Out-of-state and international students may soon find it harder to get into some of Florida’s public universities.
Florida House passed a bill Tuesday that would decrease the number of non-Floridians allowed in the Freshman classes of Florida's top public universities.
Currently 90% of admitted freshman students must be Florida residents at the University of Florida, Florida State University, University of South Florida, University of Central Florida and Florida International University. These are schools the state has designated as the highest performing. Under the bill, the figure climbs to 95%.
Bartow Republican Representative Jennifer Kincart Jonsson said on the House floor her bill isn’t about lowering standards but increasing the number of Floridians that stay and get an education in the state while taking advantage of the Bright Futures scholarship.
“Families are asking why some of our highest achieving students, students at the very top of their graduating classes, are struggling to gain admission to the very universities their tax dollars support members,” she said.
Miami Democratic Representative Ashley Gantt opposes the change, saying it will hurt the institutions by limiting cross-cultural education.
“That includes being able to interact in a collegiate level and in an educational space with people from all across the world, so that when they become professionals, and they are no longer in an education space where they can learn these skills, they have mastered the skills, or at least have a grasp on these skills necessary in order to continue to be leaders in different professions across the world,” she said.
That bill language has not appeared in the Florida Senate, but several bills have moved forward that deal with higher education, so this policy could still pass this session.