Recently, a bill was introduced to the Florida Legislature that would ban state financial aid to college students who are citizens of countries on the State Department’s list of nations that sponsor terrorism.

This bill would bar aid from going to students from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya and North Korea.

This proposal would be acceptable if the reasoning behind it was to save money by cutting aid to all foreign students; however, the students may suffer because the Florida government is stereotyping people from these countries as terrorists.

According to documents from the Department of Education, financial aid amounting to less than $310,000 was used to aid 822 students from these countries in 2001-02.

In even proposing this bill, the Florida Legislature is stereotyping people from these countries, when the truth is that people from any nation – including the United States – can be terrorists.

As we are seeing today in America, not all people in a nation agree with that nation’s governing body. As Americans, we would not want to be stereotyped, therefore, the Florida Legislature should not stereotype people from other countries, which is exactly this bill.

Lawmakers in Florida and nationwide should look to more plausible solutions to terrorism and budget cuts. Punishing foreign students because the U.S. government is labeling people from certain nations as terrorists should not be cause to cut government aid to foreign students.

The United States has claimed that it has a great interest in aiding other nations. In this case, it is doing so through educating citizens of other countries. States should not look at cutting aid to these students. Their need for education is just as great, if not greater, than students from other foreign nations.