A federal court ended cheap college tuition for thousands of Texas students. On July 9, judges ruled 2 to 1 against a South Texas group and three allies. The group had worked to keep the law.

The South Texas group is called La Union del Pueblo Entero. Most people call it LUPE. LUPE is based in San Juan. That is right here in the Rio Grande Valley. LUPE spent more than a year trying to save a law. The law is called the Texas Dream Act. LUPE teamed up with three others. They are Students for Affordable Tuition, Austin Community College, and a student named Oscar Silva. Now that fight is over. Thousands of students without legal status face bigger bills this fall.

The Texas Dream Act started in 2001. For more than 20 years, it gave a lower tuition rate to students without legal status. That lower rate is called in state tuition. Other Texas residents got the same rate. To qualify, a student had to live in Texas for three years. The student also had to graduate from a Texas high school or earn a GED. Then the student had to sign a paper. The paper promised to try to get legal status later.

The case began last year. In 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over the law. The suit came just days after state lawmakers ended their session. The feds said the law broke federal rules. A judge named Reed O'Connor did not wait long. He struck the law down fast. He blocked it right away.

Texas and the federal government were on the same side the whole time. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined the feds. He asked the court to end the law for good. Nobody from the state or the feds showed up in court to defend the tuition law. LUPE and the other three groups asked the judge for permission to step in. They wanted to defend the law themselves. On August 15, 2025, the judge told them no.

So those same groups took their fight to a higher court. That court is the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. It handles federal cases from Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. On July 9, 2026, two of the three judges sided against them. The court said states cannot give college discounts to people without legal status. States can only do that if every U.S. citizen gets the same discount. That means no matter where the citizen lives.

About 57,000 students without legal status went to Texas colleges in 2022. More than 18,500 students signed the Dream Act paperwork in 2024 alone. That count also includes some students on visas. A 2023 report looked at the year 2021. It found students without legal status paid more than 81 million dollars in tuition and fees that year. At the University of Texas at Austin, the tuition gap is large. Without the discount, a liberal arts student now pays 15,848 dollars more a semester. A business student pays 18,765 dollars more. An engineering student pays 17,713 dollars more.

LUPE's executive director is Tania Chavez. She issued a statement after the ruling came down. "This decision doesn't just hurt students," she said. "It crushes families. It fuels anxiety. It forces teens to choose between school and survival." She added, "No one should be punished for trying to build a better future." LUPE also said the process happened without due process. The group said it happened without regard for the harm it would cause.

For now, the order blocking the Texas Dream Act stays in place. Students without legal status are stuck paying out of state prices at Texas colleges this fall. The bill lands on real students. That includes students LUPE serves here in the Rio Grande Valley.