By Staff Report
Florida’s State University System Board of Governors voted unanimously Thursday to ban undocumented students from attending the state’s 12 public universities.
Under the approved rule, any person “who is present in the United States unlawfully” will not be eligible for enrollment beginning in the 2027-28 academic year.
The move is the latest in a series of immigration-related rules created by the two policymaking bodies that oversee the state’s public higher education institutions — the Board of Governors and the Florida Board of Education.
After the vote, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins called the rule “common sense” in a post on X.
“Florida’s public universities are for students who are here legally. Period,” said Collins, a former state senator whom Gov. Ron DeSantis appointed lieutenant governor in August 2025. “Florida taxpayers should not be expected to subsidize opportunities for people who broke our laws to come here.”
Republican lawmakers have attempted several times to restrict the ability of undocumented immigrants to enroll in higher education institutions in Florida. During the 2026 regular session, legislators filed bills to prohibit higher education institutions from admitting noncitizens who were not legally present in the country and to limit the number of enrolled students who are citizens of foreign countries and are not permanent U.S. residents.
But the measures barely moved through the process and died in committee.
Since then, the State University System and the Florida Board of Education have created their own policies to restrict the admission of undocumented students.
The State University System’s decision Thursday closely followed the Florida Board of Education’s move in June to bar undocumented students from the state’s 24 public colleges and General Educational Development, or GED, programs.
Most recently, Education Commissioner Henry Mack approved a rule that would block undocumented students from attending the state’s postsecondary career and technical education, or CTE, programs.
The programs train students in a wide variety of career fields and industries, including entry-level and management positions in agriculture, health care, energy, transportation, tourism and construction.
That rule will be discussed at a Board of Education meeting Sept. 16 at Polk State College.
The State University System does not currently track students who are not lawfully present in the United States.
In 2025, DeSantis pushed lawmakers to repeal a 2014 law offering qualified undocumented immigrants entering universities in-state tuition rates. The 2014 law had been sponsored by DeSantis’ first lieutenant governor, Jeanette Nuñez, when she was a state House member.
AMBER PATINO