Five college students represented by the Southern Poverty Law Center have filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the state’s colleges and universities for a policy that prevents some students who are U.S. citizens and Florida residents from paying in-state tuition.
The lawsuit alleges that a state policy that requires documentation of a parent’s legal status to qualify the student as a resident is illegal.
The lawsuit involves cases where the student is a citizen because they were born here, but their parent may not be.
“These policies attack our most fundamental American values by punishing children for the actions of their parents,” said Jerri Katzerman, the director of educational advocacy for the Southern Poverty Law Center. “It’s an unconscionable attack on students from immigrant families that more than triples the cost of education.”
By not being qualified as a “resident,” these students have to pay out-of-state tuition. For example, at Miami Dade College, in-state tuition would go from $1,266 per term for a two-year associate’s degree to $4,524 per term for a non-resident, the law center says.
Gerard Robinson, the head of the Florida Department of Education and Frank Brogan, the chancellor of the State University System, were named in the lawsuit. It was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida in Miami.
