A federal judge has struck down Illinois’ long-standing effort to make college affordable for undocumented students who grew up in the state. On Friday, July 25, 2026, U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn – a Trump appointee sitting in the Southern District of Illinois – ruled that the state’s in-state tuition and financial aid programs for undocumented immigrants are unconstitutional as applied to them.
What the Programs Do
For more than a decade, Illinois has been among the states working to open the doors of higher education to students who were brought to the country as children. Two state laws sit at the center of this case. The RISE Act extended state financial aid to undocumented residents who meet Illinois residency requirements, and the Illinois DREAM Act created a scholarship framework to help those students pay for college. Together, they allowed young people who graduated from Illinois high schools to attend state universities at the same in-state rates as their classmates.
Illinois is one of roughly two dozen states that have offered some form of in-state tuition to undocumented students, and its programs have long been held up by advocates as a model. The students who benefit are often described as Dreamers – immigrants brought to the U.S. as children who have grown up as Americans in every way except on paper.
The Ruling
The challenge came from the U.S. Department of Justice, which argued that Illinois had run afoul of federal law by treating undocumented immigrants “better than U.S. citizens living in other states.” The DOJ’s position was that a citizen from a neighboring state like Indiana or Missouri would pay higher out-of-state tuition at an Illinois public university, while an undocumented Illinois resident could qualify for in-state rates and aid.
Judge McGlynn agreed, siding with the Justice Department’s reading of federal law over the state’s decade-old policy. He found the programs unconstitutional as applied to undocumented students – a decision that, if it stands, would strip state tuition help from thousands of young people across Illinois.
A 14-Day Pause
Crucially, this is a single federal district-court ruling, not a final or appellate decision. McGlynn stayed enforcement of his order for 14 days, giving Illinois a window to ask a federal appeals court to intervene before the ruling takes effect. That pause matters: the aid programs are not gone yet, and a higher court could pause or reverse the decision.
Reactions and What Comes Next
Gov. JB Pritzker and Illinois officials are expected to fight the ruling, and the built-in stay is designed precisely to let them seek relief from a federal appeals court. Supporters of the RISE Act and Illinois DREAM Act argue the programs reward students who have spent their lives in Illinois, graduated from its schools, and want to build their futures in the state. Critics, echoing the DOJ, frame the laws as giving undocumented immigrants an advantage over out-of-state citizens.
What This Means for Illinois Students
For the students at the center of the case, the ruling lands right before the fall semester. Many have lived in Illinois for most of their lives and were counting on state aid to afford tuition. Unless the appeals court steps in during the 14-day window, they could suddenly face a much larger bill – or be forced to rethink whether college is affordable at all. The next two weeks will determine whether the help they were promised survives.
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