{"id":1690,"date":"2026-05-25T15:38:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:38:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1690"},"modified":"2026-05-25T15:38:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T15:38:24","slug":"commentary-dont-let-florida-ban-undocumented-students-from-public-colleges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=1690","title":{"rendered":"Commentary: Don\u2019t let Florida ban undocumented students from public colleges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Florida Legislature rejected a proposal this year to ban undocumented students from public colleges. Senate Bill 1052 died without it even getting heard in its assigned committees, highlighting just how little political support was behind the matter.<\/p>\n

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Now the Florida Department of Education, under the de facto control of the DeSantis administration, is attempting to backdoor this policy through an administrative rule, limiting public input in the process. The proposed rule would require all college applicants to prove U.S. citizenship or lawful presence before admission and would grant these institutions broad discretion to deny students based on vague \u201cmisconduct\u201d criteria. This essentially transforms Florida\u2019s 28 public colleges into immigration enforcement gatekeepers, requiring sensitive documentation from students and potentially exposing institutions to legal and financial risks.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not the first time that Florida has gone after immigrant students in recent years. In 2025, the state lawmakers repealed Florida\u2019s long-standing in-state tuition waiver, signed into law in 2014 by Republican then-Gov. Rick Scott. The law covered only undocumented students who had completed at least three years of high school in the state and allowed them to pay the same tuition fees that a U.S. citizen would, with no public benefit of any kind included. In-state tuition generated $12 million a year for Florida universities, mostly in South Florida. Without the tuition waiver, most of these students are now not able to afford a college degree, as they have to pay out-of-state rates, which are prohibitively expensive, about three to four times more.<\/p>\n

Florida officials now want to further punish immigrant students who only want to study, become professionals, and enter the workforce, students whom the state has already invested in the form of their K-12 education.\u00a0 It\u2019s a baffling thing to do when Florida continues to experience work shortages in crucial sectors like hospitality, healthcare, construction and agriculture. It\u2019s not just me making this claim; Florida\u2019s own Office of Demographic and Economic Research acknowledges demographic trends are bad for the state. Retired people are moving to Florida as young people are moving out due to the high cost of living. To make matters worse, recent years have seen death rates overtake birth rates. What does the Office of Demographic and Economic Research recommend to alleviate the situation and address work shortages? Net migration. Instead, the state is going after potential workers who grew up and reside here, stopping them from contributing their talents by banning them from attending open enrollment institutions. Florida is cutting its nose to spite its face.<\/p>\n

The Florida Board of Education (FLBOE) was scheduled to meet May 14 to finalize the rule, but after public outcry the meeting was rescheduled to June 30 at a site yet to be determined. Public comment should take place when this hearing convenes, which then becomes part of the official record as a way to provide feedback to proposed rules. If approved by the FLBOE, the rule will go into effect 20 days afterward.<\/p>\n

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If this rule does come to pass and it\u2019s enacted, it would mean a huge loss of revenue for Florida public colleges. The Florida Policy Institute estimates that undocumented students paid more than $22 million in tuition in fiscal year 2024-25. It would also affect students under 18, as the GED exam can be taken by 16- and 17-year-olds, and high school students have opportunities for dual enrollment classes within the state college system.<\/p>\n

The argument that these immigrant students are taking the spot of a U.S. citizen is also without merit. The state itself has said college enrollment remains 11% below pre-pandemic levels, with more than 36,000 fewer fulltime enrollments. It is simply not true that students without legal status are taking spots from students with legal status, and state officials know this. Denying thousands more students the opportunity to enroll at all is both cruel to the students, harmful to the institution who benefit from the revenue generated by their enrollment, and destructive to Florida\u2019s economy, which needs more workers. Community members should make their opposition to this destructive rule loud and clear.<\/p>\n

Thomas Kennedy is a writer and immigration advocate from Argentina, now residing in Miami.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

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\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Florida Legislature rejected a proposal this year to ban undocumented students from public colleges. Senate Bill 1052 died without it even getting heard in its assigned committees, highlighting just how little political support was behind the matter. 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