Florida International University, the closest state university to Key Biscayne and Coconut Grove, will stop enrolling undocumented students starting in the 2027-28 school year under a rule the state Board of Governors approved unanimously on Friday, Sept. 4.

The rule bars anyone "who is present in the United States unlawfully" from enrolling at institutions that did not admit all academically qualified applicants over the previous two academic years. FIU is among the affected schools, the Key Biscayne Portal reported.

No local data on how many students will be affected

About 8,000 undocumented students graduate from Florida high schools each year, according to the Higher Ed Immigration Portal. The state university system does not track how many of those students currently attend its schools, the Miami Herald reported. No count exists for students in Miami-Dade County Public Schools or at local campuses such as MAST Academy and Key Biscayne K-8 Center.

Board approved rule without discussion; public pushed back

The board approved the measure on its consent agenda without debate from members. It had received preliminary approval in June. Only members of the public spoke on the issue.

Roberto Garcia, an instructor at Florida Gulf Coast University, where the meeting was held, opposed the policy during public comment. "At its core, this regulation asks our universities to look at an academically qualified student, someone who has done the work, earned the grades, met the standards … and tell them that none of that matters because of their immigration status," Garcia said.

Robert Cassanello, president of the United Faculty of Florida, said in a statement that the rule closes doors that have helped communities at a time when the state faces critical shortages in health care, education and skilled trades, according to Inside Higher Ed.

DeSantis backs rule; Florida joins three other states

Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier in the summer that the board was doing the right thing by putting Florida residents first, as the Florida Phoenix reported. Florida now joins Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina in barring undocumented students from public universities.

Rule follows repeal of in-state tuition law FIU's president once championed

The vote is the latest in a series of restrictions. The Florida Board of Education voted in June to bar undocumented students from the state's 24 public colleges and GED programs. The Legislature repealed a 2014 law in 2025 that had allowed qualified undocumented students to pay in-state tuition at state universities. That law had been championed by then-state Rep. Jeanette Nuñez, who later served as lieutenant governor under DeSantis. Nuñez is now president of FIU. She has not commented publicly on the ban.

No local M-DCPS officials or Key Biscayne families have been quoted on the policy's impact.

Broader career-training ban also advancing

Education Commissioner Henry Mack has also approved a proposed rule blocking undocumented students from postsecondary career and technical education programs that train workers in health care, agriculture, construction and other fields. That rule is scheduled for discussion at a Board of Education meeting Sept. 16 at Polk State College.