ORLANDO, Fla. — Cutting the percentage of out-of-state students enrolled in Florida’s top public universities would cost the schools millions of dollars, but they should be able to “work that out,” said the Polk County lawmaker proposing the change.

State Rep. Jennifer Kincart Jonsson, R-Lakeland, wants out-of-state students to make up no more than 5% of the enrollment at Florida International University, Florida State University, the University of Central Florida, the University of Florida and the University of South Florida.

UF, the state’s highest-ranked university, currently has out-of-state enrollment of nearly 20%.

Jonsson’s bill, HB 1279, cleared a second committee in the Florida House late Tuesday, passing on a 20 to 7 vote, with Republicans voting to pass the bill forward and Democrats in opposition.

The bill would require 95% of the first-year, undergraduate fall enrollment at those five universities to be Florida residents. The figure would be calculated as a three-year average, and schools that did not comply could lose state money.

“Right now, too many seats go to out-of-state students while Floridians with the same or better performance metrics are overlooked,” Jonsson said, echoing concerns of parents worried whether their children can get spots in Florida’s most selective schools.

Her bill is about “putting Florida’s students first,” she said.

Rep. Fentrice Driskell, D-Tampa, noted out-of-state students pay more in tuition and questioned what that would mean for university budgets.

“It sounds like it would be a negative fiscal impact to them,” Driskell said. “What are we going to do about the lost revenue?”

Jonsson said the schools would lose a combined $54 million in the first year the cap was imposed, but said that is not a huge percentage of the $17.5 billion the universities get from the state.

“I think we should be able to find a way to work that out, and I think the universities should be able to figure out a way to work that out,” she said.

“We are giving these universities a lot of money,” she added.

UCF would lose $3 million in the first year, according to Jonsson’s figures. That would mean it would be down $12 million once the cap were in place for four years and all undergraduate classes had been admitted under that rule.

The other impacted universities would also face steeper losses once the law was in effect for several years.

State universities charge more for out-of-state students and several hiked those prices last year to bring in more money. UCF, for example, charges out-of-state students $22,482 in tuition compared to $5,954 for in-state students.

Florida’s current rules cap out-of-state enrollment at 10% of the university population, but that figure is calculated as an average for the state’s 12 public universities. That means the more selective schools can enroll more students from outside Florida as long as others enroll fewer.

Jonsson’s bill does not have a companion in the Senate, so it is not clear if the full Legislature will support it.

“Out flagships can remain world-class while putting Floridians first,” she said.

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