Albritton Eyes Phasing Out ‘Dreamers’ Tuition Break

• By Jim Turner and Tom Urban, News Service Florida  

• December 16, 2024

Senate President Ben Albritton, R-Wauchula, suggested phasing out a tuition break for undocumented immigrant students.

Colin Hackley/File

TALLAHASSEE --- Senate President Ben Albritton on Monday suggested phasing out a decade-old law that allows some undocumented immigrant students, known as “dreamers,” to receive in-state tuition rates at Florida universities and colleges.

Albritton addressed the issue during a media availability, after Sen. Randy Fine, R-Brevard County, this month filed a bill (SB 90) that would repeal the law. Albritton suggested a gradual approach that would take into account students who already receive the tuition benefit or who are making plans to attend colleges or universities at the cheaper in-state rates.

While he did not propose a timeline for phasing out the law, Albritton suggested putting a “sunset” on it — a legislative term that usually involves setting a future date to end a law or program.

“If you're not going to have access to it at some point, whatever that number of months or years may be … you won't plan on it,” Albritton, R-Wauchula, said. “If you and your family have built the idea of going to college around this, and you built your budget around it, a sunset would make sense to me.”

Lawmakers and then-Gov. Rick Scott in 2014 approved the law, which allows undocumented immigrant students to avoid higher out-of-state tuition rates if they meet certain criteria. The students need to have attended a secondary school in Florida for three consecutive years immediately before graduating from high school and must apply to a college or university within two years of graduation.

Fine, who is running in a special election for a congressional seat, filed his repeal bill Dec. 6, contending Florida is offering a “better deal” to undocumented immigrants than to students from other parts of the U.S.

“Someone from Georgia, who wants to go to one of our public universities, is going to pay three times as much as an illegal immigrant who shouldn’t even be in America,” Fine said on Monday.

When he filed the bill, Fine estimated the repeal would cut about $45 million subsidy for undocumented students.

A 2023 report by the American Immigration Council and the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration estimated that in 2021 about 40,000 undocumented students attended Florida colleges and universities.

“We should not be asking Floridians, who are struggling to make ends meet to pay their insurance bills and their grocery bills, to cough up $45 million for illegal immigrants,” Fine said Monday. “It’s just wrong.”

Fine filed the bill as he runs in a special election to replace U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., in Congressional District 6. Waltz is leaving office next month to become President-elect Donald Trump’s national security adviser.

The special primary election in the Republican-leaning district, which covers all or parts of Flagler, Lake, Marion, Putnam, St. Johns and Volusia counties, will be held Jan. 28. The special general election is April 1. Fine, who has the backing of Trump in the race, will exit the Senate on March 31 to meet the state’s resign-to-run law.

Florida’s 60-day legislative session will start March 4.

When the 2014 law was approved, Albritton was one of 32 House members who voted against the measure. Albritton was elected to the Senate in 2018 and became president last month.

“I believe that citizenship matters,” Albritton said Monday. “It should matter. It is what this country was founded on.”

Differences between what students pay for in-state and out-of-state tuition can be large.

At Florida State University, the difference ranges from $6,517 for in-state tuition to $21,683 for other students. At the University of Florida, in-state tuition is $6,381 compared to $28,658 for out-of-state students.

The 2014 law was passed by a 26-13 vote in the Republican-controlled Senate and 84-32 in the House. It was a priority of then-House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, and was sponsored by then- Rep. Jeanette Nunez, a Miami Republican who is now lieutenant governor.

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