The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has sued Penn State to end its policy of offering in-state tuition to some undocumented students. Many of these students were brought to the United States as young children. They grew up in Pennsylvania, earned diplomas from Pennsylvania high schools, and could now be charged out-of-state rates that put college out of reach.

Penn State President Neeli Bendapudi and the Penn State Board of Trustees have the power to fight this lawsuit in court and keep tuition fair for students who have spent their lives in Pennsylvania.

Supporters of the policy say it gives no one special treatment, because U.S. citizens who live in Pennsylvania and finished high school there pay the same rate. Two classmates who walked the same halls and earned the same diploma should not pay very different prices for the same education.

The stakes reach far beyond one campus. Similar tuition policies, once backed by both parties in about two dozen states, have already ended in places like Texas, Florida, Kentucky and Kansas after federal lawsuits. A suit against the University of Delaware was filed just last month. Penn State is now one of the next schools in line.

Pricing local graduates out of college also hurts Pennsylvania. These students could become the state’s next nurses, teachers, engineers and small business owners, building their futures in the towns that raised them.

Penn State says it is reviewing the complaint, and its leaders are deciding right now how to respond.

Sign the petition to urge Penn State to defend in-state tuition for students raised in Pennsylvania, before a lawsuit decides their future.