A public R1 flagship in Tallahassee, FL, admitting 24.22% of applicants with $5,656 in-state tuition, an 85.61% graduation rate, and one of the strongest value propositions in public higher education.
Tallahassee, Florida
Florida State University is a public R1 research university in Tallahassee, Florida, founded in 1851 and one of the two flagship universities of the State University System of Florida. It enrolls 32,212 undergraduates and 11,169 graduate students across sixteen colleges and schools, including the College of Business, the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, the College of Communication and Information, the College of Engineering, the College of Medicine, the College of Law, and the College of Music.
Business, social sciences, communications, biological sciences, and criminal justice account for the largest shares of bachelor's degrees. Florida State is accredited through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). SAT or ACT scores are required for admission; Florida State requires standardized testing. Florida State operates the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, the largest and highest-powered magnet research facility in the world, funded by the National Science Foundation.
Official website: fsu.edu
UCD scores every college on four pillars: Outcomes, Value, Affordability, and Selectivity. Within peer group A (four-year selective institutions), Florida State scores 89.85 overall, rated Strong, one of the highest scores among public flagships in this peer group. Outcomes (94.27) reflects an 85.61% six-year graduation rate and a 95.84% first-year retention, among the highest in this peer group. Value scores 93.01, driven by outstanding ten-year earnings of $61,675 relative to an average net price of only $11,297. Affordability scores 56.61. All scores use verified federal data only.
Florida State admits 24.22% of applicants, making it the most selective of Florida's public universities alongside the University of Florida. SAT or ACT scores are required; Florida State requires standardized testing for admission. The regular decision deadline is March 1 for students not applying for priority consideration; early submission is encouraged, with the university reviewing applications on a rolling basis beginning in December.
Florida residents who qualify for the Bright Futures Scholarship should note the test score requirements associated with scholarship eligibility. The College of Criminology, College of Music, and College of Fine Arts have particularly competitive programs. Florida State's admit rate has become increasingly competitive as the university's research profile and national rankings have risen.
Acceptance rate over the last five admission cycles. The trend tells you whether Florida State University is getting harder, easier, or staying about the same.
Florida State charges $5,656 in in-state tuition and $18,786 in out-of-state tuition, plus $13,474 in room and board, bringing the estimated in-state total cost of attendance to approximately $25,720 before aid. The average net price after all grants and scholarships is $11,297, among the lowest of any selective public flagship in the country. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $5,938. For families earning between $30,001 and $48,000, the net price averages $6,963. For families earning between $75,001 and $110,000, the net price averages $14,991.
Florida's Bright Futures Scholarship program, funded by the Florida Lottery, provides merit-based awards to Florida residents: the Florida Academic Scholars award covers 100% of tuition for students with a 3.5 GPA and 1290 SAT (29 ACT), and the Florida Medallion Scholars award covers 75% of tuition for students with a 3.0 GPA and 1170 SAT (26 ACT). The federal loan rate of 20.38% and median debt of $18,000 are among the lowest in this peer group, reflecting the substantial impact of state scholarship support.
Published cost of attendance, the sticker price before grants and scholarships. Most students underestimate room & board and other expenses.
Application fee: $30 (one-time, due at submission)
Aid is need-based, so net price varies by family income. Here's what each bracket typically pays after grants and scholarships.
Cumulative federal-loan debt across the full borrowing distribution. The 10th and 90th percentiles bracket the typical range; the median sits in the middle.
Median federal-loan debt at graduation broken down by demographic. Each slice's size is proportional to the dollar amount that group typically borrows.
Florida State graduates a strong majority of students it enrolls. The six-year graduation rate is 85.61% for full-time, first-time bachelor's-seeking students. First-year retention stands at 95.84%, one of the highest of any public university in the country. The federal loan rate of 20.38% and median debt of $18,000 are very low for a university of this selectivity, reflecting the effectiveness of Florida's state scholarship support system.
Florida State graduates enter careers in business, law, government, communications, and the sciences across Florida and nationally. Median earnings are $49,814 six years after first enrolling and $61,675 at ten years. At the ten-year mark, 84.12% of former students earn more than a typical high school graduate. The ten-year earnings reflect the program mix across business, communications, social sciences, criminology, and biological sciences, with a meaningful share of graduates proceeding to law school, medical school, or graduate programs in the Scorecard window.
Florida's economy, including the Miami financial and healthcare sector, Tampa Bay's technology and defense industry, the Jacksonville healthcare and logistics corridor, and Tallahassee's state government employment, provides accessible markets for FSU graduates. FSU Law is among the Southeast's leading law schools and feeds directly into Florida's legal market.
Median annual earnings 6, 8, and 10 years after students first enrolled.
Mean annual earnings 10 years after entry, segmented by demographic. Reveals gaps the headline median can't show.
Median earnings for female grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Median earnings for male grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Earnings of grads from the bottom-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the middle-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the top-third of family incomes at entry.
Share of completer-cohort borrowers paying down at least $1 of principal at the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-year mark. Climbing rates show graduates settling into careers and managing debt; flat or declining rates are a warning.
Florida State enrolls 32,212 undergraduates on its main campus in Tallahassee, Florida, the state capital, approximately 200 miles northwest of Orlando and 170 miles east of Pensacola. White students account for 57.64% of undergraduates; Hispanic 23.47%, Asian 3.78%, and Black 7.21%. Approximately 22.97% of undergraduates receive Pell grants, and 27.64% are first-generation college students.
Tallahassee is a mid-size state capital city with a college-town character shaped by FSU and Florida A&M University; the two institutions create a significant university presence in the city. Florida's beaches and outdoor recreation are accessible from Tallahassee, and the Gulf Coast is approximately 90 minutes west. FSU athletics compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC); Florida State Seminoles football is one of the most decorated programs in college sports history, with multiple national championships.
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
Where students live, learn, and connect at Florida State University. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
Florida State University offers an extensive catalog of programs: 216 distinct programs across 26 majors. Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings. Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
Florida State operates at a student-to-faculty ratio consistent with large public research universities. 83.98% of instruction is delivered by full-time faculty. Instructional spending per full-time equivalent student is $13,724 per year. The endowment stands at approximately $1.03 billion. Florida State operates the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (NHMFL), the most powerful magnet laboratory in the world, which attracts research scientists internationally and connects FSU's physics, chemistry, and engineering programs to federally funded research.
The College of Criminology and Criminal Justice is consistently ranked the top criminology program in the United States. The College of Music, with its opera program and multiple performing ensembles, is among the strongest in the Southeast.
1,687 instructional faculty across 4 ranks. The rank mix shows how many senior faculty are teaching versus contingent or junior staff, with average salary equated to a 9-month contract.
| Rank | Faculty Count | Share | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Professors | 526 | 31% | $156,782 |
| Associate Professors | 389 | 23% | $116,708 |
| Assistant Professors | 355 | 21% | $97,359 |
| No Rank | 417 | 25% | $82,963 |
Florida State's defining strengths are its exceptional UCD 89.85 Strong score, very low in-state tuition ($5,656), outstanding average net price ($11,297), 95.84% first-year retention among the highest in the country, and the Bright Futures scholarship program that further reduces cost for Florida residents. UCD 89.85 Strong.
The considerations: SAT or ACT scores are required (unlike most public flagships); the ten-year earnings of $61,675 are below engineering-heavy peers despite the university's selectivity, reflecting the social sciences, communications, and criminology concentration; Tallahassee is a mid-size state capital without the metro job market density of Miami, Tampa, or Orlando; and out-of-state tuition at $18,786 significantly changes the value calculation. Best fit for Florida residents who want a selective flagship experience at very low cost, particularly those pursuing business, law, criminology, communications, or music programs, who can leverage Bright Futures scholarship support.
The questions below address what students and families most commonly search about Florida State: how the Bright Futures scholarship works, how FSU compares to University of Florida, what the Tallahassee experience is like, and what graduates earn across Florida's economy.
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Across 1,645 four-year colleges, graduation rates climb steadily with selectivity, from 54% at open-admission schools to 93% at the most exclusive. The gap is real.
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