JEFFERSON CITY (AP) – A Missouri Senate committee has adopted a state budget provision to prohibit public colleges and universities from offering in-state tuition rates to students living in the country illegally.

But the Senate Appropriations Committee softened the outright ban and instead opted to prevent institutions from “knowingly” offering discounted tuition. The decision came Tuesday as the committee resolved the final sticking points in its budget proposal for the next fiscal year.

Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer, of Columbia, says universities can’t always investigate whether students are lawful residents. The House included an overall ban in its budget proposal after a St. Louis Community College decided to offer cheaper tuition rates for those students.

The Senate language would bar colleges from recruiting students from other countries to attend Missouri schools at in-state rates.