Could the federal government mandate state universities to not discriminate against out-of-state students?
<p>I can't see any way to do so through the constitution, but I am consistently surprised by the kinds of laws that the federal government can make, so I'm obviously not well-versed in the possibilities.</p>

<p>Such a law could probably be passed under the authority of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution. Price controls on various products have previously been justified under that clause.</p>

<p>Yes. The federal government has the authority to mandate this if it wished to do so.</p>
<p>Not clear if it would be a 1791 constitution privileges and immunities clause enforcement, a 14th Amendment equal protection and privileges and immunities enforcement, or an interstate commerce enforcement, but it could clearly do so.</p>

<p>It is a straightforward and not-uncommon position that the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privileges_and_Immunities_Clause" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Privileges and Immunities Clause</a> in Article IV of the U.S. Constitution <strong>already</strong> prohibits (public) universities from charging out-of-state students higher tuition.  The clause reads as follows:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and
Immunities of Citizens in the several States.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>As examples of law review articles arguing or discussing this point, see <a href="https://repository.belmont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&amp;context=lawreview" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;Privileged for Being Stationary: Why the Practice of Differentiating Between In-State and Out-Of-State Tuition Rates are Unconstitutional&quot;</a> (or <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2978724" rel="nofollow noreferrer">this link</a>) and <a href="https://hulr.org/fall-2020/on-the-constitutionality-of-charging-in-state-tuition" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;On the Constitutionality of Charging In-state Tuition&quot;</a> and <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/history-of-education-quarterly/article/right-to-residency-mobility-tuition-and-public-higher-education-access/498C61F1C1833D9EA01B6D18AA799A14" rel="nofollow noreferrer">&quot;The Right to Residency: Mobility, Tuition, and Public Higher Education Access&quot;</a>.</p>
<p>Note that there is also the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privileges_or_Immunities_Clause" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Privileges <strong>or</strong> Immunities Clause</a> of the Fourteenth Amendment, as well as a presumed right to travel, that may cover this situation.  These are discussed in the cited articles above.</p>

united-states constitutional-law education us-federal-government