{"id":4599,"date":"2026-06-18T22:05:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:05:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4599"},"modified":"2026-06-18T22:05:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T22:05:16","slug":"florida-could-soon-ban-undocumented-students-from-public-universities-colleges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4599","title":{"rendered":"Florida could soon ban undocumented students from public universities, colleges"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florida could soon ban undocumented students from enrolling in state universities and colleges, moves that would make it the fourth state and by far the largest\u00a0to shut these immigrants out of at least some publicly financed higher education options.<\/p>\n

Read more Florida says AIDS drug program could need more money<\/a><\/p>\n

The Florida Board of Governors, which oversees the state\u2019s 12 universities, wants to amend admission rules so that students \u201cnot lawfully present in the United States\u201d could not enroll in a university, unless the school already had admitted \u201call academically qualified applicants,\u201d according to the newly released agenda for its June 24 meeting.<\/p>\n

That would likely bar undocumented students from enrolling at Florida State University, the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida and other state universities that routinely deny admission to students who meet the state\u2019s basic admission requirements because of lack of space and resources to accommodate them.<\/p>\n

The State Board of Education, which oversees the state\u2019s 28 state colleges, is to vote June 30 on a similar proposal to make both those colleges and Florida\u2019s adult education programs off limits to immigrants without legal status.<\/p>\n

If the rules are approved, Florida would join Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina in adopting \u201cprohibitive enrollment\u201d policies, in which students without legal status are barred from enrolling in some or all public institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking that there are other people that are in my shoes, wanting to pursue higher education and state college is a lot more affordable, that they\u2019re wanting to strip away that opportunity from them,\u201d said Jose Carrera, an undocumented student who attended Seminole State College is now majoring in biomedical sciences at the University of Central Florida.<\/p>\n

The proposed board of governors rule looks unlikely to impact Carrera as it would not kick in until the 2027-28 school year, and it is aimed at initial enrollment. But the state board rule is less defined, making it unclear if students currently attending state colleges, including Lake-Sumter State College, Valencia College and Seminole State in Central Florida, would have to leave.<\/p>\n

Carrera, 23, was brought to the United States from Mexico as a baby. The low-cost state college, and a later transfer to UCF, made higher education more affordable for his family and gave him a path toward his goal of becoming a physician\u2019s assistant, one who is bilingual and can help close the language barrier between medical staff and Spanish-speaking patients.\u00a0 He hopes to graduate from UCF next year.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There is no exact data on how many students in the state colleges and universities lack legal status.<\/p>\n

But in the 2024-25 academic year, there were at least 4,672 undocumented students enrolled in Florida\u2019s state colleges and likely about 2,000 more at state universities, based on a count of who was using out-of-state tuition waivers. Those allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition, though they were not citizens.<\/p>\n

National organizations, however, have estimated that thousands more undocumented students attend Florida colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

The proposed rules come as the Republican administrations of both Gov. Ron DeSantis and President Donald Trump crack down on immigration.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Florida last year repealed a law \u2014 one once championed even by Florida Republicans \u2014 that allowed so-called Dreamers like Carrera, who\u2019d arrived as children and graduated from Florida high schools, to pay in-state tuition. The repeal makes it far more expensive for them to take classes at public colleges and universities.<\/p>\n

The new rules, if adopted, would make it impossible for many to even enroll.<\/p>\n

State Sen. Randy Fine, a Brevard County Republican who proposed the repeal of in-state tuition, seemed to sum up the current views, saying then that it was time for the state to end \u201csweetheart deals for college degrees to those who should not even be here\u201d and urging state leaders to follow Trump\u2019s lead and \u201cstop giving illegal immigrants rewards for breaking the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immigration and education advocates fear the humanitarian and economic impact.<\/p>\n

Repealing in-state tuition is already effectively banning undocumented students from the state\u2019s university system because they can\u2019t afford it, said Gaby Pacheco, CEO of TheDream.US, a group that funds scholarships for undocumented students across the nation.<\/p>\n

Read more Pictures: Orlando Magic introduce new coach Sean Sweeney<\/a><\/p>\n

But Pacheco\u2019s bigger worry is that Florida\u2019s college and university board votes later this month will have ripple effects across the nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther states are going to think this is the right thing to do and they\u2019re going to say Florida did it \u2026 and it\u2019s going to spread across the country from leaders that are pushing forward anti-immigrant policies,\u201d Pacheco said.<\/p>\n

The proposal to ban undocumented students from state colleges became public in April, quickly alarming advocates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not just one policy or an isolated decision. It feels like a growing pattern, step-by-step of excluding, silencing and stripping away rights that should be protected for everybody. Education should be something that is not denied to anyone,\u201d said Valeria Maldonado, a youth organizer and a student at Miami-Dade College who spoke at a press conference hosted by the Florida Immigrant Coalition to oppose the proposal on April 27.<\/p>\n

The policy might contribute to Florida\u2019s \u201cbrain drain\u201d issue, said Jared Nordlund, the Florida State director at UnidosUS, the country\u2019s biggest Hispanic advocacy and civil rights group, in an interview after the state college rules became public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to push out kids who obviously want to stay here, build a business here, be part of Florida\u2019s economy,\u201d He said. \u201cWe should be doing everything which we do to retain those people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rule that would impact Florida\u2019s universities was posted more recently, though immigration advocates had feared it was coming.<\/p>\n

Carrera can now only afford to take only one or two classes a semester after his in-state tuition was repealed. But Seminole State\u2019s low costs, and the fact that he lived nearby and could take a bus to campus, made his first years of college affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saved a lot of money,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Now he works as a landscaper to cover his higher UCF costs and to help pay his father\u2019s immigration attorney. His father was arrested and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement earlier this year while on his way to work as a roofing contractor. He was released in May.<\/p>\n

Carrera plans to look for private physician\u2019s assistant programs in Florida that don\u2019t care about his legal status and he may consider going to Mexico to study medicine, a move his parents support. But he is reluctant to leave them.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me helping my family is more important than higher education so if it doesn\u2019t work out I\u2019m just going to stick to landscaping in Florida to help my parents out,\u201d Carrera said.<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s immigrant population could suffer for generations and that will hurt the state\u2019s economy in the long term, Pacheco said. If college is unattainable in Florida, she said, education may lose its value, and students may drop out before they finish high school.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause if a young person cannot see themselves having this opportunity to continue their education to fulfill their dreams they\u2019re going to say \u2018what for? Why should I graduate from high school anyway?\u2019,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Read more Former UCF coach Shawn Clark\u2019s legacy lives on in his wife\u2019s mission<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Florida could soon ban undocumented students from its public universities and colleges, with governing boards planning discussions and votes later this month<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nFlorida could soon ban undocumented students from public universities, colleges - Orlando Relocation Report<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/orlandorelocationreport.com\/?p=4599\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Florida could soon ban undocumented students from public universities, colleges - 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