A bill that would have let certain illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition at Florida colleges and universities is dead in the Republican-controlled Legislature.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted it down Thursday largely along party lines.

The bill (SB 106) would have affected students who graduate from a Florida high school they've attended for at least three years regardless of immigration status.

Another bill that (SB 1018) would have allowed in-state tuition for U.S. born children of illegal immigrants met the same fate in another Senate committee last month.

Thursday's vote disappointed a group of Hispanic students wearing orange mortar boards.

Several testified in favor of the bill.

Even if approved, it faced long odds.

It had three more committee references and a House companion was not scheduled for a hearing.