Fariha Tasnim Amir | Staff Writer
In response to Florida’s recent decision to walk back on providing in-state tuition to undocumented students, prominent Miami businessman Miguel Fernandez pulled back his initial pledge of a hefty 1 million dollar donation to FIU.
Amid the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on immigration policies, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ new immigration legislation included a policy that calls for a significant 250 percent tuition hike for the undocumented students of Florida. His former Lieutenant Governor and current FIU president Jeanette Nuñe, has endorsed the decision to roll back on the tuition fees, which went into effect on July 1.
FIU estimates around 500 students are going to be affected. The decision faced backlash immediately with Magnate Miguel B. Fernandez suspending a donation intended for the funding of first-gen students through scholarships under FIU’s Maurice A. Ferre Institute for Civic Leadership.
“I cannot remain silent while thousands of Florida’s young residents are excluded from the opportunity to experience higher education,” Mr. Fernandez wrote in his letter to the dean of FIU’s Steven J. Green School of International & Public Affairs, Shlomi Dinar on June 4. Having arrived from Mexico as an undocumented immigrant in 1964, Miguel personally lobbied for the 2014 law that allowed undocumented students to pay in-state tuition given they attended high school in US for at least 3 consecutive years and enrolled in college within two years of graduating from high school which Nuñez herself helped pass as a then state legislator.
PantherNOW reached out to FIU Dean Dinar for a comment on the matter but there was no response.
Nuñez alluded to her shift in stance on the matter saying the previous policy has “run its course” and added that “Florida will not incentivize illegal immigration through this law or any other”. Due to this change, FIU students who fall under the undocumented category will face a jump in tuition from $205 to $619 per credit hour.
According to Will Weatherford, the speaker in house during the year 2014, businessman Fernandez was “instrumental” in the passing of the legislation in favor of undocumented students that year.
“Fernandez was encouraging me and others to have an open heart to the concept that kids shouldn’t be punished for decisions of their parents, and it resonated,” said the former speaker.
In his letter to FIU, Fernandez wrote, “Decades ago, children of undocumented immigrants faced exorbitant tuition fees. After ten years of persistent efforts, we achieved a significant victory. It is troubling to see that progress undone.”
Fernandez denounced Nuñez’s support of the tuition raise as “the lowest level of ethical behavior”. He also criticized FIU’s decision to have FIU Police collaborate with ICE (Immigrations and Customs Enforcement) as part of the 287G(g) program during mid April this year as he doesn’t support the method they use to identify and detain individuals suspected of violating immigration violations. President Nuñez defends the partnership as it “upholds the rule of the law”.
During community forums held before the final decision to select Nuñez as the president, she shared that during her conversation with the NIH Director, she was told there’s a possibility of a shift in the federal administration’s priorities to distribute research funding in the near future. She had mentioned the federal administration might start moving away from traditional Ivy League institutions and instead they would start funnelling those grants toward public universities like FIU that have demonstrated strong research outcomes.
As FIU along with other state universities consider a 10% increase in out-of-state tuition effective from Fall 2025 along with the policy to exclude undocumented students from in-state tuition benefits, the common landscape of financial support that Florida universities receive is expected to go through a major shift. Florida Education Association (FEA) warned that universities supporting the policy could lose up to $15 million in revenue each year as there’s a likely chance undocumented students unable to accommodate the new tuition prices may leave Florida altogether. A scholarship program for undocumented students, TheDream.Us also announced they would no longer fund scholarships at eight Florida universities.
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