Tallahassee, Florida (AP)-Carlie hoped to enjoy her last moments on the campus of the University of Central Florida, lined with palm trees last year. Instead, she sits at home alone, reports to online courses, feared to leave her apartment and lead the risk of being arrested by the immigration and customs authority of the US immigration.
A few months ago, Carlie studied public relations in Orlando and introduced herself to work one day for non -profit organizations that lend a hand students like them. Thanks to the tuition fees and private scholarships, Carlie had lived a life that she had only dreamed of in Haiti, a country that had left her back at the age of 13.
Now it is one of thousands of students in Florida, whose education is delayed or derailed after the legislator has revoked a law of 2014 that the residents who are in the country have illegally qualified for lessons at public universities and universities.
All over the country, tens of thousands of students without legal status lose access to tuition fees in the state in the context of a procedure for the immigration of President Donald Trump and his allies.
“It feels like all my hard work means nothing. One day I can just lose it,” said Carlie, who spoke about the condition that she is only identified by her first name because she fears that she will be deported.
Thousands of students without legal status lose tuition fees in the state
When the legislators in Florida adopted the law to the exemption of the tuition fee more than a decade ago, it was a cross -party effort that was the Republican Jeanette Nuñez, a Republican from Miami, the governor Ron Desantis Lieutenant governor. The fact that a decade later would support Nuñez the disassembly, which was one of her signatures, is a sign of how much the state’s immigration policy has shifted to Trump’s priorities.
According to state data, more than 6,500 students qualified for the so-called tuition fee waiver outside the state in the school year 2023-2024. This waiver was revoked on July 1 after Desantis had signed the Bill that had lifted the tuition fees.
The cost difference is considerable. At the Flagship University of Florida, a state resident estimates $ 6,380 in tuition fees for the academic year 2025-2026 compared to $ 30,900 for a non-resident student. Local, transport and other expenses can add another $ 17,000 or more.
The state universities and universities in Florida do not pursue the enrollment of students without legal status, but some supporters from immigrants say that they expect fewer students to take part in personal courses and many who give up college as a whole.
Thanks to the tuition fee, Diego Dulanto Falcon earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Now he is pursuing his master’s health at the University of South Florida.
Dulanto Falcon loses access to tuition fees in the state and said that students without legal status are cut off by a number of options.
“Complete students have absolutely no options,” said Dulanto Falcon. “You either work under the table or just don’t work at all.”
From college bound to work at McDonald’s
David went to the High School in Miami and stacked his schedule with two registers and advanced placement courses. He hoped to visit the college and become a radiologist or physiotherapist. David, who was born in Honduras, said that this was now impossible for students like him without legal status. While his friends went to universities like Duke and Florida State, David worked at McDonald’s.
He spoke on the condition that he was only identified with his second first name because he fears the deportation.
“When you come to this country and your parents are victims and a child are, just say that you concentrate on school,” said David. “I did exactly that.”
But now, without the lessons, he said that he couldn’t afford the college.
All over the country, programs that offer immigrants in the states that once had long party support have increasingly criticized by Republicans. In legal challenges, the Trump government argued that the advantages are unconstitutional.
The Ministry of Justice has sued states to end tuition fees, starting with Texas in June, followed by Kentucky, Minnesota and Oklahoma. In the meantime, the US Education Ministry of Colleges is investigating that students offer scholarships without legal status.
Rosie Curts, a math teacher of the High School in the independent school district of Dallas, fear that she cannot motivate her students to learn algebra if they feel that the college is unreachable. A law in Texas gave college students access to tuition fees in the state without legal residence residence before a federal judge blocked it in June.
“The idea that this can all be snatched away by them in such a cruel way is demotivating the way of thinking of the entire educators,” said Curts in a call with reporters.
Endangered scholarships and tuition fees in the state
In Orlando, Carlie had a private scholarship to take part in central florida, but it only covered the tuition fees in the states.
She was able to register as an online student at Purdue Global University, but said that some of her credits were not transferred and that she had to change her main subject, which delayed her conclusion.
Going to school personally in Florida was no longer an option after more than a dozen colleges and universities, including UCF, had signed with ice agreements that enabled them to carry out the immigration enforcement on the campus.
“I chose the online school because I just don’t feel safe,” said Carlie.
Carlie lived from the family in Miami for hours and feared that it could take days until someone noticed that she was missing. It is much safer to stay inside, she said and lived from Essen that she is delivered to her apartment when she tries to end her training.
“I’m trying to bring my life back into the right course,” said Carlie. “I can’t stay at home forever.”
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Kate Payne is a member of the Corps for the “Associated Press/Report” initiative for America Statehouse News. The report for America is a non -profit National Service program that reports journalists in local news editorial offices on hidden topics.
