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Miami Herald
13-02-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘What if I can't go?': Florida repeals in-state tuition for undocumented students
Maria has always been the type of person to plan ahead. At only 18, she's plotted a careful plan to become a mental health professional. The high school senior from South Florida has already racked up credits in community college that she can apply to her bachelor's degree. She dreams of becoming a forensic psychologist so she can support crime victims and put criminals behind bars. She was recently accepted to Florida International University, her top choice. Her plans could soon have to change. That's because Florida lawmakers on Thursday voted to no longer offer undocumented students — like Maria — the opportunity to pay Florida-resident tuition fees at public universities or colleges. The benefit — created by a 2014 law that lawmakers have now repealed — has given thousands of undocumented students the opportunity to more affordably pursue a college education. Without the ability to pay in-state tuition fees, Maria now wonders if that will impact her ability to pursue her degree. 'Getting into FIU was a moment of 'Oh my God, I'm so excited!' But it was also a moment of, 'What if I can't go?' I'm really uncertain and worried,' said Maria, who came to the U.S. from Honduras as a child and declined using her name fearing repercussions on her college admissions. Like other undocumented students, Maria doesn't qualify for federal loans, aid, or many scholarships. She also got accepted to the University of Miami, which is private. She doesn't know what sort of aid the school will offer. She could consider a private loan, but that would saddle her with significant debt at a young age. She's hoping she'll be able to cobble her tuition payments together with scholarships. 'This doesn't leave me with many options. Where would I get the money?' she said. The bill will require state universities and colleges to reevaluate the eligibility of undocumented students who currently receive in-state tuition starting on July 1. 'We wanted to repeal in state tuition and focus on Floridians,' said Gov. Ron DeSantis at a news conference on Thursday as he prepared to sign a bill repealing the benefit. Up until Thursday, state law allowed undocumented students to seek a waiver and pay in-state tuition rates if they've gone to high school in the state for at least three consecutive years and enrolled in college within two years of graduating from high school. But Republican lawmakers said it was time to repeal those benefits because Florida is trying to crack down on illegal immigration and does not want to offer financial incentives to people who are in the country illegally. Democrats tried to amend the bill by allowing undocumented students who are currently enrolled at a public university or college to continue paying the reduced tuition for the next four years, arguing that it will allow them to finish their education without being priced out. 'We made a promise to these students,' Sen. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando said. 'I ask you to search your hearts, this is literally the least we can do for these Dreamers who have worked so hard to get here.' Senate Minority Leader Jason Pizzo, D-Miami, argued 'families would have planned differently if they knew' the Legislature was planning to repeal the decade-old law. The amendment failed in the Senate, but three Miami Republicans — Sens. Ileana Garcia, Ana Maria Rodriguez and Alexis Calatayud — voted with Democrats in support of it. Hernan Moreno is a student at Seminole State College studying construction management who has benefited from the tuition waiver. When he was 4 years old, he came to the United States from Chiapas, Mexico, and eventually applied for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. He went through the K-12 system in Florida, and is now pursuing his bachelor's. He says that without the waiver, he would have to pay three times the rate for classes, and that it would significantly slow down his studies. 'I will have to stop school and save for funds for classes down the line,' he said over text message. 'Those who have the desire for education should be given the same opportunities as everyone else regardless of their immigration status if done the right way!' It is unclear exactly how many undocumented students will be impacted by the upcoming changes. But data collected from state universities, colleges and technical colleges shows that 6,581 students currently receive the out-of-state tuition waiver. The waiver is not only for undocumented students. It is also given in other scenarios, such as students who attended public schools in Florida and left to live with a parent after they graduated. But Republican Sen. Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, said the 'vast majority' of the students that receive the waiver are undocumented. 'There are people who come to the U.S. and other countries to have a better life. There are people who come here because they have no choice and they are looking to have a brighter future than what they could in their own countries,' Maria told the Miami Herald. FIU hit hard State data shows that Florida International University had the most students with in-state tuition waivers of any Florida university in the last academic year — 535 in total. Thursday's decision to repeal the in state waivers comes as Jeanette Nuñez, the current lieutenant governor of Florida, gears up to become FIU's interim president, with the school's leadership signaling that they will confirm her to the position permanently. As a congresswoman in Tallahassee ten years ago, Nuñez sponsored and championed the in-state tuition waivers that gave undocumented students the ability to afford Florida's colleges and universities. As lieutenant governor, she has said the law had run its course and should be eliminated. Democrats and immigration advocates have criticized her reversal as a political move. Now, if she becomes FIU's next president, she will have to deal with the aftermath of undocumented students on her campus struggling to afford their education without the waivers. On Thursday, about 150 students and faculty members staged a walkout at FIU to oppose her impending appointment. Read more: FIU students and faculty stage walkout in protest of new interim president Jeanette Nuñez 'To them it's just policies. To us, it's our lives,' said Katherine Retamal, an admissions counselor at FIU. Dean C. Colson, who is on the board of trustees at Florida International University, was on the Board of Governors when they approved the in-state tuition waiver for undocumented students. He said he is disappointed to see these waivers go away, as he understands that students who come to this country illegally at a young age do without a choice. 'I thought it was good policy then, I think it's good policy now,' said Colson. Rogelio Tovar, chair of the FIU Board of Trustees, said that he is 'a big supporter that everyone who comes into the country, comes in legally,' but understood that many students who benefit from the in-state tuition waiver came at a young age. 'My heart goes out to those students, there is nothing I want more than anyone that is trying to improve where they are in life, building for their future,' said Tovar. But he added that FIU will have to comply with the law. 'I don't think it's our position to take positions against laws,' he said. Diego Dulante, 26, is on the verge of completing his master's in public health at the University of South Florida. Dulante came to the United States when he was just 4 years old. He told the Herald he would have never been able to get his bachelor's degree if it were not for the in-state tuition waiver. 'I didn't have a lot of options,' he said, 'I wouldn't have been able to continue my education.'
Miami Herald
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Miami lawmakers once protected in-state tuition for so-called Dreamers. No longer.
A decade ago, Miami-Dade lawmakers were instrumental in securing cheaper, in-state tuition rates for undocumented college students in Florida known as 'Dreamers.' That legacy is now over. Late Tuesday evening, the Legislature passed a bill cracking down on undocumented immigration, including a provision to end the tuition discount for students who came to the country illegally with their parents. The bill was championed in part by Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez — a Miami Republican with Florida International University in his district. 'We will discontinue the policy of allowing illegal aliens to receive in-state tuition at state colleges and universities,' said Perez during a speech Monday opening a special session of the Florida Legislature. Perez added: 'Under this bill, we will ensure that Florida is working harder than any other state to support President Trump in his efforts to restore integrity to our nation's borders.' Securing in-state tuition for children of undocumented immigrants became a political flashpoint a decade ago, in 2014, when the current lieutenant governor sponsored the measure in the House with the support of then-governor Rick Scott, who is now a Republican U.S. senator. Under that law — which would be revoked in the unlikely scenario that Gov. Ron DeSantis signs the Legislature's newly passed bill – undocumented students in Florida can get a waiver and pay Florida-resident tuition fees at public and state colleges as long as they meet certain requirements. They must have gone to high school in the state for at least three consecutive years and enrolled in college within two years of high school graduation. The 2014 legislation also benefited the children of veterans, students without reliable housing or living in abusive households, and recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the immigration program that lets some undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to work. Granting in-state tuition discounts to undocumented students was an overture to Hispanic voters during a moment when Republican politicians were beginning to pay more attention to the influence of Latino voters at the ballot box in what was still a swing state with razor-thin margins. 'I can assure you that 10 years from now, if we do nothing, we will look back and Florida will be worse for it,' then-state Rep. Jeanette Nuñez, now Florida's Republican lieutenant governor, said at the time. But times have changed. In November, President Donald Trump won majority-Hispanic Miami-Dade County – where half the population was born in another country — while campaigning on the promise of mass deportations. Over the weekend, Nuñez reversed her position. 'It's time to repeal this law,' Nuñez posted on X on Jan. 25. 'It has served its purpose and run its course.' As lawmakers debated the broader immigration bill on Tuesday, some senators from the delegation, including three Republicans, tried to extend the discount for students already enrolled in college through an amendment that failed. 'We are voting yes on this amendment because it is our personal belief that these individuals should be allowed to pay the current rate until they complete their education,' Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez, a Doral Republican and Senate delegation chair, told the Herald/Times Tuesday. (Sen. Ileana Garcia, a Miami Republican, was absent for the amendment vote but said she would have supported it). The amendment was similar to what Senate President Ben Albritton said he wanted during a December press conference, but Albritton didn't support it in the end. His position on ending the in-state provision lost him at least one Republican vote on the immigration bill, possibly more, which could threaten his ability to override the governor's impending veto of the legislation. In the House, two amendments filed by Rep. Marie Paule Woodson, a Hollywood Democrat whose district includes part of Miami-Dade County, to protect in-state tuition for undocumented students were defeated by a simple voice vote. So, there's no record of how individual lawmakers weighed in. Woodson said they were supported by her caucus, but she didn't have a chance to discuss them with Republicans, including from the Dade delegation. 'The process was moving pretty fast,' said Woodson. 'It's not that we had the bill for a few days where I could've gone and talked to them about it.' Rep. Vicki Lopez told the Herald/Times last year when the governor tried to end the tuition discount for undocumented students that the delegation blocked it. 'Although we stopped it this year, I feel like I have to continue to fight the battle to make sure it doesn't happen next year and the years that follow,' Lopez, a Miami Republican, said back then. But she hasn't discussed the matter with the newspaper since Albritton first proposed phasing it out in December. She didn't respond to a request for comment. Lopez voted Tuesday alongside 81 other House members in approving the immigration bill that ends the in-state tuition provision for the undocumented students. Ironically, the governor, who has been pushing for months to undo the 2014 law, may block the newly passed legislation from taking effect by issuing a veto over his objections to other aspects of the bill. But it's now clear that both he and the Florida Legislature want to do away with what was once a priority for Florida Republicans. Before Sen. Alexis Calatayud, a Republican from Miami, voted against the immigration bill Tuesday, she said it was because of the provision ending the in-state tuition for the undocumented students. She said she supported Trump's effort to 'combat illegal immigration and protect our communities from criminal illegal immigrants.' And she cast doubt that Trump wanted to target undocumented students in his immigration-enforcement agenda. 'I am passionately empathetic to the thousands of people who were brought here to our great state because of no fault of their own,' Calatayud said. 'And so is President Donald Trump.' Calatayud noted how in June Trump proposed giving green cards 'automatically' to foreigners who graduate college in the United States. And she said he had sympathy for the undocumented students, offering to 'work with the Democrats on a plan' to protect them during a recent interview. 'This past December, President Trump said: 'We have to do something about the Dreamers because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age and many of these middle-aged people now. They don't even speak the language of their country',' Calatayud said. Using one of Trump's staple phrases of his recent electoral victory, she added: 'The revolution of common sense is not without compassion.' Sen. Shevrin Jones, a Democrat from West Park who filed the failed amendment extending in-state tuition for current students, pleaded with his colleagues to not let students who want an education get 'caught up in our political game.' Senators estimated during the discussion that there are 6,500 undocumented students enrolled in colleges and universities across the state. Jones' office said about 300 of them are enrolled in Florida International University. 'Do y'all know where a lot of these young people are? They are in Miami,' Jones said. 'They're at FIU. They're at Miami-Dade College. These students are right there.' Herald/Times staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this report.
Miami Herald
28-01-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
‘I don't want to drop out': Youth ask Florida GOP to keep in-state tuition for undocumented
Young immigrants called on Florida Republican lawmaker to not repeal a decade-old law that has allowed thousands of undocumented students to pay in-state tuition rates for higher education in state colleges and universities. At a press conference on Tuesday in front of the Miami-Dade School Board building in downtown Miami, several South Floridians directly pleaded with Gov. Ron DeSantis and Tallahassee legislators to keep the policy in place. Idalia Quinteros, a first-generation immigrant from El Salvador, said that when she started applying for college, 'it felt like every single door was slammed in my face.' She couldn't apply for financial aid, qualify for most scholarships, take out loans, or get a job without a work permit. 'The light at the end of the tunnel was the in-state tuition waiver. It made college more affordable and gave me the opportunity to pursue my dreams,' said Quinteros, who now has an associate's and a bachelor's degree. The bipartisan measure, signed into law by Gov. Rick Scott in 2014, adjusted residency requirements for higher-education purposes so that having access to in-state tuition rates was no longer tied to immigration status. Educators, activists, and community leaders fear that if the policy is repealed thousands of undocumented youth in Florida will no longer be able to afford going to college. About 13,000 undocumented seniors graduate high school in the state annually, according to the President's Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, a university leaders' group that advocates for immigrant students and conducts research on the effect of immigration policies on universities. There are also over 43,000 undocumented college students in Florida. Demands to keep the in-state tuition policy come after Gov. Ron DeSantis pushed state lawmakers in recent weeks to repeal it. Republican legislative leaders have drawn up their own immigration proposal, which DeSantis has criticized, but it includes a provision that would eliminate in-state tuition for undocumented students. Under the current law, undocumented students in Florida can get a waiver and pay Florida-resident tuition fees at public and state colleges as long as they meet certain requirements. They must have gone to high school in the state for at least three consecutive years and enrolled in college within two years of high school graduation. The 2014 legislation also benefited the children of veterans, students without reliable housing or living in abusive households, and recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the immigration program that lets some undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children to work.. READ MORE: Goaded to act by DeSantis, Florida lawmakers rebuke governor, unveil own immigration plan Florida Lieut. Gov. Jeanette Nuñez, who advocated for the law a decade ago as a state representative, recently said she no longer supports the policy, saying that the U.S. looks 'very different today than it did then.' 'It's time to repeal this law. It has served its purpose and run its course. Florida will not incentivize illegal immigration through this law or any other,' she said said on her X account. READ MORE: Florida lieutenant governor backs off support of in-state tuition for undocumented students Advocates disagree. 'What has not changed is that children still need affordable education… What's sad is that they are attacking kids,' said immigration advocate Yareliz Menendez Zamora. Florida Student Power Network, American Friends Service Committee, Seeds of Resistance, and other activist organizations hosted the press conference. Gaby Pacheco, a Miami immigration advocate that leads the nation's largest college aid program for undocumented youth, said that the waiver had enabled more than 600 scholarship recipients from their programs to go to college. 'Cutting off Dreamers' opportunities to pursue and afford higher education is not only harmful to their future success, but shortsighted and harmful to Florida's overall future and potential economic growth,' said Pacheco, who came to the U.S. as a child. Valeria Maldonado, 20, a nursing student at Miami-Dade College who came to the U.S. from El Salvador as a toddler, said that her focus had always been school because of her desire to pursue a career and help her family. 'I am here to ask not only Ron DeSantis but all our representatives across the state to make a real change, and not to hinder my growth, or create more challenges for me to become a professional in the medical field,' said Maldonado. ' I do not want to drop out and nor do my peers.' Miami Herald staff writer Ana Ceballos contributed to this story.
