On Wednesday, U.S. News and World Report released itsrankings of the best online colleges and universities in the nation, and schools from the Sunshine State did well. The rankings are based on a host of factors including graduation rates, academic support and student debt.
While Central Michigan University led the pack, the University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville and Embry-Riddle University in Daytona Beach tied for fifth in the rankings of the best online bachelor's programs. Embry-Riddle was not the only school from Volusia County to break the top 10 as Daytona State College placed seventh.
This second year of top-10 placement for Daytona State reaffirms our success with delivery of high-quality online bachelors programs, said Carol Eaton, the president of Daytona State College on Wednesday. Once again we see the stellar results of hard work by our innovative faculty and staff.
Palm Beach Atlantic University cracked the top 25, placing 21st. Florida Institute of Technology placed 48th. Florida State University (FSU) and the University of West Florida both missed the top 100, tying for 102nd in the rankings. Lynn University in Boca Ration took 120th and Florida International University (FIU) ranked 124th. Southeastern University in Lakeland placed 174th. Hodges University in Naples ranked 189th while Baptist College of Florida, based out of Graceville, came in 194th.
Florida schools also did well when it came to offering online MBAs. UF took third for its online MBA and FIU also placed in the top 30, coming in 27th. FSU placed 43rd and Embry-Riddle ranked 70th. The University of South Florida-St. Petersburg came in 91st while Stetson University cracked the top 100, coming in 99th.
In terms of online graduate education programs, no schools from Florida placed in the top 25. The University of South Florida (USF) placed 36th, UF took 47th, FSU was 61st, and the University of North Florida (UNF) came in 75th. Southeastern placed 79th and St. Leo University took 87th.
Its very rewarding to have U.S. News & World Report rank our online programs in education among the best in the nation, said Larry Daniel, the dean of the College of Education and Human Services (COEHS) at UNF, on Wednesday. Faculty in our online programs is committed to this form of program delivery and has developed course materials and teaching methods that are second to none.
USF ranked as the highest online graduate engineering program, taking 26th. FIU placed 41st followed by UF at 44th.
No schools from Florida broke into the U.S. News and World Reports rankings of online graduate computer information technology programs.
FSU placed 10th in the online graduate nursing programs and the University of Central Florida took 24th.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com.
