Analysts estimate $15m annual loss in tuition revenue
The Florida Board of Education voted Tuesday to restrict enrollment at the state’s 28 public colleges and universities to U.S. citizens and those “lawfully present” in the country. The vote followed a similar move last year to eliminate discounted in-state tuition rates for certain immigrant students.
Opponents assailed the new directive, with some analysts estimating that it could cost Florida up to $15 million annually in lost tuition and other fees. They also questioned its legal basis, saying it was approved by DeSantis’ appointed seven-member board rather than the elected legislature.
“The rule-making process is supposed to implement existing legislation and laws that were passed, not create its own, and not create its own policies, which is exactly what the department is trying to do,” said Alexis Tsoukalas, senior analyst at the Florida Policy Institute, at a press conference hosted by the Florida Immigrant Coalition.
Tsoukalas said the action ran counter to DeSantis’ own “Sail to 60” goal, a 2019 policy that sought to lift the number of Florida residents with “high-value” post-secondary education from below 50% to at least 60%. She noted that enrollment in the state college system has been declining for several years.
“The Florida college system is already struggling with declining enrollment, this has been the case for the past several years, and it’s only gotten worse,” Tsoukalas said. “It’s not like there are students waiting in the wings to enroll when others are denied admission. Florida cannot reach its attainment goal if a shrinking share are enrolling, so it is very much a concern for the state.”
Alexander Vallejos, a computer science student at the University of Central Florida who came to the U.S. from South America as a one-year-old in 2001, said the policy dashes the hopes of immigrant children who worked through the school system only to find their path to higher education blocked.
“This ruling sends a painful message to young people who have done everything right,” Vallejos said. “It tells them that their hard work isn’t enough, and that their dreams are less because of something they have no control over.”
Luisa Santos, an elected member of the Miami-Dade School Board who was brought to the U.S. from Colombia as an eight-year-old, said the state faced “serious consequences” from the ban, including the lost tuition and fees and the governor getting “in his own way of stated goals like Sail to 60.”
“What I really want to focus on is how cruel, harmful, and just unnecessary this rule is right now,” Santos said. “These rule changes took me back to the darkest days of high school, where, like Alexander, I felt the world caving in on me.”
Republican state Sen. Don Gaetz told the Florida Phoenix that only citizens and documented immigrants should be allowed to attend state colleges and universities.
“The policy issue is: should illegal aliens receive taxpayer-funded higher education in Florida? And in my view, the answer to that question should be no,” Gaetz said. “And if necessary, I will file legislation to ensure that the decision of the state board is enshrined in statute.”
Democratic state Rep. Anna Eskamani, who is running for Orlando mayor, spoke by telephone during the public comment portion of Tuesday’s board of education meeting to denounce the policy, according to the outlet.
“The attempt to restrict a child’s access to higher education based on the documentation status that is no fault of their own is un-American, it’s unfaithful, and it’s absolutely also constitutionally concerning because, obviously, we did not pass legislation on this matter,” Eskamani said.