A University of North Texas student is among the plaintiffs in a motion filed in federal court asking a federal judge to intervene in a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against Texas over the state’s Dream Act. The 2001 Texas law granted in-state tuition to students without legal status.
Oscar Silva, a UNT graduate student, joined the Austin Community College District and La Unión del Pueblo Entero in filing the motion late Tuesday. La Unión del Pueblo Entero is an advocacy group representing the low-income community of the Rio Grande Valley. The three plaintiffs want in-state tuition to be reinstated at Texas public colleges and universities.
“The Texas Dream Act means everything to me,” Silva said in a statement through the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas. The ACLU of Texas, Texas Civil Rights Project, Democracy Forward, National Immigration Law Center and the Dallas-based firm of Lynn Pinker Hurst & Schwegmann filed the motion on behalf of the college district, the advocacy group and Silva.
The ACLU of Texas described Silva as “a Texas Dreamer asking to defend the law.”
“This law has made my education possible,” Silva said in the statement. “Without it, college would’ve been out of reach for me as a first-generation college student. Because of this one Texas law, I was allowed to pay in-state tuition at public universities and join my high school classmates in college. I have been able to pursue several college degrees and build upon the academic foundation that’s allowed me to support a future for me and my family.”
The Justice Department sued the state of Texas earlier this month to block the 24-year-old Dream Act. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton entered into a consent judgment with the federal department hours after the suit was filed, and with too little time for impacted individuals and agencies to relay their concerns to their representatives in the state House.
When the Legislature passed the Texas Dream Act in 2001, it lowered a big financial barrier that many students face, including recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era federal program that allows some immigrants to get work permits. The law granted in-state tuition to high school graduates who lack legal status but who lived in Texas for at least three years before earning a diploma.
The ACLU of Texas said that in 2021, just over 20,000 students signed in-state tuition affidavits. That’s a small number of Texas college students, but a degree is still one way for low-income residents to achieve what colleges call social mobility, which is a pathway to career growth and more earning power.
The cost of out-of-state tuition isn’t insignificant. Texas Woman’s University gives a list of total estimated cost of attendance for undergraduates for 2025-26: $27,877 for on-campus students, $29,511 for off-campus students and $17,847 for students who live at home. That includes tuition and fees for 15 credit hours per semester and estimated costs of housing, books and supplies, transportation and personal expenses. Out-of-state tuition tacks on an additional $12,600.
The University of North Texas reports that tuition for 2025-26 costs $230 per credit hour for in-state students, but climbs to $460 per credit hour for nonresidents.
At North Central Texas College, Texas students who live outside of the community college district in Cooke County pay a total of $212 per credit hour in tuition and fees: $57 for tuition, $55 in general use fees and $100 in out-of-district fees. That last fee for out-of-state students is $205 per credit hour, for a total of $317 per credit hour in tuition and fees.
The Denton Record-Chronicle asked all three schools how many students might be affected by state officials’ decision to require colleges and universities to identify students without legal status so they can be charged out-of-state tuition. Each school has students seeking degrees or certificates who are in the U.S. without legal status.
TWU and NCTC officials said they were working to respond to the newspaper’s request but hadn’t by Wednesday evening.
One year ago, Silva told KERA that he hoped to be able to participate in “Parole in Place,” a program launched by the Biden administration that would offer work permits and protection from deportation. The program applied only to immigrants who have been in the United States for 10 years and are married to a U.S. citizen.
Silva arrived in the U.S. as a toddler, when his parents brought him and his older sister to Texas from San Luis Potosi, Mexico, in search of economic opportunity. In 2017, Silva started applying for DACA. He was still in the process of applying when President Donald Trump announced he was ending the program.
Trump’s decision set off a long fight over the legality of DACA that hasn’t yet been resolved. A Texas federal judge struck down the Parole in Place program in November.
Sean Hassan, the Austin Community College board chair, said the Department of Justice lawsuit potentially hurts a rapidly growing state that is hungry for workers.
“Employers and taxpayers are looking to community colleges to produce a sufficient number of highly skilled graduates to meet workforce needs,” Hassan said. “If legislation or court decisions will impact our ability to meet these expectations, we should have a seat at the table to help shape responsible solutions. The action by our Board asks the court to ensure our voice is heard.”