Florida

Putting Education Reform To The Test

The Florida Tuition Lawsuit

Southern Poverty Law Center

Five students are leading a class action lawsuit over college tuition with the help of the Southern Poverty Law Center

Below is the lawsuit from the Southern Poverty Law Center challenging Florida’s college tuition rules.

The group argues that children of undocumented immigrants should not be charged out-of-state tuition despite those students being both U.S. citizens and Florida residents.

StateImpact Florida profiled one such student in August.

From Sarah Gonzalez’ piece:

One class at Miami Dade College costs $315 for in-state students. Its $950 for out-of-state students. That’s three times more expensive because Caroline’s dad is not a legal Florida resident. And in Florida, college tuition is based on a parent’s residency for unmarried students under age 25.

“And I’m a citizen, I’m a resident, I was born here. I’ve been going to Miami-Dade schools my entire life and now all of a sudden I’m considered out-of-state.

“But I don’t think that’s fair, it’s not my father going to school it’s me. Now I have to I have to claim myself as an independent, work for a year and make more than $11,000 to get the scholarship and start school.”

 

What do you think of the case?

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