By McKenzie Romero | Editor
As the Trump administration pushes to eliminate opportunities for noncitizen students to receive in-state tuition when they attend college, Utah has found itself on the list of Department of Justice lawsuits over the practice.
Now, immigration advocates and experts warn that removing options to pay lower rates in the states where they live will push college out of reach for thousands of immigrant students, with downstream impacts for the communities they live in.
In today’s Dispatch we look at where Utah falls as advocates push back on increased tuition costs for immigrant students, a face-off for the candidates running in Utah’s new 4th Congressional District and a warning about invasive species in Utah’s side of the Colorado River.
“When access to in-state tuition is taken away, many undocumented students cannot bridge the gap between in-state and out-of-state rates.” — Miriam Feldblum, president and CEO of the nonprofit Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, on the impact of the Trump administration’s effort to end in-state tuition for noncitizen students.
The A. Ray Olpin Student Union building on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City is pictured on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2025. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By Shauneen Miranda
The U.S. Department of Justice lawsuits against 24 states, Washington, D.C., and the University of Delaware are part of a larger push from the administration to curb any benefits that could extend to immigrants more broadly. Advocates say the move also threatens immigrants’ stability, safety and future opportunities.
The Utah Legislature is likely to take up the issue next year. A proposal seeking to end the benefit in Utah passed the House by a narrow margin earlier this year but did not get a vote in the Senate after opponents raised concerns it could make college unaffordable for students who have lived much of their lives in Utah.
Candidates for Utah’s 4th Congressional District Democrat Jonny Larsen, left, and Republican Mike Kennedy participate in a debate at Snow College in Ephraim on Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026. (Pool photo by Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune)
By Annie Knox
On the debate stage, Utah Republican Rep. Mike Kennedy defended his first term in Congress as his Democratic challenger Jonny Larsen cast the race for Utah’s 4th Congressional District as a choice between a “blue dog” or a “lap dog” to the Trump administration.
Kennedy and Larsen faced off at Snow College in rural Sanpete County, sparring over issues including the Iran War, public lands and immigration enforcement.
The Colorado River is pictured near Moab on Sunday, Feb. 18, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
By McKenzie Romero
Biologists have discovered a live adult zebra mussel below the Westwater Recreation Area in the Utah side of the Colorado River, raising the risk of the invasive species spreading in the state.
Utah’s Division of Wildlife Resources has ramped up testing for zebra mussels in the Colorado River between the state line and Moab after an infestation was detected in Loma, Colorado, in 2025. Once an invasive species is detected, concerns of outbreak are elevated as the risk grows of people recreating in the river and then unknowingly transporting organisms to other waterbodies on their watercraft, the division warned.
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