Opponents of state laws that grant in-state tuition rates to illegal immigrants and others were dealt a blow this week when a federal judge in Kansas dismissed a lawsuit challenging the idea.

U.S. District Judge Richard D. Rogers said the plaintiffs, parents and students paying out-of-state tuition failed to prove they were injured by the Kansas law, or that they'd benefit if it were repealed. Backers of Utah's law, which is similar in intent but drafted differently than the one in Kansas, believe the decision bodes well for challenges here. Under Utah's law, in-state tuition is available to U.S. citizens on the basis of where they went to high school, not their state of residence.

But others contend the Utah law and others like it conflict with federal law, and there is a move afoot to repeal Utah's law. The obvious solution is passage of the federal Dream Act, sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, has sponsored similar legislation in the House.

Passage of the federal legislation would relieve any conflict with state statutes, which would be good news for the relatively few students in Utah who paid in-state tuition rates under Utah's tuition law. In the past academic year, only 117 of more than 144,800 students in Utah's higher education system were assessed in-state tuition rates under the state law. Utah's law grants in-state tuition to illegal immigrants and others who attend a Utah high school for three years and graduate here or earn the equivalent of a diploma. They must also be seeking legal immigration status or plan to do so when they are eligible. The law also could cover a child from another state who lives with a Utahn for three years and graduates from a Utah high school.

Opposition to Utah's law runs the gamut from arguments about equal protection for out-of-state students (an issue that appears to have been answered in the Kansas case), to fears the practice could open the state to liabilities, to thinly veiled hostility toward illegal immigrants.

Some children of illegal immigrants were born in the United States and graduated from Utah high schools. Under the eyes of the law, they are every bit as American as the descendants of the pilgrims. Others are children of illegal immigrants who were not born in the United States. If they are to seek in-state tuition under Utah's law, they must also be seeking legal immigration status or plan to do so when they are eligible.

But these students are far and few between because most children of illegal immigrants struggle to complete high school, let alone attempt college. Those who complete a college education most likely will want to remain in the United States. Shouldn't a nation that prizes that opportunity extend it to all who qualify?

Court challenges to Utah's law inevitably will come. Likewise for a movement in the House to repeal the 2002 law. Congress needs to take up this issue as soon as possible to eliminate ambiguity or potential conflict between federal statutes and state laws.