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(Tallahassee, FL) - The Florida Department of Education is set to vote on a new rule requiring students to provide proof citizenship to gain admission to public state college.
This after in-state tuition eligibility was ended last year for Dreamers, students brought to the country as children without legal status. It's not clear if the proposed rule would be retroactive or apply to Dreamers. A public hearing on the proposed rule is scheduled for May 14 at Miami Dade College.
Norin Dollard with Florida Policy Institute argues it will effectively turn the state's 28-public colleges into immigration enforcement gatekeepers. She says, "With these proposed rules, the Florida Department of Education is making a costly end-run around the Legislature, which refused to pass similar legislation during the 2026 regular session."
Yareliz Mendez Zamora with American Friends accuses the governor of bullying the board of education. She adds, "Let's be clear: this policy punishes students for circumstances they did not choose. But they grew up here, studied here, and not the state is trying to shut the door on them."
The measure would also boards of trustees within the Florida College System to confirm that every admitted student is either a U.S. citizen or lawfully present in the country and would expand admissions standards to include student "misconduct" by allowing an applicant's disciplinary history to be taken into account.