The Coordinated Assault Against Dreamers’ Access to Tuition Equity

The Coordinated Assault Against Dreamers’ Access to Tuition Equity

October 7, 2026

On August 27, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) announced four lawsuits against states’ tuition-equity policies for Dreamers, detailing new filings against Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. Two weeks later, on September 10, 2026, the DoJ announced four additional lawsuits against tuition equity, this time filing suit against policies in Arkansas, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, and Utah, bringing the total to 25 such lawsuits filed in the past two years, as well as an additional lawsuit filed last week against an individual university.

This report aims to highlight the coordinated nature of the challenge to Dreamers’ tuition equity and raise awareness about the collective harms of these efforts. Notably, these harms are not just incurred by Dreamers, but by colleges and universities, broader state and national economies, and future workforce competitiveness as well. In the following pages, we offer:

01
An overview of the legal challenges, legal outlook, and larger coordinated national pattern on display;

02
A look at the current related policy landscape and implications for institutions of higher education; and

03
An examination at why making it more difficult for Dreamers to study and access work authorization is broadly harmful, including statistics and stories pulled from TheDream.US data on the more than 8,800 Scholars and Alumni residing in the 24 states and DC that are navigating lawsuits on tuition equity.

See the full document here.