American Students First Act
The American Students First Act would amend section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to withhold federal financial assistance from public colleges and universities that grant in-state tuition or state-based financial aid to aliens not lawfully present in the United States. Specifically, if the Secretary of Education determines that a public institution is ineligible under the new rules, that institution would lose any federal funding for the fiscal year following the determination. The bill defines who counts as not lawfully present, and frames eligibility around tuition rates for non-lawfully present students and the provision of state aid to them. The measure is introduced in the 119th Congress and has been assigned to the Judiciary and Education and Workforce committees. In short, it creates a federal incentive for public higher ed institutions to restrict in-state tuition or state aid for undocumented or otherwise non-lawfully-present students by tying federal funding to those practices.
Key Points
- 1Adds a new subsection (c) to Section 505 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 to govern federal funding eligibility for public higher education.
- 2Prohibits a public institution of higher education from receiving any Federal financial assistance for the next fiscal year if the Secretary of Education determines the institution is ineligible for one of two reasons: (A) it charges not-lawfully-present aliens in-state tuition or at a rate less than or equal to in-state US citizens; or (B) it provides state-based financial aid to such aliens.
- 3Establishes the basis for ineligibility through a determination by the Secretary of Education for the following fiscal year.
- 4Aligns terminology with existing law by defining federal financial assistance, institution of higher education, and state as used in the act.
- 5Short title of the bill is the “American Students First Act.”