A group of students and parents who paid higher, out-of-state tuition at public colleges in Kansas do not have standing to challenge a state law that allows some illegal immigrants who graduated from a Kansas high school to pay lower, in-state rates, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit ruled on Thursday.

The three-judge appeals court’s unanimous decision upheld a 2005 ruling by a federal judge in Kansas. Neither that ruling nor Thursday’s evaluated the merits of the underlying case.

The plaintiffs — all of whom are U.S. citizens who live outside of Kansas — have argued that the Kansas law on immigrant tuition violates the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution as well as a 1996 federal immigration law. They want federal courts to require that the state either eliminate the tuition benefit or offer the same tuition rates to all U.S. citizens, regardless of their state of residence.

The appeals court, echoing the ruling of the federal judge in Kansas, said the out-of-state students and parents had failed to provide evidence that they had been directly harmed by the Kansas law, or that they would benefit if the statute were removed.

The Kansas law, which took effect in 2004, allows immigrants to pay in-state tuition rates at state institutions if they attended a Kansas high school for at least three years and graduated, or if they earned a General Educational Development certificate, commonly known as a GED, in Kansas. The individuals also have to prove that they are actively seeking legal immigrant status or plan to do so as soon as they are able. —Sara Hebel