NU Still Grappling With How to Follow Judge’s Order Banning In-State Tuition for Illegals
by John Gage
(Picture credit Jeff Gold)
LINCOLN – The University of Nebraska is still figuring out how to comply with a court ruling that will require the university system to begin charging illegal immigrants at the university full tuition.
In June, Judge Brian Buescher struck down a Nebraska law that allowed the university to give in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. As part of his ruling, Buescher said the state law violated federal law and denied a request for a stay by the court.
“The Nebraska statutes establishing residence requirements for illegal aliens to obtain in-state tuition, while leaving United States citizens from other states to pay full out-of-state tuition, blatantly violate the federal law,” Buescher wrote.
The decision is currently being appealed to the Eighth Circuit, but in the meantime, the ruling is in effect.
The university has previously not asked students about their immigration or legal status, and has relied on documentation simply showing a student had established sufficient residency in the state. Now, officials are scrambling to figure out how to enforce the court ruling, and the clock is ticking, according to documents obtained by The Plains Sentinel.
NU Still Working On Plan
Internal documentation regarding the university’s response to the ruling shows that officials are still formulating a plan on how to gather the immigration status of students. NU officials say they only know if someone is a Nebraska resident based on state statute as well as the Board of Regents bylaws and policies, which do not require proof of U.S. citizenship.
University officials said they are considering using information from federal student aid forms as well as passports or birth certificates to determine whether students qualified for in-state tuition or not. The university appears to not be collecting any students’ citizenship or legal status information currently according to conversations The Plains Sentinel has had with both NU officials and current students.
In a statement to The Plains Sentinel, a spokesperson said that the university was following the law:
“Following the June 2026 federal court ruling regarding Nebraska statutes governing resident tuition eligibility, students seeking to qualify for Nebraska resident tuition will be required to verify U.S. citizenship or other qualifying legal status. As a public institution, the University of Nebraska is implementing this requirement in accordance with applicable state and federal law.”
Deadlines Approaching
The Plains Sentinel spoke with multiple students paying in-state tuition across the university system, and they said several deadlines were quickly approaching for students wanting to pay their tuition.
The university has told students that their fall tuition balances will be available by “mid July.” Additionally, billing statements will be officially “generated” by August 31, and students’ payments are “due” on September 23.
In his ruling, Buescher wrote that it was “contrary to the public interest” for illegal immigrants to still be getting in-state tuition, effective immediately.
“In the Court’s view, the fact that potentially unconstitutional state statutes have remained unchallenged for several years does not warrant further delay in determining their validity in the face of federal law when those state statutes are challenged,” he wrote.
Its unclear whether the university will put in changes to their system before fall tuition is due.
— John Gage is the executive editor of The Plains Sentinel.
My Latino in-laws are furious at the systemic racism of the University of Nebraska. There is no immigration problem. There is a good vs. bad immigrant problem. My in-laws are good immigrants. They obeyed the law to come here and become U.S. citizens. Bad immigrants don’t do that.
What makes my in-laws angry are progressive racists who treat all immigrants as genetically inferior—unable to comprehend what it means to obey the law. They act like immigrants cannot be expected to behave like responsible individuals. Such white supremacists believe bad immigrants should not be deported because they believe all people of color are unable to understand the difference between right and wrong. That drives my Latino in-laws crazy.
Conservatives call bad immigrants, “illegal aliens.” Liberals call them, “undocumented aliens.” The Constitution calls them, “invaders.” Whatever they’re called, we should all care enough about bad aliens to be honest with them and tell them the law requires them to leave.
Dr. King said he wanted his children to be known by their character, not their race. The University of Nebraska (NU) should care enough to ensure its immigrant students are of good character, meaning they are here legally. NU should also care enough about its bad immigrant students to ensure they are promptly deported so they can begin to correct their bad life choices. That’s honest compassion. My good Latino in-laws would approve.
This is beyond pathetic. There should be a tuition rate for in-state students, a higher rate for out-of-state students, and illegals should not be allowed to enroll. They are here illegally, and to enroll them at all should be illegal, but to enroll them as in-state students is infuriating. This is the university that is never satisfied with the ever-increasing rate of taxpayer funding. I think I can speak for the vast majority of Nebraska taxpayers by saying we don't want to fund the education of illegal immigrants.