In the 2023-2024 academic year, over 6,500 Florida students without documentation who received an out-of-state fee waiver paid $26.7 million for their postsecondary education tuition. Without the fee waiver, they would have had to pay over $40 million more. Since most undocumented households in Florida have low incomes, more than tripling tuition costs on top of what families already pay would lock the vast majority of these students out of higher education entirely.
Contrary to how some state lawmakers have recently framed the fiscal impact of these waivers, allowing Florida’s Dreamers to access in-state tuition has not cost the state money; instead, in FPI’s estimation, it has generated millions in revenue for institutions experiencing drops in enrollment and financial strain.[1]
Given the state’s open enrollment policies across the Florida College System (FCS), formerly known as community colleges, the potential cost of stripping out-of-state fee waivers away from Florida’s Dreamers could equate to a nearly $15 million loss. Open enrollment, sometimes called open admissions, means that any person with a high school diploma or General Education Diploma (GED) can enroll — the institution is not “selective” in student enrollment. At a time when enrollment in Florida’s 28-member college system remains 11 percent below pre-pandemic levels, it is unlikely that over 4,500 new students would enroll to replace Dreamers barred from in-state tuition rates, as Senate Bill (SB) 90 and SB 244 propose doing. Specifically, Dreamers using the out-of-state fee waivers last academic year (2023-24) paid $14.7 million in tuition into the FCS. The largest amount of tuition paid by Dreamers within the FCS was at Miami Dade College, paying just over $2 million. Since the FCS is open enrollment, there are no students “waiting in the wings” to replace tuition paid by these students, and the potential for colleges to lose out on this revenue is high.
Contrary to how some state lawmakers have recently framed the fiscal impact of these waivers, allowing Florida’s Dreamers to access in-state tuition has not cost the state money; instead, in FPI’s estimation, it has generated millions in revenue for institutions experiencing drops in enrollment and financial strain.
For the state’s university system, if another Florida resident replaced a Dreamer’s spot, they would pay the same tuition and fees. As such, the fiscal impact on state universities would be negligible, if anything, from substituting Dreamers using the out-of-state fee waiver with another Florida resident.[2]
Therefore, out-of-state fee waivers are not a “cost” to state colleges and universities; rather, they are a boon. Eliminating the waivers would mean Florida’s institutions, as a whole, could lose out on nearly $15 million in tuition and fees, plus additional losses from locking Dreamers out of economic opportunity and Florida’s economy losing skilled labor.
Referring to Out-of-State Waivers as a “Cost” is Misleading
Under current law, students who receive the out-of-state fee waiver cannot be charged higher tuition and fees than a resident (i.e., in-state) student. All institutions that grant out-of-state fee waivers must report “the number and value” of the waivers to the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) — which oversees state universities — and the Florida Department of Education (which oversees state colleges and district postsecondary institutions). Both the BOG and the Florida Department of Education (DOE) determine the waiver value based on the difference in out-of-state and in-state average tuition and fee rates, including financial aid, capital improvement, and technology fees.[3]
Florida’s institutions of higher education are not paying for undocumented students to matriculate, they are simply offering the same in-state tuition rates they would offer other students who went to a Florida high school for at least three consecutive years, graduated, and matriculated into a postsecondary institution.
For the 2023-2024 academic year, the value of the out-of-state fee waiver for undocumented students was $4,515 per college student and $9,980 per university student.[4] Florida’s institutions of higher education are not paying for undocumented students to matriculate, they are simply offering the same in-state tuition rates they would offer other students who went to a Florida high school for at least three consecutive years, graduated, and matriculated into a postsecondary institution.
Lost Opportunity for Dreamers Means Lost Revenue for Florida’s Colleges
It is improbable that young immigrants would still pursue higher education in Florida if the out-of-state fee waivers were repealed and they were forced to pay out-of-state rates. For the 2023-2024 academic year, average tuition and fees at Florida’s 28 colleges were $3,204 for in-state students and $11,682 for out-of-state students, respectively.[5] At Florida’s 12 universities, the same tuition and fees were $5,992 and $20,719, respectively. Whether attending college or university, Florida’s nonresidents (i.e., those subject to out-of-state tuition and fees) pay nearly three times more than residents.
In the 2023-2024 academic year, over 6,500 students without documentation who received an out-of-state fee waiver paid $26.7 million in in-state tuition and fees for their postsecondary education. Under the current law, Florida’s Dreamers remain ineligible for state scholarships like Bright Futures and federal financial aid. Thus, they are forced to pay for their education out of pocket. Meanwhile, an estimated 61 percent of Florida’s undocumented residents live in households with income below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. (For one person, that equates to less than $30,120 per year.) Without the out-of-state fee waiver, Dreamers would have to pay over $40 million more in tuition and fees, effectively making higher education unattainable for many. Without these students, Florida colleges would lose out on nearly $15 million annually.
In the 2023-2024 academic year, over 6,500 students without documentation who received an out-of-state fee waiver paid $26.7 million in in-state tuition and fees for their postsecondary education.
Eliminating Waivers will Exacerbate Higher Education Enrollment Problems
Relatedly, eliminating the out-of-state fee waiver means that Florida’s colleges, as a whole, could face further enrollment woes. Despite their relative affordability compared to universities, college enrollment rates remain 11 percent lower than before the COVID-19 pandemic, a shortage of 36,161 full-time enrollments. Shutting out thousands of undocumented students — many of whom end up in STEM fields that the state has identified as strategically important — will cost Florida revenue, skilled labor, and the unique contributions of these young Floridians.
Understanding Why Florida Offers Out-Of-State Waivers/Tuition Fairness
In 2014, Florida’s then-Gov. Rick Scott signed HB 851, which allows students who are undocumented to pay in-state tuition rates if they graduated from a Florida high school and spent at least three consecutive years in Florida schools immediately before graduating. "Students that grew up in our state are going to get the same in-state tuition as their peers, which is what's fair," he said after signing the legislation. The bill initially stalled in the Senate, until Scott enrolled the help of former Florida Governors Jeb Bush and Bob Martinez, who helped to push the bill over the finish line.
As a result, Florida joined the ranks of now 25 states that have adopted “tuition fairness” laws, allowing immigrant students without documentation to pay in-state tuition rates under certain conditions. By passing HB 851, Florida policymakers gave tens of thousands of young adults the opportunity to enroll and participate in higher education alongside their peers, without the hurdle of higher tuition costs.
Today, Florida’s Dreamers attend schools, are valued community members, pay taxes, and contribute to the economy. By one estimate, Dreamers enrolled in, or eligible for, the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program pay $78 million in state and local taxes in Florida annually.
Florida policymakers claim to prioritize growing the state's competitive workforce and ensuring that the state attracts business, talent, and revenue to thrive. Pulling the rug out from under young immigrant high school graduates — who have been counting on in-state rates since the state passed tuition equity a decade ago — will further none of these state goals.
Notes
[1] Florida’s young immigrants who are undocumented face myriad barriers to higher education and economic prosperity. Also known as “Dreamers,” after the federal DREAM Act, these young people were brought to the United States and often do not remember living in any other country.
[2] In the unlikely scenario that over 2,000 out-of-state students matriculate in place of Florida’s Dreamers, universities collect more revenue.
[3] Email and phone communications between Florida Policy Institute and the DOE and BOG (March 2023; January 2025).
[4] Calculations come from State University System of Florida, “Fee Waiver Summary,” https://www.flbog.edu/resources/data-analytics/dashboards/fee-waiver-summary; and Florida College Systems, “Summary of Student Fee Exemptions and Waivers For the 2023-24 Fiscal Year,” 2024, https://www.fldoe.org/file/19874/2324ExemptWaiversSS.pdf. To calculate per student numbers, FPI divided the total amount of the out-of-state fee waiver by the headcount of students who received the waiver.
[5] For college tuition statistics see Florida Department of Education, “The 2024 Florida College Fact Book: Student Fees for Fall 2023-2024 Lower Level Credit Programs,” 2023, https://www.fldoe.org/accountability/data-sys/CCTCMIS/reports.stml; see also State University System of Florida, “Tuition and Required Fees, 2023-24,” 2023, https://www.flbog.edu/universities/parents-students/tuition-fees/.
