersen1-26-26a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39670,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39668\/revisions\/39670"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/39657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}