Students without legal status are dropping out or delaying college as states revoke tuition breaks

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Carlie was hoping to spend her senior year savoring her final moments on the palm tree-lined campus of the University of Central Florida. Instead, she sits at home alone, logging on to online courses, afraid to leave her apartment and run the risk of being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A few months ago, Carlie was studying public relations in Orlando, envisioning one day working for nonprofits that help students like her. Thanks to in-state tuition and private scholarships, Carlie had been living a life she had only dreamed of in Haiti, a country she left behind at 13 years old.

Now, she’s one of thousands of Florida students whose education is being delayed or derailed after state lawmakers revoked a 2014 law that let residents who are in the country illegally qualify for in-state tuition at public colleges and universities.

Across the country, tens of thousands of college students without legal status are losing access to in-state tuition as part of an immigration crackdown carried out by President Donald Trump and his allies.

“It feels like all my hard work means nothing. Like, one day I can just lose it,” said Carlie, who spoke on condition of being identified by only her first name because she fears being deported.

Thousands of students without legal status lose in-state tuition

When Florida lawmakers passed the tuition waiver law more than a decade ago, it was a bipartisan effort championed by then-state Rep. Jeanette Nuñez, a Miami Republican who went on to become Gov. Ron DeSantis’ lieutenant governor. That a decade later Nuñez would support dismantling what had been one of her signature achievements is a sign of how much the state’s immigration politics have shifted toward Trump’s priorities.

According to state data, more than 6,500 students qualified for what’s known as the out-of-state tuition waiver during the 2023-2024 school year. That waiver was revoked as of July 1, after DeSantis signed the bill repealing the tuition cuts.

The cost difference is substantial. At the flagship University of Florida, a state resident is estimated to pay about $6,380 in tuition for the 2025-2026 academic year compared with about $30,900 for a nonresident student. Housing, transportation and other expenses can add another $17,000 or more.

Florida’s state colleges and universities don’t specifically track the enrollment of students without legal status, but some immigrant advocates say they expect fewer students to attend in-person classes, and many to give up on college altogether.

Diego Dulanto Falcon earned a bachelor’s in psychology thanks to the tuition waiver. Now he’s pursuing his master’s in public health at the University of South Florida.

In losing access to in-state tuition, Dulanto Falcon said students without legal status are being cut off from a range of opportunities.

“Fully undocumented students, they have absolutely no options,” Dulanto Falcon said. “They either work under the table or they just don’t work at all.”

From college-bound to working at McDonald’s

Going to high school in Miami, David stacked his schedule with dual enrollment and Advanced Placement classes. He hoped to attend college and become a radiologist or physical therapist. David, who was born in Honduras, said that now feels impossible for students like him without legal status. While his friends went off to universities like Duke and Florida State, David went to work at McDonald’s.

He spoke on condition of being identified only by his middle name because he fears deportation.

“When you come into this country and your parents make the sacrifice and you’re a kid, all they tell you is focus on school,” David said. “I did just that.”

But now, without the tuition waver, he said he can’t afford college.

Around the country, programs offering in-state tuition rates to immigrants that once had wide bipartisan support increasingly have come under criticism from Republicans. In legal challenges, the Trump administration has argued the benefits are unconstitutional.

The Justice Department has been suing states to end tuition breaks, starting with Texas in June, followed by Kentucky, Minnesota and Oklahoma. Meantime, the U.S. Department of Education is investigating colleges that offer scholarships to students without legal status.

Rosie Curts, a high school math teacher in the Dallas Independent School District, worries she won’t be able to motivate her students to learn algebra if they feel college is out of reach. A Texas law gave college students without legal residency access to in-state tuition for decades before a federal judge blocked it in June.

“The idea that that can all be snatched away from them in such a cruel fashion is demotivating to the whole educators’ mindset,” Curts said in a call with reporters.

Scholarships at risk as well as in-state tuition

In Orlando, Carlie had a private scholarship to attend Central Florida, but it only covered the in-state tuition rate.

She was able to enroll as an online student at Purdue Global University, but she said some of her credits didn’t transfer and she had to change her major, delaying her graduation.

Going to school in-person in Florida was no longer an option after more than a dozen colleges and universities, including UCF, signed agreements with ICE allowing them to carry out immigration enforcement on campus, she said.

“I chose online school because I simply don’t feel safe,” Carlie said.

Living hours away from family in Miami, Carlie worries that if she was detained, it could be days before someone noticed she was missing. It’s much safer to stay inside, she said, living on food she gets delivered to her apartment as she tries to finish her education.

“I’m trying to get my life back on track,” Carlie said. “I can’t stay home forever.”

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Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.