'Disappointed in the state of Arizona'

The ruling came after a lawsuit filed by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, challenging in-state tuition rates offered to DACA students by the Maricopa County Community College District. On Monday, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that DACA recipients are ineligible for in-state tuition at Arizona public colleges. She's on a full scholarship, so this decision won't affect her directly for now, but she knows how much it will change things for her friends and the thousands of other DACA students who attend Arizona colleges and universities and pay in-state tuition.

The ruling could force more than 2,000 DACA recipients, also known as "Dreamers", already attending Arizona public colleges to pay up to three times more for tuition.

"Not only does this put education out of reach for most students, many will simply drop out from this disappointing decision", said Edder Diaz Martinez, a DACA recipient himself and a founding member of Undocumented Students for Education Equity, a group representing immigrant students at Arizona State University.

According to the news site, residents of Arizona pay $86 per-credit-hour at Maricopa County Community Colleges, while non-residents pay $241.

"The university is now looking into all options to assist Arizona high school graduates who are qualified to be in the US under DACA with an uninterrupted educational journey beyond high school", Crow said in the statement.

A 2017 analysis by NASPA-Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education, which also tracks tuition rates for DACA students, concluded 21 states have adopted in-state tuition policies.

She says she paid for classes out of pocket, which meant she could only afford to take one class per semester. "I can't afford that", Yanez told reporters at the Capitol on Monday evening. But this ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court doubles the tuition cost for DACA recipients.

However, the Arizona Board of Regents approved a lower tuition rate in 2015 for non-residents who have graduated from a high school in the state, which would be about 150% of a state tuition ($14,751) as AZ Central continues.

The AZ Supreme Court's decision to block Dreamers from in-state tuition is a bad blow to AZ students who want nothing more than to pursue their American dreams.

Still, according to Karina Ruiz, the president of the Arizona Dream Act Coalition maintains that fundraising will begin soon to help students pay for tuition. Although the news is "very stressful" for her, she said she is more concerned about all those students who haven't even had a chance to start college.

Instituted by the Obama administration, it allows those who arrived in this country illegally as children to remain if they meet certain other conditions.

Abril Gallardo, an undocumented student at Phoenix College, said it was "unfortunate" Arizona officials were "amplifying anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies" spread by Trump.

That includes "a United States citizenship and immigration services employment authorization document" - precisely the document issued to DACA recipients. As President Obama forthrightly acknowledged when he established the program in 2012 (after repeatedly saying he did not have the authority to do so), DACA does not bestow legal status on beneficiaries.