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Colleges and Universities

The Florida College System is a system of 28 public community colleges and state colleges. In 2020-2021, enrollment consisted of 640,183 students.

The State University System of Florida (SUSF or SUS) is a system of 12 public universities. As of 2018, over 341,000 students were enrolled in Florida's state universities. Together with the Florida College System, which includes Florida's 28 community colleges and state colleges, it is part of Florida's system of public higher education. The system, headquartered in Tallahassee, is overseen by a chancellor and governed by the Florida Board of Governors.

The Florida Board of Governors is a 17-member governing board that serves as the governing body for the State University System of Florida, which includes all public universities in the state of Florida.

The State University System is the second largest State University System in the United States.

1. Florida A&M University

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), commonly known as Florida A&M, is a public historically black land-grant university in Tallahassee, Florida. Founded in 1887, It is the third largest historically black university in the United States by enrollment and the only public historically black university in Florida. It is a member institution of the State University System of Florida, as well as one of the state's land grant universities, and is accredited to award baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

FAMU's main campus is in Tallahassee, Florida, just south of the State Capitol and the campus of Florida State University. It also has a law school campus in Orlando, Florida, and the Research and Development Center in Quincy, Florida. The College of Pharmacy has extension campuses in Miami, Jacksonville, Tampa and Crestview, Florida.

2. Florida Atlantic University

Florida Atlantic University (Florida Atlantic or FAU) is a public research university with its main campus in Boca Raton, Florida and satellite campuses in Dania Beach, Davie, Fort Lauderdale, Jupiter, and Fort Pierce.

Boca Raton

Florida Atlantic University opened on September 14, 1964, with an initial student body of 867 students in five colleges. The first degree awarded was an honorary doctorate given to President Lyndon B. Johnson on October 25, 1964, at the dedication and opening of the university. At the time of its opening, there were 350 employees, of which 120 were faculty. On-campus housing for students was first added in September 1965, when Algonquin Hall opened.

Florida Atlantic's history is one of continuing expansion as the university's service population has grown. The university originally served only upper-division and graduate level students because the state intended the institution "to complement the state's community college system, accepting students who had earned their associate degrees from those institutions.

Florida Atlantic began its expansion beyond a one-campus university in 1971, when it opened its Commercial Boulevard campus in Fort Lauderdale. Due to a rapidly expanding population in South Florida, in 1984 Florida Atlantic opened its doors to lower-division undergraduate students. The following year, the university added its third campus in downtown Fort Lauderdale on Las Olas Boulevard.

Here's how Florida schools stack up among public universities and in overall (public and private) rankings on the national scene:

The University of Florida: No. 6

Florida State University: No. 22

The University of South Florida: No. 45

The University of Central Florida: No 64

Florida’s public universities have made large strides in the rankings in recent years thanks in large part to their low-price tags. With an average in-state tuition below $6,500 per year, Florida’s public schools are the most affordable in the country, often by thousands a year.