Best Online Colleges in Florida 2025

Badge for BEST ONLINE COLLEGES IN FLORIDA

By Dr. James Barham
Reviewed By Chloe Dembski

Updated: Oct 28, 2024

Find the best online colleges in Florida. Online degrees in Florida are offered by Florida’s best colleges and universities as well as the most affordable colleges.

Key Takeaways

Florida has one of the biggest enrollments in the U.S., with more than 1M students enrolled during the fall of 2024.
Despite being among the top 5 states with the highest annual enrollment, Florida’s leaders want to increase the number by delivering 40% of undergraduate credits online by 2025.
Florida is also home to some of the country’s excellent online research universities and athletic programs.

Table of Contents

Top 10 Online Colleges in Florida in 2025

University of Florida
Florida State University
Florida International University
+1
University of Central Florida
–1
Florida Atlantic University
+1
Nova Southeastern University
+1
Florida Institute of Technology
–2
Barry University
+2
Trinity College of Florida
+25
Jacksonville University
+2

2025 Ranking Update

Our Influence Ranking Engine™ leverages machine learning to track the real-world influence of colleges and universities over time. Below you’ll see which schools gained or lost ground for the 2025 school year.

In 2025, the top ten schools in our ranking of the best online colleges in Florida saw a considerable amount of changes. Trinity College of Florida gained the most ranking positions and moved into the top ten as a result of the college moved to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA), which provides student-athletes with enhanced opportunities for competitive play and broader exposure. This transition supports their basketball, volleyball, and soccer programs, allowing students to participate in a wider range of tournaments and competitions while strengthening the college’s athletic reputation.

Additionally, Trinity has expanded its online program offerings with a new, competitive tuition rate specifically for full-time online students, making its biblical studies and other programs more accessible to a broader audience. These improvements align with Trinity’s commitment to offering a supportive, faith-centered education while enhancing the campus and athletic experience for students.

Featured Programs

Best Online Colleges in Florida

Employment Opportunities in Florida

As of October 2024, Florida has a 2.7% unemployment rate, indicating a lower-than-national-average rate.

According to the latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics report, Florida’s annual mean wage is $51,950. However, an individual’s salary potential still depends on several factors, including academic degree, work experience, and industry, among many others.

Students aspiring to become working professionals in Florida should start finding careers in the state’s top industries, including technology, healthcare, business administration, public policy, and finance.

Popular Online Degree Options in Florida

Florida’s best online colleges offer the same high-quality academic programs to distance learners and on-campus students. Distance learners pursuing online degrees at the undergraduate and graduate levels must complete online courses in general education, core, and elective requirements.

Here are some of the popular academic programs offered at major universities in Florida:

Health Sciences/Healthcare

Florida distance learners can enroll in the University of Florida’s RN-to-BSN academic program, with no on-campus requirements or attendance required. They take online courses in genetics, healthcare, physiology, and professional nursing.

Depending on students’ commitment, they can complete the 60-credit program within 24 months. Graduates of the program can find work as ICU, emergency, pediatric, and OR nurses.

Information Technology

Online degree seekers can pursue lucrative careers in the I.T. industry, working as software developers, information systems analysts, network administrators, and programmers. Most online programs in tech-related fields feature courses requiring a total of 120 credits for degree completion.

Distance learners gain a comprehensive introduction to web development, algorithm design, and software engineering. Some online programs require a thesis or capstone completion before graduation.

Education

Distance learners can specialize in educational leadership, education technology, and research. Some of these online programs prepare graduates to work as K-12 educators, depending on their curriculum and requirements.

Out-of-State Students Pursuing Online Programs in Florida

Like other states, students attending private institutions and public universities outside their home state will pay higher in-state tuition fees. However, out-of-state students wanting to pursue an online program in Florida online schools may be eligible for reduced tuition rates.

The SREB, or Southern Regional Education Board, is a council of representatives of 15 member states striving to increase academic opportunities for students throughout the region. Apart from Florida, other states that are part of the SREB include West Virginia, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Maryland, Louisiana, Kentucky, Georgia, Delaware, Arkansas, and Alabama.

The Academic Common Market of the SREB provides out-of-state undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to enroll in academic programs of other member states and enjoy in-state tuition fees.

Although the Academic Common Market doesn’t cover each public institution’s educational program, the ACM allows students to enroll in an academic degree from a member school if that specific program or major isn’t offered in students’ home states.

The SREB has pre-approved 1,500+ academic programs for tuition discounts in the Academic Common Market. Students may also request SREB approval to pursue an online program not listed in the SREB.

See more frequently asked questions

If you interested in an online bachelor’s degree, check out what the best online colleges offer, or search our online degrees for the exact program that interests you. In either case, you will find well respected colleges and universities that offer online degrees.

How do we determine the best online colleges for undergrads?

Methodology

Pursuing your degree online doesn’t mean you need to settle for an inferior school. Today, most universities and colleges offer online degrees, and many respected schools are seeing significant growth in their numbers of online students.

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why influence — i.e., the academic impact of faculty and alumni associated with a school — gets at the heart of what is truly best in education. The combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers is the best indicator of academic excellence. For our online degree rankings, we focus on the academic influence of faculty and alumni in the specific disciplines we’re ranking.

If you are serious about finding the best online colleges, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

Note: This ranking focuses on online bachelor’s degree available through Florida’s best colleges and universities.

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require a time of adjustment. Although you’ll typically learn the same material and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, going online will require greater independence and responsibility than going in person. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, for harnessing the online educational technology that you’ll need to use, and for completing the course requirements, such as listening to lectures, learning lessons, reading texts, and handing in assignments. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take the initiative in building relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier than campus-based education is ease of access: all you need is a computer and an internet connection for online education. But even this seeming advantage of online education can be misleading: what’s easier, studying online with your computer and internet connection from your home where you need to cook, clean, pay rent, and maintain a job? Or studying on campus in a dorm where all your living needs are handled by the school, and college staff are there to help you every step of the way?

If you take the commute to campus out of the equation, campus-based education is easier. All the support structures available on campus for students, especially with real people to help you in person, are not there online. The demands on you as an online student will largely be the same as for your campus-based counterpart, but without the same helps.

In general, your online courses will present the same material and test you in the same way as traditional in-person courses. In many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning with remote educational technology for the first time, online college may be considerably more challenging than campus-based college. For a few insights on how to manage this new online experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable non-profit institutions on the one end and less-than-reputable for-profit institutions on the other end. Accreditation gives you the power to identify the more reputable actors in online education. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency indicating that a college or university is meeting standards of quality and credibility. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university that is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. For students seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that they opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree. For more on this important topic, check out our What is Accreditation and Why Does It Matter? College & University Accreditation Guide.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited (see the previous point), you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer of credits. In many cases, you will encounter some bureaucratic haggling in which some of your credits will be transferred and others may be refused. However, provided that you have attended an online school with recognized regional accreditation, you should be in good shape in transferring your credits earned online.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript, or resumé differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

Some employers may express the concern that because you did your degree online, you may need to transition from an online education experience to in-person workplace experience. But in an age of Covid, that concern seems much diminished. The fact is that much employment these days is remote. And collaboration increasingly happens online over Zoom. Many employers will therefore view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will be less than ideal for you (though depending on your circumstances, it may also be the only viable option).

While there is much in traditional campus-based education that can be substituted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing that can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual in-person classroom setting. As you transition to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face in getting the most out of your online classes is overcoming this difference between “real reality” and “virtual reality.” Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. Above all, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete at your own pace and on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.

Do you have a question about this topic? Ask it here

Best Online Colleges in Florida 2025

Key Takeaways

Top 10 Online Colleges in Florida in 2025

2025 Ranking Update

Featured Programs

Best Online Colleges in Florida

Last Year’s Ranking:

Career Outlook for degree at University of Florida

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Florida State University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Florida International University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at University of Central Florida

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Florida Atlantic University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Nova Southeastern University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Florida Institute of Technology

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Barry University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Trinity College of Florida

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Jacksonville University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at University of West Florida

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Specialization

Career Outlook for degree at Saint Leo University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Keiser University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Florida Gulf Coast University

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at St. Petersburg College

Online Degrees

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Concentrations

Career Outlook for degree at Tallahassee Community College

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Florida State College at Jacksonville

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at St. Thomas University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Lynn University

Online Degrees

Career Outlook for degree at Daytona State College

Online Degrees

Concentrations