Florida In-State Tuition Push!

Many discussions on the future of our Florida immigrant movement were brought to the table this past weekend at the FLIC Congress. The campaigns that are currently going on and that will need to be carried through into the new year are many such as the We Are Florida! campaign against anti-immigrant bills in our state, the CCA Go Away! campaign against the enactment of a new immigrant detention center in Southwest Ranches, Florida, and the on-going battle against Wage Theft in the state of Florida. But, the campaign that really caught the eyes of the Florida Immigrant Youth Network and all of the youth present at the Congress was the inevitable push for a Florida DREAM Act or better known as Florida In-State Tuition bill!
This initiative for an In-State tuition bill to be one of the central campaigns for the Florida Immigrant Coalition put a grin on all of the attendees at the FLIC Congress. The vote for this campaign came about democratically, where all of the organizations present at the Congress gathered with their members and chose which campaign they wanted FLIC to be spearheading alongside the other three main campaigns mentioned above. So, with many votes in its favor, the In-State tuition initiative won and FLIC is ready to work towards a Florida DREAM Act legislation!

What is a statewide DREAM Act or an in-state tuition bill, you might be asking? Well, currently there about ten states nationwide that have sponsored bills promoting in-state tuition rates for aspiring undocumented students to be given a chance to attend college. Currently, if an undocumented teenager who just graduated high school, wants to attend a college or university, they must pay out-of-state tuition rates if they want to attend a college in the state that they have lived in their entire life. They are treated the same as an international student, many times having to pay three or four times as much as a resident of that respective state. This makes it extremely difficult for undocumented students to pursue an institute of higher learning due to the elevated costs of attendance and in many cases, shies very intelligent and responsible undocumented high school students from attending college.
So, recently, states such as California, Maryland, and Illinois, have led the initiative to pass statewide DREAM Acts in their respective states. In the states that have been able to pass an in-state tuition bill for undocumented students, it has been a long and arduous battle! But, they have achieved it. So, why not? Why not try to pass the Florida DREAM Act? Last legislative session, it was said that an anti-immigrant legislation bill would SURELY pass. However, we were united and we were able to destroy the 12 bills that would have made Florida another HB 1070 state like Arizona! So, it is time for a pro-immigrant bill to pass here in our Sunshine State and the Florida DREAM Act is going to spearhead this initiative! Si se puede!