The bill that would have given millions of undocumented students the opportunity to pay in-state tuition at colleges and universities in Florida was killed Thursday.
Students who graduated with a minimum of three years of education in a Florida high school, despite their immigration status, would have qualified under SB106. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted against the bill, 4-3.
SB1018, which was denied in January, would have allowed American citizens of undocumented parents to also pay in-state tuition.
In a 2003 report based on the Current Population Survey (CPS), the 2000 census and the Urban Institute's research, an estimated 65,000 undocumented youth who have lived in the U.S. for five continuous years graduated with a high school diploma each year.
Currently, there are no state or federal laws that forbid public or private colleges and institutions from accepting undocumented students, but each have their own admission policies.
At UF, in-state tuition is $135.32 per undergraduate credit hour, and out-of-state tuition is $842.53 per undergraduate credit hour for the 2011-2012 semesters.
A full-time undergraduate student (12 credit hours) with an official immigration status would pay $1,623.84 per semester. An undocumented student raised in Florida or a Florida-born student of undocumented parents, with the same qualifications, grades and achievements, would pay $10,110.36 for the same classes, if admitted.
According to the 2011-2012 UF average cost of attendance, an incoming Florida freshman would pay $5,700 for tuition and fees in one year, but an out-of-state student would pay $22,236 more - a total of $27,936.
Even if that was the case, UF and a majority of accredited institutions of higher education do not admit undocumented students or American citizens whose parents are undocumented.
Is there a way out of the education loop hole for the children of undocumented immigrants?
What happens with those 65,000 undocumented students once they graduate from high school?
Posts in Uncovering Immigration appear on Wednesdays.
SB1018, which was denied in January, would have allowed American citizens of undocumented parents to also pay in-state tuition.
