In-State Tuition for Undocumented Students
Issue: Empowering & Educating Communities
Target Level of Office: State
Policy Origin: Florida State Legislature
Poilcy/Bill Number: House Bill 851 “Postsecondary Education Tuition and Fees”
Link: www.YEONetwork.org/2013policy/?i=240
YEO Co-Sponsor:
Rep. Ricardo Rangel
Summary Narrative of the Policy: This legislation establishes additional residency requirements by
which a student may be eligible for in-state tuition. Effective July 1, 2014, all Florida high school
graduates, including undocumented students, will be eligible to pay in-state tuition at local
colleges and universities. Now, a state university, colleges, career centers operated by a school
district, and a charter technical career center may waive out-of-state fees to undocumented
students.
Relevant Talking Points & Important Information:
• According to our partners at the Immigration Policy Center, each year, approximately
65,000 undocumented students graduate from high school, many of them at the top
of their classes, but are ineligible to go to college, join the military, work, or otherwise
pursue their dreams. Because of barriers to their continued education and their exclusion
from the legal workforce, many undocumented students are discouraged from pursuing
higher education. However, with in-state tuition bills similar to HB 851, undocumented
students can begin claiming their American Dream and make productive contributions
to society.
• In order to qualify for in-state tuition through HB 851, a student must have attended
a secondary school in Florida for three consecutive years before graduating from high
school in Florida, apply for enrollment in an institution of high education within 24
months after high school graduation, and submit an official Florida high school transcript
as evidence of attendance and graduation.
• At least 17 states have laws permitting certain undocumented students who have attended
and graduated from their primary and secondary schools to pay the same tuition as
their classmates at public institutions of higher education including California, Colorado,
Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New
Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington. In addition, Rhode
Island’s Board of Governors for Higher Education and the University of Hawaii’s Board
of Regents voted to provide access to in-state tuition at the states’ public colleges and
universities to certain students, regardless of their immigration status. Additionally, the
University of Michigan’s Board of Regents has adopted a similar policy for its campuses.
• A majority of America’s undocumented immigrants live in these states, and support has
been strongly bipartisan in many of those to pass in-state tuition.
70
State Level
Policy
2014 Book