Immigrant students in Arizona are optimistic about a recent legal analysis from Attorney General Kris Mayes showing a state law providing in-state tuition to "Dreamers" aligns with federal law.
Proposition 308 passed with bipartisan support from voters in 2022 — partly reversing an old state law and opening in-state tuition to all high school graduates in Arizona — regardless of immigration status.
Arizona is now one of 24 states with laws like that on the books. But in April, an executive order from President Donald Trump said the U.S. attorney general would take action to stop the enforcement of local laws like those — arguing they favor immigrants. Reyna Montoya with the immigrant advocacy group Aliento says the order was causing confusion for students.
“We also heard stories from students that were being given the wrong information by counselors and by teachers, so that was really alarming for us,” she said. “So seeing this week that Attorney General Mayes affirmed that Prop. 308 or in-state tuition with the state of Arizona is in alignment with federal law, that was very validating.”
Montoya estimates close to 3,500 students graduate high school in Arizona every year who now qualify for in-state tuition under the law. She says other students who were forced to leave their studies are returning now that it’s become more affordable.
Under the law, undocumented students from Arizona and those with DACA pay the same tuition as their peers who were born in the U.S. Montoya estimates they were paying as much as triple that amount without the legislation.
