“...we’ve never had a situation where children can be punished for something their parents did or did not do.”
In high school, I had a scholarship to any accredited NY state college. I graduated in June of ‘66. My dad accepted a job in Ohio in August of ‘66. Because my parents’ legal address was no longer in NY, I lost the scholarship; it was for residents only. (We didn’t know that when he changed jobs.) I know it’s not a U.S. “thing”, but children can be punished for something their parents did or did not do.
The point in that case is that you were presumably a minor at the time and the scholarship was for residents only. But since a minor, unless emancipated, has the same address as his or her parents, therefore your address also changed to an out of state address at the time of his move.
It was unfair in your case and some bureaucrat probably just decided to exert a little power, but it was legal, unfortunately. But that’s different from somebody who meets all the residency and citizenship requirements for a tuition break and is denied it because of something their parents did in the past. Children born in this country are automatically citizens, like it or not, and there’s no legal grounds for denying them in-state tuition if they meet the state residency requirements.