A federal judge of South Florida ruled Tuesday that the public colleges and universities of Florida cannot charge higher out-of-state tuition fee to the children of illegal immigrants.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore said that the state's policy of charging higher fee to the children of undocumented parents would violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution. He asserted that the children born in this country are citizens and the illegal immigrant status of their parents does not matter, AP reports.

"The state regulations deny a benefit and create unique obstacles to attain public post-secondary public education for U.S. citizen children who would otherwise qualify for in-state tuition," he wrote.

According to the State University System of Florida, the in-state rate is $205 per credit hour but it goes up to $947 per hour at the state's Flagship University of Florida, a spike which these students cannot afford.

The lawsuit was filed by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2011 in the name of five students against the Florida Department of Education and the state university system. The plaintiffs had been denied in-state tuition rates, though they were born in the U.S., were long time Florida residents and had graduated from Florida high schools, reports The Palm Beach Post.

SPLC, a non-profit civil rights organization based in Alabama, has previously won many legal victories against white supremacist groups and has represented the victims of hate crimes.

The organization's deputy legal director, Jerri Katzerman, told AP that Moore's ruling could provide greater access to education for thousands of students.

The state attorneys tried to argue that by allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state fee, the colleges and universities would go bankrupt as all U.S. citizens will be eligible for in-state rates. But Judge Moore rejected the claim flat out that his ruling would not prevent the state from distinguishing in-state residents and out-of-state non-residents, as the in-state rates are directly tied to the student's ability to prove Florida residency.

The state has 28 public two-year colleges and 11 four-year universities. The Florida education officials have not yet confirmed a possible appeal following the ruling.