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7:00

NEWS STORY

 * Civil Rights & Immigration
 * Culture & Society
 * Education
 * FL Legislature 2023


MEET THE STUDENTS FIGHTING AGAINST A POTENTIAL REPEAL OF IN-STATE TUITION FOR FL
DREAMERS


DESANTIS EARLIER ANNOUNCED A REPEAL IN A PACKAGE OF ANTI-IMMIGRATION MEASURES,
BUT IT HAS YET TO SURFACE IN LEGISLATION

BY: MITCH PERRY - APRIL 18, 2023 7:00 AM



A group of Dreamers and their advocates at the state Capitol in Tallahassee on
April 11, 2023 (photo credit: Mitch Perry)

Britney Ortiz came to Florida as a young child from Mexico. Now, the 20-year-old
Orlando resident intends to transfer to the University of Central Florida (UCF)
and major in business marketing next semester – though that’s a big “if.”

The if is whether the Florida Legislature will repeal an in-state tuition break
for undocumented students, often called Dreamers.

Britney Ortiz. Credit: Mitch Perry.



“Right now the in-state tuition at UCF is about $6,000,” says Ortiz, who is now
at Valencia College. “If they get to repeal it, I’ll be expected to pay $22,000,
and that’s not including books, housing or transportation.”

Ortiz hopes that sharing her story will move others. “We’re putting a face to
the problem actually,” she says.

Ortiz and other students who have benefitted from a 2014 state law granting
in-state college tuition for undocumented high school students made the trek to
Florida’s state Capitol last week to try to convince lawmakers that a repeal
would be a mistake.

“Mostly we’re educating folks,” said Julio Calderon, a Miami resident who
graduated from Florida International University in 2019 and who helped
coordinate a trip to the state Capitol.

“There are a lot of people who are new to the Capitol, who weren’t here in 2014,
so we’re doing the education and letting them know how it’s benefitted our
lives. That’s our job to do that here, because when they see the impact that
in-state tuition has had in our lives, they’re able to see how continuing the
legislation will help the state.”

To qualify for the in-state tuition waiver in Florida, recipients must have a
minimum of three consecutive years of Florida high school and have graduated
from a Florida high school. Dreamers are not eligible for state or financial
aid.

In question, though, is, will lawmakers push through a potential repeal of
in-state tuition for Dreamers? Or not? The spring legislative session has only
three weeks left.

A bill on illegal immigration pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to be heard in
any of its three scheduled committees in the Florida House. Speaker Paul Renner
said last week that the intention is for his chamber to soon begin moving on it,
though he admitted that “I don’t know where that landing spot is yet.”

Currently the measure isn’t even included in the immigration bill sponsored by
Central Florida Republican Blaise Ingoglia in the Senate. The House equivalent
is sponsored by Jacksonville Republican Kiyan Michael. Republicans have
maintained that a potential appeal of in-state tuition for Dreamers could be
attached to another bill, possibly an education measure, before the end of the
session.

João Gameiro. Credit: Mitch Perry.



João Gameiro is a pre-law senior at UCF who will be graduating in the next few
weeks. He can’t believe that the idea of repealing the 2014 law is actually
being considered.

“I thought this was a done deal. I thought there was a consensus among both
parties that this is common sense legislation,” he says.

Gameiro says his goal is either to attend law school at George Washington
University in Washington, D.C., or at the University of Florida, “so for me
without this program helping me in the future, I’m not sure how I’d ever be able
to go to law school.”

Whether that can happen may be decided in the next three weeks.

Advocates say that in-state tuition for undocumented students isn’t that
significant a blow to the state economically, as a 2020 report said that
undocumented students make up just 3 percent of the state’s public
post-secondary system.

According to the Florida Policy Institute, the number of Dreamers granted
out-of-state fee waivers under the 2014 law has dropped since the 2018-19
academic year, but that 6,500 Florida undergrads still benefitted from them in
the 2021-2022 academic year, and nearly 36,000 have benefitted since 2017.

The organization TheDream.US bills itself as the country’s largest college
access program for Dreamers in the country and says that it has awarded more
than 1,150 scholarships to Florida Dreamers, with nearly 500 graduates.

“Stripping in-state tuition from Dreamers would be both cruel and
counterproductive to Florida,” said Gaby Pacheco, director of advocacy,
communications and development at TheDream.US in a written statement after
DeSantis spoke about the proposal in February. (She was not at the state Capitol
with the other Dreamers last week.)

The 2014 bill was passed into law on a bipartisan basis, with former Republican
House Speaker Will Weatherford pushing hard for the measure and then second-year
Miami Republican House member Jeanette Nuñez being responsible for getting the
measure over the finish line. (Nuñez is now the lieutenant governor.)

A Tampa Bay Times story published shortly after that measure passed quoted
then-Republican state Sen. Jack Latvala paying tribute to Núñez for her hard
driving advocacy in getting the bill passed. “I was thinking how fitting it is .
. . that the name on that bill is going to be Jeanette Nuñez, the daughter of
Cuban immigrants, the daughter of people who came to this country for a better
life, to escape oppression,” Latvala said on the Senate floor in 2014.

But that was nearly a decade ago. Now Nuñez opposes the measure, and other
Republicans in the Legislature have attempted to repeal the law, such as
then-Sarasota Republican House member Greg Steube in 2017. He is now a
Congressman. In addition, Republican Randy Fine of Brevard County also was for a
2021 bill on repealing in-state tuition. Neither made it for a floor vote.

Florida is one of 23 states that provide in-state tuition to undocumented
students. Another four states provide undocumented students access to in-state
tuition in some but not all universities, according to the Higher Ed Immigration
Portal.

Another 7 states provide access to in-state tuition only to recipients of the
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), according to the portal.


Republish

Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide
proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing
guidelines for use of photos and graphics.




MITCH PERRY

Mitch Perry has covered politics and government in Florida for more than two
decades. Most recently he is the former politics reporter for Bay News 9. He has
also worked at Florida Politics, Creative Loafing and WMNF Radio in Tampa. He
was also part of the original staff when the Florida Phoenix was created in
2018.

MORE FROM AUTHOR

RELATED NEWS

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April 18, 2022
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20, 2023
The fate of Dreamers: Advocates fear 'damaging consequences'… by Mitch Perry
April 6, 2023




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© Florida Phoenix, 2023

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readers. We cover state government and politics with a staff of five journalists
located at the Florida Press Center in downtown Tallahassee.

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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide
proper attribution and link to our web site.

DEIJ Policy | Ethics Policy | Privacy Policy
© Florida Phoenix, 2023
1
X



MEET THE STUDENTS FIGHTING AGAINST A POTENTIAL REPEAL OF IN-STATE TUITION FOR FL
DREAMERS

by Mitch Perry, Florida Phoenix
April 18, 2023

<h1>Meet the students fighting against a potential repeal of in-state tuition
for FL Dreamers</h1> <p>by Mitch Perry, <a
href="https://floridaphoenix.com">Florida Phoenix</a> <br />April 18, 2023</p>
<p>Britney Ortiz came to Florida as a young child from Mexico. Now, the
20-year-old Orlando resident intends to transfer to the University of Central
Florida (UCF) and major in business marketing next semester – though that’s a
big “if.”</p> <p>The if is whether the Florida Legislature will repeal an
in-state tuition break for undocumented students, often called Dreamers.</p>
<figure><a
href="http://floridaphoenix.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_20230411_134806714_HDR-scaled.jpg"></a><i></i>
Britney Ortiz. Credit: Mitch Perry.</p></figure> <p>“Right now the in-state
tuition at UCF is about $6,000,” says Ortiz, who is now at Valencia College. “If
they get to repeal it, I’ll be expected to pay $22,000, and that’s not including
books, housing or transportation.”</p> <p>Ortiz hopes that sharing her story
will move others. “We’re putting a face to the problem actually,” she says.</p>
<p>Ortiz and other students who have benefitted from a 2014 state law granting
in-state college tuition for undocumented high school students made the trek to
Florida’s state Capitol last week to try to convince lawmakers that a repeal
would be a mistake.</p> <p>“Mostly we’re educating folks,” said Julio Calderon,
a Miami resident who graduated from Florida International University in 2019 and
who helped coordinate a trip to the state Capitol.</p> <p>“There are a lot of
people who are new to the Capitol, who weren’t here in 2014, so we’re doing the
education and letting them know how it’s benefitted our lives. That’s our job to
do that here, because when they see the impact that in-state tuition has had in
our lives, they’re able to see how continuing the legislation will help the
state.”</p> <p>To qualify for the in-state tuition waiver in Florida, recipients
must have a minimum of three consecutive years of Florida high school and have
graduated from a Florida high school. Dreamers are not eligible for state or
financial aid.</p> <p>In question, though, is, will lawmakers push through a
potential repeal of in-state tuition for Dreamers? Or not? The spring
legislative session has only three weeks left.</p> <p>A bill on illegal
immigration pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to be heard in any of its three
scheduled committees in the Florida House. Speaker Paul Renner said last week
that the intention is for his chamber to soon begin moving on it, though he
admitted that “I don’t know where that landing spot is yet.”</p> <p>Currently
the measure isn’t even included in the immigration bill sponsored by Central
Florida Republican Blaise Ingoglia in the Senate. The House equivalent is
sponsored by Jacksonville Republican Kiyan Michael. Republicans have maintained
that a potential appeal of in-state tuition for Dreamers <a
href="https://floridaphoenix.com/blog/repeal-of-in-state-tuition-in-fl-for-dreamers-could-still-happen-though-not-in-immigration-bill/">could
be attached to another bill</a>, possibly an education measure, before the end
of the session.</p> <figure><a
href="http://floridaphoenix.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/IMG_20230411_134758628_HDR-scaled.jpg"></a><i></i>
João Gameiro. Credit: Mitch Perry.</p></figure> <p>João Gameiro is a pre-law
senior at UCF who will be graduating in the next few weeks. He can’t believe
that the idea of repealing the 2014 law is actually being considered.</p> <p>“I
thought this was a done deal. I thought there was a consensus among both parties
that this is common sense legislation,” he says.</p> <p>Gameiro says his goal is
either to attend law school at George Washington University in Washington, D.C.,
or at the University of Florida, “so for me without this program helping me in
the future, I’m not sure how I’d ever be able to go to law school.”</p>
<p>Whether that can happen may be decided in the next three weeks.</p>
<p>Advocates say that in-state tuition for undocumented students isn’t that
significant a blow to the state economically, as a <a
href="https://floridacollegeaccess.org/research-and-data/florida-ranks-third-in-u-s-on-number-of-undocumented-students-in-higher-education/">2020
report</a> said that undocumented students make up just 3 percent of the state’s
public post-secondary system.</p> <p>According to the <a
href="https://www.floridapolicy.org/posts/small-cost-bigger-payoff-floridas-tuition-equity-for-dreamers-law">Florida
Policy Institute</a>, the number of Dreamers granted out-of-state fee waivers
under the 2014 law has dropped since the 2018-19 academic year, but that 6,500
Florida undergrads still benefitted from them in the 2021-2022 academic year,
and nearly 36,000 have benefitted since 2017.</p> <p>The organization<a
href="https://www.thedream.us/about-us/"> TheDream.US</a> bills itself as the
country’s largest college access program for Dreamers in the country and says
that it has awarded more than 1,150 scholarships to Florida Dreamers, with
nearly 500 graduates.</p> <p>“Stripping in-state tuition from Dreamers would be
both cruel and counterproductive to Florida,” said Gaby Pacheco, director of
advocacy, communications and development at TheDream.US in a <a
href="https://www.thedream.us/news/both-cruel-and-counterproductive-gaby-pacheco-of-thedream-us-reacts-to-proposal-to-repeal-in-state-tuition-for-florida-dreamers/">written
statement</a> after DeSantis spoke about the proposal in February. (She was not
at the state Capitol with the other Dreamers last week.)</p> <p>The 2014 bill
was passed into law on a bipartisan basis, with former Republican House Speaker
Will Weatherford pushing hard for the measure and then second-year Miami
Republican House member Jeanette Nuñez being responsible for getting the measure
over the finish line. (Nuñez is now the lieutenant governor.)</p> <p>A Tampa Bay
Times<a
href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/in-male-dominated-florida-legislature-jeanette-n250241ez-emerges-as/2181449/">
story</a> published shortly after that measure passed quoted then-Republican
state Sen. Jack Latvala paying tribute to Núñez for her hard driving advocacy in
getting the bill passed. “I was thinking how fitting it is . . . that the name
on that bill is going to be Jeanette Nuñez, the daughter of Cuban immigrants,
the daughter of people who came to this country for a better life, to escape
oppression,” Latvala said on the Senate floor in 2014.</p> <p>But that was
nearly a decade ago. Now Nuñez opposes the measure, and other Republicans in the
Legislature have attempted to repeal the law, such as then-Sarasota Republican
House member <a
href="https://www.wmfe.org/2016-12-27/florida-senator-wants-to-repeal-in-state-tuition-for-undocumented-students">Greg
Steube</a> in 2017. He is now a Congressman. In addition, Republican <a
href="https://www.floridatoday.com/story/news/2021/01/21/fine-introduces-bill-strip-state-tuition-benefit-undocumented-florida-students/6658966002/">Randy
Fine</a> of Brevard County also was for a 2021 bill on repealing in-state
tuition. Neither made it for a floor vote.</p> <p>Florida is one of 23 states
that provide in-state tuition to undocumented students. Another four states
provide undocumented students access to in-state tuition in some but not all
universities, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal.</p> <p>Another 7
states provide access to in-state tuition only to recipients of the Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), according to the portal.</p> <style>
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