Florida bans students in the country illegally from attending state universities

Florida’s State University System Board of Governors voted unanimously Thursday to ban undocumented students from attending the state’s 12 public universities.

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According to the approved rule, any person “who is present in the United States unlawfully” will not be eligible for enrollment beginning in the 2027-2028 academic year.

The move is the latest in a series of illegal immigration-related rules created by the two policymaking bodies that control the state’s public higher education institutions — the BOG and the Florida Board of Education.

After the vote, Lt. Gov. Jay Collins said the rule was “common sense,” in a social media 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 as 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 from enrolling in higher education institutions in Florida. During the 2026 regular session, legislators filed bills to prohibit all higher education institutions from admitting any non-citizen who wasn’t legally present in the country and to limit the number of enrolled students who are citizens of foreign countries and who 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

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The State University System’s decision on 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 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 programs.

The programs train students in a wide variety of career fields and industries, including for 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 on Sept. 16 at Polk State College.

The State University System does not currently keep track of students who are not lawfully present in the U.S.

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.

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