{"id":320150,"date":"2026-06-26T01:21:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:21:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320150\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T01:21:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T01:21:21","slug":"florida-university-system-officials-look-to-block-undocumented-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/320150\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida university system officials look to block undocumented students"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 Undocumented students wouldn\u2019t be admitted to the state\u2019s public universities under a proposal reviewed by the State University System Board of Governors on Thursday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The board discussed a new rule that would make students who are not lawfully present in the United States ineligible for enrollment at any of the 12 state universities beginning with the 2027-2028 academic year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The rule change would not affect students already enrolled. Currently, the university system does not flag students who are not lawfully present in the U.S. <\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Some board members questioned whether the rule would affect international students who are enrolled in online degrees. For example, if a student is located in Toronto and is paying out-of-state tuition for an online MBA at the University of Florida.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cI don\u2019t think it would be the intent of this board to preclude somebody who lives overseas to access online programs,\u201d said Board Chair Alan Levine. \u201cI think what we\u2019re talking about is graduate and undergraduate resident programs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The rule was amended to clarify that it did not apply to students located outside the U.S., but it hasn\u2019t been formally approved by the board, which while hold a vote at a later date on the proposal.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Next week, the state Board of Education, which governs Florida\u2019s 24 state colleges, will also discuss new policies that bar undocumented students from attending those institutions and taking the General Educational Development test.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The rules were originally slated for a May 13 meeting but were postponed and set on the agenda for Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">One rule requires applicants to state colleges to provide attestation they are a U.S. citizen or lawfully present in the U.S. prior to being admitted and to provide documentation of their status before enrollment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Another rule would ban undocumented immigrants from adult general education programs in high schools and state colleges. Adult general education programs prepare those taking the GED exam for the equivalency of a high school diploma.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">\u201cAdult education providers must establish and implement written policies to verify that students are United States citizens or lawfully present in the United States,\u201d the proposed rule says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">Under the landmark 1982 Supreme Court case Plyler v. Doe, states cannot prevent undocumented children from attending a K-12 public school without \u201cshowing that it furthers some substantial state interest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Box-_wrDxHtU__Box-sc-10sa3ie-0 Text-nO2aZ44r__TextBase-sc-s2hv5x-0 jJNfBD fSvavs article-text\">The proposed rules, however, could affect students under 18, as the GED exam can be taken by 16 and 17-year-olds, and high school students in Florida have opportunities for dual enrollment classes within the state college system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TALLAHASSEE, Fla. \u2013 Undocumented students wouldn\u2019t be admitted to the state\u2019s public universities under a proposal reviewed by&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320151,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[113,28,30,29,8236,1841,4348,232],"class_list":["post-320150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-education","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-illegal-immigration","tag-immigration","tag-schools","tag-tallahassee"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}