For Immediate Release: January 14, 2025
Contact: Michael Earls at [email protected]
Gaby Pacheco: Bill to Block Dreamers’ Access to In-State Tuition “Shortsighted and Harmful to Florida’s Future”
Miami, Florida – Rep. Randy Fine is proposing that the upcoming special session of the Florida legislature include a push to bar Florida Dreamers from accessing in-state tuition rates at Florida colleges and universities – an idea that would undermine the future of Florida and restrict the opportunities of young, hardworking Floridians.
Making it harder for Dreamers to achieve college and career success seems at odds with the recent comments of Donald Trump, who told NBC News in December 2024, “We have to do something about the Dreamers, because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age… In many cases they’ve become successful. They have great jobs. Some of them are running small businesses… we’re going to have to do something with them.”
The following is a statement from Gaby Pacheco, President and CEO of TheDream.US and a Florida resident since 1993:
“Thanks to the in-state tuition law, more than 600 of our former Florida-based TheDream.US Scholars are now college graduates, with the vast majority of them now putting their degrees to work in the state as nurses, teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs, and as valued employees in both small businesses and in major companies in our state.
Higher education is an engine of social mobility and success and our current in-state tuition law ensures that immigrant students who have grown up in Florida, graduated from Florida high schools, and earned a spot at a Florida public college or university can afford their education – an essential step toward helping these students succeed and, ultimately, strengthen Florida.
Making it harder for first-generation college students to afford and graduate from college is self-defeating for the state at a time when Florida colleges are already suffering from a decline in enrollment. To cut off their opportunities to pursue and afford higher education is not only harmful to their future success, but shortsighted and harmful to Florida’s overall future and potential economic growth. Like we did in 2023, when Dreamer students spent nine weeks in Tallahassee helping defeat a similar proposal, we welcome the Republican lawmakers and leaders to once again reject this misguided policy that would have detrimental impact on all Floridians – whether born here or not.”
As Republican Senator Rick Scott, who signed into law the current in-state tuition policy when Governor of Florida in 2014, stated in 2023: “When I think about that bill I think about little two, or five year-old girls … They lived in this country. They went to school. Maybe they were an honor roll student … So for them we cannot put this thing out of reach for them to live their dream. It was a bill I was proud to sign, I believe in it. I believe these individuals ought to have the opportunity to live the dream of this country. It’s a bill I would sign again today.”
In-state tuition is an essential element of Florida Dreamers’ college access and career success. To qualify for the in-state tuition waiver, recipients must have a minimum of three consecutive years of Florida high school and have graduated from a Florida high school. Dreamers are not eligible for state or federal financial aid and, even though many meet the Bright Futures criteria, they are ineligible for these merit scholarships.
About TheDream.US
TheDream.US is the nation’s largest college and career success program for undocumented immigrant students, having provided more than 11,000 college scholarships to Dreamers attending close to 80 partner colleges in 20 states and Washington, DC. We believe everyone, regardless of where they were born, should have equitable access to a college education, a meaningful career, and opportunities to contribute to the communities they call home. For more information on TheDream.US, visit www.thedream.us.
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