Immigrants who were brought to the United States illegally by their parents will qualify for in-state tuition at Arizona’s three public universities, the Board of Regents decided on Thursday. The Arizona Daily Star reports that the regents’ decision takes effect immediately.
The unanimous vote came two days after Judge Arthur Anderson of the Maricopa County Superior Court ruled that the Maricopa County Community College District could offer in-state tuition to students covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, which President Obama introduced in 2012.
The judge’s ruling set a precedent for Maricopa County only, but it clearly spurred the regents into action.
“We had a judge in Superior Court look at the statute, which is exactly on point and is the statute we follow, and interpret it to say DACA students qualify for in-state tuition,” said Greg Patterson, a regent. “I see no way that we could then … question the authority of this judge to interpret this statute.”
Correction (5/8/2015, 1:57 p.m.): A previous version of this post incorrectly referred to a University of Arizona system. The Arizona Board of Regents oversees the state’s three public universities, where the tuition change takes effect, but those campuses do not constitute a system. The post has been corrected to reflect that.
