ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Undocumented students attending Florida public universities may no longer be able to enroll, starting in 2027.<\/p>\n
The Academic Affairs Committee<\/a> will meet during a Florida Board of Governors<\/a> meeting on Wednesday. Agenda documents<\/a> show they plan to amend a regulation regarding general admissions.<\/p>\n A 10th section was added to the general admisions regulation that reads, \u201cBeginning with the 2027-28 academic year, a person who is not lawfully present in the United States shall not be eligible for initial enrollment in any state university, which, for the two most recent academic years, did not admit all academically qualified applicants, except for cases in which applicants were rejected for nonacademic reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n The board oversees 12 universities across the state, including the University of Central Florida. During the 2025-26 school year, 93% of students were in state. The remaining 7%, roughly 5,000 students, were out-of-state. The university does not list information on a student\u2019s legal status.<\/p>\n The regulation would need approval from the Academic Affairs Committee and the Board of Governors. Then, the regulation is up for public comment for 14 days. After those two weeks, if the public raises no concerns, the board could give final approval at its next meeting, which could be on Sept. 2.<\/p>\n Madhurima Paturi, attorney and founder of Paturi Law, says if the amendment passes, it is a waiting game to see how this will affect students with plans on pursuing a degree at a state university.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is so unfortunate if they have to stop studying after the high school degree or they have to go to the different state to get the pursue the higher degree. Overall, we\u2019re going to be losing the talent and also the income coming through that particular group of the people,\u201d said Paturi.<\/p>\n Paturi believes there is not a large population of students taking over, as suggested by the regulation.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be said, there is already a few percentage [of students] who is actually pursuing the higher degree. More overall with undocumented, there\u2019s also a big stake that they can\u2019t afford these kind of the education,\u201d said Paturi.<\/p>\n Paturi said if the state does move forward with this amendment, Florida could join four other states with similar rules. They could also face legal action from students, she said.<\/p>\n The Florida Department of Education made similar strides this year, trying to restrict undocumented students from attending the state\u2019s colleges. They will discuss and vote on that June 30.<\/p>\n