2024 Pathfinder Awards for Palm Beach, Martin County high school seniors
Sponsored by the Post, here is the 41th annual Pathfinder Scholarship Awards in 18 categories. 54 students are chosen from Palm Beach, Martin counties.
Special to the Palm Beach Post
You’re on the verge of getting your son or daughter through K-12 and it’s time to choose a college.
What about universities and schools in Florida?
When organizations such as U.S. News and World Report rank the nation’s top universities and programs, Florida schools often end up in the Top 100, even the Top 10.
But they’re also a bargain.
Florida was ranked lowest in 2023-24 for average tuition and fees for full-time in-state students at public four-year institutions at $6,360, according to the latest College Board Pricing Report. The average price for the country was $11,260.
Here is a guide for valuable rankings to consider as you and your student make these important choices, including admission rates, completion rates and business school rankings, to name a few:
In its annual ranking of the nation’s “best states,” U.S. News and World Report gave Florida a noteworthy distinction: the top state for education.
Calling Florida the state with the best educational opportunities may have been surprising to many as the state has been riven in recent years by debates over book bans, teacher pay and diversity initiatives on college campuses.
Read the full story here: Florida is the top state for education, U.S. News & World Report says
Florida now boasts two law schools ranked in the nation’s Top 50 — and five schools in the Top 100, according to U.S. News and World Report.
In its annual rankings of the best graduate schools in four categories, U.S. News placed the University of Florida’s law school in a tie for 28th nationwide. That’s a drop from last year, when it was rated 22nd.
Read the full story here: Two Florida law schools were just ranked among the nation’s top 50
Florida’s two top business schools rank among the 70 best in the United States, according to a ranking by U.S. News and World Report.
Read the full story here: Two Florida business schools now ranked among the top 70 nationwide
Six Florida universities have been named among the Top 100 schools for engineering programs.
Several schools from the Sunshine State were rated in the Top 100 of U.S. News’ annual list of the nation’s best engineering schools.
Read the full story here: Engineering programs at these 6 Florida’s schools in nation’s Top 100
The University of South Florida’s nursing school has cracked the Top 25 in a ranking of the nation’s best, while the University of Miami maintained a spot in the Top 30, according to U.S. News and World Report.
Read the full story here: This Fla. college now has 1 of the nation’s top-ranked nursing schools
Everyone knows some colleges are harder to get into than others. But some of the schools that turn away the most students may come as a surprise.
Read the full story here: These colleges have the state’s lowest admission rates.
Florida’s universities have been rising in reputation in recent years. They’ve been doing something else, too: growing and growing.
They’ve expanded so much in recent decades that three now rank in the Top 10 nationwide.
Read the full story here: 3 Florida universities among nation’s 10 largest. Can you guess which?
The SAT is falling out of favor at some colleges as a gateway for admissions. But it’s still used by most Florida schools, including the ones generally considered the most academically prestigious.
For an idea of how selective each school is, here are the Florida colleges and universities whose students had the highest average SAT scores in fall 2021, the most recent year for which federal data is available.
Read the full story here: These colleges have the highest SAT scores in Florida
One important measure of a college’s effectiveness is how well it does at getting students over the finish line to earn their degree.
Students fail to complete their degrees for a variety of reasons, some of which are outside their schools’ control. But other challenges can be managed with the right support, experts say.
Read the full story here: These Florida colleges have the state’s highest completion rates
