The University of Alaska Board of Regents voted unanimously to eliminate higher tuition rates for out-of-state undergraduate students — a rare move that treats every American citizen the same regardless of which state they call home. If finalized in November, the change would scrap a system that has long penalized families simply for living on the wrong side of an arbitrary line.

Why should a U.S. citizen pay more for a public university based on which state they're from? State lines weren't drawn to be tax barriers for Americans seeking education. The Founders didn't break from one set of internal tariffs just to build another. The regents' vote recognizes that principle — even if the motivation is partly about filling seats.

University finance officials say the move won't cost the system much money. Luke Fulp, the UA system's chief financial officer, told the Anchorage Daily News that the University of Alaska Anchorage would lose about $372,000 in the first year but break even after three years — the equivalent of just 55 additional nonresident students. The University of Alaska Fairbanks is projected to break even at just over 100 students in year two. Nonresident students currently make up about 16% of the system's roughly 20,000 students, and UAF and UAA together collect about $1.4 million in tuition from them.

The existing system is already riddled with exceptions that make the out-of-state surcharge more confusing than lucrative. Students from 13 western states can already qualify for the Western Undergraduate Exchange program at 150% of in-state rates. The University of Alaska Southeast is launching an "Alaska Unlocked" initiative this fall offering in-state rates to out-of-state students. Chancellor Aparna Palmer called it a "real game-changer" that has already increased out-of-state enrollment. Fulp said 85% of nonresident students already receive some form of waivers — which leads to surprises when those waivers don't apply and students get hit with bills they didn't expect. Eliminating the two-tier system also reduces the administrative burden of managing all those waivers.

Regent Karen Perdue noted the change would mostly affect freshmen, since sophomores and upperclassmen typically qualify for in-state rates after their first year in Alaska. The reduction would also apply to international students.

The workforce argument is straightforward: former UA President Pat Pitney said three-quarters of UA graduates stay in Alaska. Owen Guthrie, vice chancellor for enrollment management at UAF, called roughly 270,000 prospective students "future, highly skilled, highly trained Alaskans" and said the school will market the new rates through print, email, social media, and streaming ads.

Fulp framed it as a competitiveness play: "Universities across the country are looking at being more competitive and offering more affordable tuition proposals to students. And so, this is an effort for us to stay competitive in that marketplace and really make Alaska a destination for higher education."

Fair enough. But the principle matters more than the marketing. Public universities are subsidized by the federal government — through Pell Grants, research funding, student loans — that come from every taxpayer in every state. Charging a citizen more because their driver's license has the wrong state on it was always a questionable practice. Alaska is the first to scrap it system-wide. The question is whether any other university system will follow, or whether they'll keep nickel-andiming families at the state line.