Wendy Ruiz was born and raised in Miami.
She has a Florida driver's license and is registered to vote in Florida.
She graduated from high school in Miami and decided to go to Miami Dade College to become a podiatrist.
It was then she found out that in the eyes of the state's public university system, she is not a Florida resident.
Because Ruiz is a dependent student whose parents are illegal immigrants, she is not eligible for in-state tuition.
The cost of in-state tuition and fees at Miami-Dade is about $2,500 a year. For out-of-state students, it's about $9,000.
At UF, tuition and fees are $5,700 a year for in-state students and roughly $28,000 for out-of-state students.
Last week, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Ala., filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of Ruiz and several other students who will challenge the guidelines for determining Florida residency.
"These are U.S. citizens who are being discriminated against," said Jerri Katzerman, director of educational advocacy for the center. "A generation of young people are having to forgo or postpone their education because of this issue."
Virginia has similar in-state tuition restrictions.
California has the largest estimated illegal immigrant population in the United States with about 2.6 million, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. However, illegal immigrants who graduate from California high schools are eligible for in-state tuition.
Florida has the third-largest population, with an estimated 675,000 illegal immigrants.
Their U.S.-born children are often first-generation college students, Katzerman said.
Many of these students, like Ruiz, are forced to enroll part time or take on multiple jobs to afford the higher tuition, she said.
Calling the policy "unconstitutional," the center is bringing the charges against the Florida Department of Education and the Board of Governors, demanding the removal of the provision requiring a student's parents' proof of citizenship to claim Florida residency.
The Department of Education creates rules regarding tuition and residency for the state's community colleges, and the Board of Governors does the same for state universities.
Both offices declined to comment on the case.
Victor Yengle, assistant external director for CHISPAS, a UF student organization committed to fighting for immigrants' rights, said he thinks the issue is "outrageous."
"It's a complete attack on the minority community," said Yengle, a 22-year-old economics junior.
Of the 50,116 students enrolled at UF in Fall 2010, 3,957 were considered nonresidents.
It is unclear how many of those students may be affected by this lawsuit.
To be considered a Florida resident, a student must either be independent and have lived in Florida for a year or be a dependent whose parents or guardians have lived in Florida for at least a year.
Students who do not meet one of these residency requirements must fill out a nonresident form, lumping them with out-of-state and foreign applicants.
Yengle said he thinks the restrictions on qualifications for in-state tuition reflect poor economic decisions by the state.
Florida, he said, could only benefit from allowing more students to go to school and be competitive for high-paying jobs. Especially because some of the students affected by this provision choose not to pursue higher education at all, costing the state tuition money, he said.
"These kids are going to be contributing members of society," he said. "They will get jobs, earn wages and pay taxes. Why wouldn't you enable them to go to school?"
UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said the university could not comment on the issue due to the pending litigation.
