“I would think illegals would still have to claim a state of residence for tuition purposes. Is that not right?”
Well they probably do claim a state as their home. But because they are illegal, they can get in-state tuition in many states (at least 10 according to the article), whereas an American citizen can ONLY get in state tuition in their state of residence.
Whats really bad about this (other than being blatantly discriminatory) is that the REASON that there is such a thing as in-state tuition is because residents of that state have paid taxes to support the schools there, so they should get a lower tuition.
The law passed in 1996 essentially said: “OK, go ahead and offer in-state tuition to your “favorite group”, but if you do that you must give in-state tuition to every American citizen who applies, regardless of what state they came from. That is the law they are ignoring.