Editor’s Note: This article was published for the first time on October 22nd, 2025 by Julia Frías-Aguilar and Coral Cantu, and was translated to English by Valery Martinez Rodriguez on October 24th, 2025.
Hundreds of Hispanic students at the University of Texas at Austin received, in July, an unexpected email with a questionnaire that gave them less than two weeks to verify their immigration status. For many, this notification meant the difference between paying in-state tuition or having to cover more than three times the amount.
Among them was María Ochoa, a UT student who found out she was reclassified as an international student upon entering her admissions portal. “They changed my status, as I know it, they didn’t notify me in any email or anything like that, simply when I went in to check the registration myself, they had already changed me to international, which is a big price difference,” she commented in an interview with El Texan En Español.
María received the survey, named the Residency Questionnaire, only 14 days away from the beginning of the semester. Now, she is located in Guadalajara, Mexico, unable to continue her studies.
The questionnaire was sent to the students’ school email after a state order issued in June, asking for proof of residency. Although several of the students met the requirements for the in-state tuition, the lack of clarity in the criteria and the short amount of time prevented many from turning in the required documentation before the due date, and as a result, they were reclassified as non-residents.
Additionally, during Spring 2025, UT implemented a new official email policy for students in which all institutional communication will be sent to their Microsoft 365 account, guaranteeing that all students receive important information from the university through a single official channel. However, many students were not checking or aware of this new institutional email, especially during the summer.
“They should have used other means to inform, like a mailing list, text messages, alerts or posters. Something more to remind students, because this has a great impact,” commented in an interview for this report Roselia Méndez Murillo, an assistant professor for the department of communication studies at the University of Texas at Austin. “It’s not like saying ‘You’ll miss out on a social event,’ it is something that will affect their livelihood, their future.”
Mendez Murillo explains that for many students, especially those who are first-generation or immigrants, the university represents their primary source of support and resources. When the institutional processes change without clear communication or sufficient time for preparation, ideas of inequality, impostor syndrome, and barriers in access that already exist are reinforced. The professor asked rhetorically, “If you depend on the university as your main source of support and suddenly that disappears, who do you turn to?”
Barara Hines, an American lawyer of immigration rights, explains that to understand the reach of these measures, it is important to understand that in 2001, the Texas Dream Act allowed students without legal migratory status, but who had grown up and studied in Texas, to pay in-state tuition at public universities of the state. Hines continues explaining that “What happened in June was that President Trump sued the attorney general of Texas, and in six hours they signed an agreement saying the law was illegal.” And that, “The judicial order says that if you are not legally present in the country, you have to pay out-of-state tuition, and that means that if you are legally present, you can still study under the Texas Dream Act.”
Two weeks later, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) instructed universities to identify and reclassify students who didn’t have “legal presence” in the country as non-resident.
“The students with legal presence have a legal right, according to the Texas code of education, to pay in-state tuition,” pointed out Hines, highlighting that the university asked for proof of legal status, which excluded many students who in reality, did have a legal presence.
In legal terms, “legal presence” means that a person finds themselves in the United States with authorization from the federal government, even if they don’t necessarily have a permanent migratory status. This includes those who have active visas, work permits, asylum, temporary residence or applications in process by the Department of National Security. It also covers beneficiaries of humanitarian programs, such as those who fall under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), or Temporary Protected Status (TPS), while their permit is active.
Texan en Español obtained a video of the sent questionnaire. The form included questions with terms that ask to be exclusively a“Permanent Resident,” or have “proof of residence,” and “status of permanent resident.” However, it is possible to be legally present without being a resident, which the questionnaire excludes.
“How is a student who fills this out by themselves, without someone who understands these matters, supposed to know what to include?” asks Hines. Similarly, Mendez Murillo explains that “it’s like when you learn a sport: ‘how do you learn without someone to train you?”
This is how students like María ended up in an uncertain situation, from one day to the next, and racing against time to solve their academic future. “They asked me to fill out information to see what my legal status was and see if they could still count me as ‘in-state tuition or resident,’” commented Ochoa. María was ready to continue with her studies; she had signed a leasing contract that she must keep paying, even when not being in Austin.
Both Maria and Hines explain that they feel like the university, if it had had more time, could have handled the situation more effectively. UT, along with the rest of the state universities, had only weeks to make the modifications required by the state. In addition, “it is unrealistic to expect such a big group of students to turn in their documentation in such little time,” commented the expert in communications, Mendez Murillo.
Upon the situation, hundreds of students opted to pay for the corresponding out-of-state tuition and ask for a refund once they turned in the required documentation. Even then, the tuition for non-residents exceeds $40,000 per year, as opposed to the $11,000 that students with in-state tuition pay. For many, covering that amount and waiting for a possible reimbursement was not a viable option. “They told me that I could still submit the documents, but that nothing could confirm or make it really sure that they were going to give it to me,” commented María.
El Texan en Español (TEE) tried to contact UT Austin, Texas One Stop, and the Office of Registrar for this report. The three organizations declined to comment.
“I hope they have checked all their files to make sure that they have not improperly reclassified students that should have been considered residents.” declared the lawyer. “This is what all schools should do: be very careful not to erroneously classify students.”
