Since the summer began, an undocumented student, who will further be referred to as Alex for safety reasons, has been working two jobs, totaling over 55 hours per week, to save as much money as possible before the semester begins. The reality of a nearly tripled tuition rate at $50,000 per semester weighs heavily on their mind. 

For 24 years, the Texas Dream Act granted students like Alex, who were not citizens or permanent residents, in-state tuition rates if they lived in Texas for at least three years and signed an affidavit intending to apply for permanent residency status, which 20,137 students signed in 2021, according to Every Texan. A federal judge overturned the law on June 4, the same day the lawsuit was filed, just two days following the end of the 89th Texas Legislative Session. 

State lawmakers filed at least nine bills this past legislative session seeking to end the Texas Dream Act. While none ultimately passed, legal experts said the sudden reversal of the policy will possibly impact thousands of undocumented students in the state. 

“It’s clear that the will of the legislature was not to repeal the Dream Act,” said Kassi Gonzalez, senior attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project. “When the United States sued the state of Texas, everything happened in a matter of six hours with very little time for individuals that had an interest in the case to intervene and defend the constitutionality of the Dream Act.” 

Alex earned a merit-based scholarship to help them pursue an engineering degree at UT. Being the first in their family to attend college, this also meant Alex navigated college applications without their parents, a process which included the Texas Application for State Financial Aid on paper, which only in 2024, transitioned online. Alex later became a role model for their younger sibling when they transitioned to college a year later. 

“As an undocumented student, you’re not really safe anywhere,” Alex said. “I was lucky enough, I had a great mentor, she helped me find a way to go to college, and she told me that undocumented students were able to go to college, especially here in Texas, with the Dream Act.”

With limited guidance available from their academic advisor and Texas One Stop, Alex said they felt their situation mirrored many other undocumented students “in limbo,” trying to understand what financial aid pathways they had available in the short timeframe before the fall semester would begin. 

“It comes down to income,” Alex said. “It’s tough, and I don’t want to put my mom and my dad on to this situation as to which of us can they support.”

The University could not comment on the timeline for compliance or whether it would communicate with students regarding potential changes to their tuition rate for the upcoming school year. 

There were approximately 57,000 undocumented students enrolled in Texas colleges and universities in 2022, according to most recent data by the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration. 

A group of undocumented students represented by the Latino civil rights advocacy organization, Mexican American Legal Defense Fund, filed a motion last week seeking to intervene in the lawsuit against the Texas Dream Act.

Since a decision was reached prior to the students’ motion to intervene, next steps will depend on U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor’s ruling, Gonzalez said. It is unclear how long the process will take, given that judges can generally exercise their own discretion to preside over cases, she said.

For now, Alex takes things day by day and considers the possibility of taking one or two classes per semester to avoid the cost of a full-time course load.

“I just want to say to the undocumented students at UT, or any public university in Texas, that they’re not alone,” Alex said. “I know that it feels like the system is obviously against us right now, but our dreams are still valid. My message to them is to just keep showing up, just keep pushing and know that there’s a whole community out there fighting for you.”