Sen. Tom Cotton recently introduce a bill that seeks to ban noncitizens from being eligible for in-state college tuition nationwide.

The “Put American Students First Act” would allow the Secretary of Education to withhold funding from any state that violates the prohibition.

“My bill will put our students first by ensuring that only Americans are eligible for in-state tuition,” the Republican senator said in a mid-December news release.

Under the bill, anyone not lawfully admitted for permanent residence would not be eligible for in-state tuition rates at public institutions of higher education.

It argues that federal law already prohibits states from granting in-state rates for tuition and fees to noncitizens — unless the same rates are offered to all citizens of the U.S. regardless of residence.

“Despite this prohibition, as of 2025, 22 States and the District of Columbia continue to provide in-State rates for tuition and fees to such aliens through policies that circumvent Federal law, subsidizing their postsecondary education at a cost to taxpayers of the United States estimated at more than $1,000,000,000 annually,” the bill states.

If passed, each college and university will be required to verify the immigration status of each student through the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements program.

A related House bill was introduced in March 2025 with a similar goal.

Cotton’s bill comes as the Justice Department under President Donald Trump had filed lawsuits in Texas, Kentucky, Illinois, Oklahoma, Minnesota and California seeking to end the practice of granting students in the country illegally in-state tuition rates.

The Republican-led states of Texas, Oklahoma, and most recently, Virginia, resolved the lawsuits through consent decrees.

MORE: Virginia agrees to end in-state tuition for illegal immigrants to resolve DOJ lawsuit