Katerin felt her whole body flush when she opened her fall tuition bill from the University of Houston: It had nearly doubled to $7,900.

The 24-year-old has lived in Texas since her parents brought her to the U.S. from Mexico when she was 2. Thanks to the 2001 Texas Dream Act, she’s always qualified for in-state tuition as she worked toward a master’s degree in social work.

A federal court ruling swiftly gutted the law in June, ending the benefit for thousands of undocumented students. But Katerin is in the country legally, as a recipient of the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program, which protects certain immigrants from deportation and allows them to work legally.

Students like Katerin, who asked that her last name not be used over concerns about a relativ

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