Source reporting: Texas Scorecard
The U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has declined to rehear a challenge involving Texas’ former in-state tuition policy for qualifying undocumented students, according to Texas Scorecard. The September 8 action leaves a July appellate decision in place and preserves the judgment ending the state benefit.
Texas had allowed certain students without lawful immigration status to pay resident tuition at public colleges and universities if they met state residency and other eligibility requirements. In June 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas, arguing that federal law bars states from giving undocumented students a postsecondary education benefit that is unavailable on the same terms to U.S. citizens from other states.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton agreed with the federal government’s position and settled the case, which ended the program. Two advocacy organizations, Austin Community College and an individual student then sought to intervene and overturn the judgment.
Texas Scorecard reported that the district court rejected those intervention requests after concluding that the state law was preempted by federal law and that intervention would not change the outcome. A three-judge Fifth Circuit panel upheld that decision in July. The panel reasoned that eligible undocumented Texas residents could receive a tuition rate generally unavailable to U.S. citizens living outside Texas, creating the type of disparity addressed by federal law.
The challengers asked the full Fifth Circuit in late August to reconsider the case. They argued that the panel improperly denied intervention and that the Texas policy complied with federal requirements. On September 8, the court denied the requests. According to the report, the court treated the filings as requests for panel rehearing and noted that no active judge requested a vote on rehearing the dispute en banc.
The immediate effect is procedural: the July appellate ruling remains controlling, and the intervenors did not reopen the underlying judgment. The decision has broader consequences for tuition classifications at Texas public institutions, which must administer residency benefits consistently with the federal-law interpretation accepted by the courts in this litigation. It also underscores how a state settlement can continue to shape public policy even when outside groups seek to revive a disputed statute.