Instead of traditional letter grades, New College uses narrative evaluations to assess student progress and achievement. Faculty provide detailed written assessments that offer personalized feedback and guidance, allowing students to focus on their growth and development rather than a simple letter or number grade.
Every undergraduate student is required to complete tutorials and Independent Study Projects that combine a personalized education with passionate, independent learning. By working independently (alongside peers and faculty sponsors), students develop autonomy.
Every major requires the completion of a capstone honors thesis. These independent research projects, which often exceed 100 pages, allow students to delve deeply into their Area of Concentration and display their intellectual capabilities and analytical skills.
New College of Florida follows a distinctive model as a public liberal arts honors college. First and foremost, New College offers a rigorous undergraduate education focused on excellence in the liberal arts, including the sciences, emphasizing critical thinking and intellectual curiosity in pursuit of the truth.
At New College, students have the opportunity to create their own academic programs and design their own course of study with the guidance of faculty advisors. This individualized approach allows students to pursue their interests, explore interdisciplinary connections, and tailor their education to their unique goals and passions.
“We are setting the standard for modern liberal arts education in America. The ancient Greek mathematician, Archimedes, believed math derived from a single point on a plane, saying ‘Give me a firm place to stand, and I will move the earth.’ New College will be that firm place.”
Richard Corcoran, President, New College of Florida
New College recognizes that not all students are the same, and not all classes are the same. The Contract System allows students to work closely with faculty advisors to tailor learning paths to individual students’ interests, goals, and strengths, creating a more customized, meaningful, and adventurous educational experience. More importantly, the Contract System encourages risk, allowing students to explore outside of their competencies. This risk-tolerant academic structure enables students to push themselves into areas of potential failure, which is the equation for growth and innovation.
All students at New College must balance the Ancient Greek concepts of Logos and Techne in their educational odyssey. By balancing Logos and Techne, and understanding the relationship between them, students experience a truly holistic education: not only do they face the great intellectual expanse of humanity’s Great Works, but they also gain the tools, techniques, and mindset necessary to create, innovate, and apply knowledge in a tangible and purposeful manner.
Founded in Sarasota in 1960, New College of Florida was named the No. 1 Public Liberal Arts College by Washington Monthly in 2023 and is the Honors College of Florida. New College provides students with limitless, original opportunities for success through a highly individualized education that combines academic excellence, undergraduate research opportunities, and career preparation experiences. New College offers more than 50 undergraduate majors in arts, humanities and sciences; a master’s degree program in applied data science; exceptional STEM opportunities, including a home for world-class marine biology and marine mammal studies; and intercollegiate athletics in the NAIA.
BFA programs: Computer Animation, Creative Writing, Entertainment Design, Film, Fine Arts, Game Art, Graphic Design, Illustration, Motion Design, Photography and Imaging, and Virtual Reality Development; BA programs: Business of Art and Design, Visual Studies. Ringling’s degree programs are top-ranked among the best in the U.S. and the world.
INDEX (Industry Experience) is an experiential education program that provides all students the opportunity to gain professional experience prior to graduation by connecting them with leading brands to develop creative solutions to business challenges.
INDEX represents the College’s priority and purpose: to focus on students’ futures and to empower them as creative leaders.
The Center for Career Services connects students with 100+ industry recruiters each year. They offer training and career preparation services, such as job search strategies, resume reviewing, interview training, portfolio building, and networking events. Career services are available to students and alumni for life.
Ringling College of Art and Design is internationally recognized as one of the top art and design colleges, worldwide. Each year, their academic programs are consistently ranked as the best in the country and the world.
“At Ringling College, we prepare students for success in tomorrow’s world, positioning them to emerge as leaders in an economy that relies heavily on creative skills and thinking, especially during this onset of artificial intelligence and automation. We are committed to helping our students turn their creative passions into their professions.”
Since 1931, Ringling College has cultivated the creative spirit in students from around the globe. The College’s rigorous curriculum employs the studio model of teaching and immediately engages students through a comprehensive program that is both specific to the major of study and focused on the liberal arts. Our teaching model ultimately shapes students into highly employable and globally aware artists and designers. Beyond our rigorous curriculum— pairing studio and liberal arts—we excel in propelling students outside of the classroom through client projects, substantive internships, and national competitions, stopping at nothing to shape our students into tomorrow’s leaders of art and design. Ringling College supports diversity in all forms. Our student body comes from more than 55 countries, 45 U.S. states, and Puerto Rico. An active Student Life program supports multiple clubs and organizations, leadership and volunteerism opportunities, and student support services. Over 80% of our students live on our beautiful, residential campus. Students are set up for success with access to cutting-edge technology and state-of-the-art facilities, as well as seven on-campus galleries.
The Ringling College Museum Campus is home to the Sarasota Art Museum, and studio and lifelong learning programs. Ringling College is fully accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).
SCF’s Associate in Arts degree is for students who, upon graduation from SCF, transfer to a public or private college/university to earn a bachelor’s degree in a specific area of study. SCF’s Associate in Science degrees provide practical training and critical thinking skills to help graduates enter the workforce immediately in well-paying jobs.
SCF offers seven baccalaureate degrees in the areas of Early Childhood Education, Elementary Education, Exceptional Student Education, Health Services Administration, Management and Leadership, Nursing, and Public Safety and Emergency Management.
SCF offers over 36 technical and advanced certificates that train students in a specific field. Most certificates include credits that translate directly to the requirements for an associate degree, and some can be completed in as little as one year.
State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota (SCF) boldly leading in its community and in the rapidly changing higher education landscape. Following strategic priorities for opportunity, growth, quality and diversification, SCF works with community partners to meet the region’s workforce needs. As an open-access and studentfocused institution, SCF provides flexible scheduling, convenient options for in-person or online learning, affordable tuition, and success coaches who provide academic and career guidance. Financial assistance in the form of scholarships, grants, federal financial aid and payment plans remove barriers to attaining a degree.
“We offer access to high-impact, low-cost higher education. At SCF, we will always do what we say, deliver on our promises and provide a strong return on investment for our students, donors and taxpayers.”
Dr. Carol F. Probstfeld President of State College of Florida, Manatee-Sarasota
SCF offers more than 30 workforce degrees, three dozen certificates, and seven bachelor’s degrees to provide students opportunities to work in high-demand careers. An array of signature offerings engages students and the community. From accelerated dual enrollment for high school students, a nationally renowned nursing program, the honors program, and university partnerships such as Gator Engineering, SCF is at the forefront of teaching the skills employers are seeking. In addition to its high standards for educating students, SCF offers the only full college experience in Manatee and Sarasota counties, with intercollegiate athletics, student clubs, and fine and performing arts. Lifelong Learning and Workforce Development provides noncredit continuing education, personal enrichment, and some credit-related programs, with services at SCF locations and community, business and industry sites. The programs offered through this division can help a student rapidly earn a new credential to rejoin the workforce, launch a new career or advance their current one. In the 26 West Center, opportunities abound for aspiring entrepreneurs to develop their business and for future programmers to learn new technologies in the SCF Coding Academy. The Center is also home to the Business Growth Lab, Digital Collective and Advanced Technology Center.
SCF has campuses in Bradenton, Lakewood Ranch and Venice, a future Parrish campus, and online education offered in self-paced or live-video formats.
HERE FOR OUR GROWING COMMUNITY
The College of Behavioral and Community Sciences, the College of Education and the College of Nursing work with the local community to prepare students for careers in education, health care, communications sciences and disorders, aging studies, mental health policy, social work, the criminal justice system and other fields.
HERE FOR OUR GROWING MARKETPLACE
The Muma College of Business is expanding its School of Hospitality and Tourism Management and Baldwin Risk Partners School of Risk Management and Insurance to prepare more graduates to meet the growing and complex demands of their respective industries.
HERE FOR OUR GROWING FUTURE
The College of Engineering is offering a new aerospace engineering program on the Sarasota-Manatee campus to equip graduates for exciting opportunities in the evolving industry. And the College of Arts and Sciences is welcoming biomedical sciences majors to our campus for the first time.
The University of South Florida is growing, right here in Sarasota and Manatee counties. USF Sarasota-Manatee, a branch campus of a preeminent global research university, is growing along with the rest of the community, offering new and expanded programs in myriad fields, including cybersecurity, hospitality and tourism management, nursing, risk management and insurance and aeronautical engineering, designed to prepare graduates to fill the talent pipeline for these critical industries. USF’s stature, and that of higher education in the region, were further elevated in 2023, when USF became only the third Florida university invited to join the elite, 71-member Association of American Universities. AAU membership recognizes USF’s commitment to high-impact research and overall excellence that has impact on our community and the world. Our campus also is growing along U.S. 41, across from Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. We continue planning for a new Nursing/STEM building that will foster continued expansion of our academic and research offerings. And in August, we will open a new 100,000-square-foot student center and residence hall, the first expansion of the campus since it opened in 2006. The student center on the first two floors will include a dining hall, book store, offices for USF World, student government and other activities and a ballroom that will be available for use by the community. The top four floors will be the on-campus home for 200 USF students, who will build a new type of community at USF Sarasota-Manatee and forever set aside the notion that we’re just a “commuter campus.”
“This is a pivotal, exciting moment in the history of USF in Sarasota-Manatee, and of our campus. Our contributions to the region are growing as we expand academic and research opportunities available to our students and faculty. And with the opening of our new student center and residence hall this August, we are building a more vigorous campus experience brimming with vitality and purpose.”
Karen Holbrook, regional chancellor USF Sarasota-Manatee
USF Sarasota-Manatee is a campus of the University of South Florida, a high-impact research university dedicated to student success and committed to community engagement. With campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota-Manatee, USF serves approximately 50,000 students who represent nearly 150 different countries. In fiscal year 2023, research spending at USF increased by 14% to $461 million and USF was again one of the top universities in the world for securing new patents, demonstrating that USF is a leader in solving global problems and improving lives. UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH
