Florida Community Colleges in 2026

Florida has 28 public community colleges in 2026, organized as the Florida College System, which the Florida Department of Education calls the primary access point to higher education for Floridians (FLDOE).

Each of the 28 colleges is governed locally by a district board of trustees, under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education, and the Chancellor of the Florida College System reports to the Commissioner of Education (Florida Department of Education). Florida law sets limits on what these colleges can be: none may offer graduate degrees or call itself a university, and only colleges authorized and accredited to grant bachelor’s degrees may use the name state college (Florida Statutes).

Enrollment is rising. The state Education Estimating Conference reported 322,187.9 full-time equivalent students across the Florida College System in FY 2025-26, passing the pre-pandemic FY 2018-19 level of 320,302.4 and up 5.8 percent from FY 2024-25 (EDR executive summary). Upper Division programs made up approximately 6.1 percent of that total. The August 6, 2026 forecast expects 384,803.0 FTE by FY 2031-32, which would pass the system’s previous Florida peak of 375,292.2 FTE set in FY 2010-11. Those figures count only state-funded enrollment.

Every Florida county is assigned to one of the 28 colleges by section 1000.21 of the Florida Statutes, from Miami Dade College for Miami-Dade County to Chipola College for five Panhandle counties (Florida Statutes).

Large urban counties have a college of their own, such as Broward, Hillsborough, Palm Beach, Pinellas, Polk and Seminole, while rural North Florida counties share one: North Florida College serves six counties and Florida Gateway College five (Florida Statutes). The full Florida list follows, alphabetical by college.

The 2026 Florida statute uses the names Hillsborough College, for Hillsborough County, and Tallahassee State College, for Gadsden, Leon and Wakulla counties (Florida Statutes). Last verified: October 15, 2026, against the 2026 Florida Statutes published by the Florida Legislature.

Florida law sets standard tuition at $71.98 per credit hour for advanced and professional, postsecondary vocational, developmental education and educator preparation institute programs, and $91.79 for Florida residents in bachelor’s programs (Florida Statutes).

The statute adds an out-of-state fee of $215.94 per credit hour for nonresidents in the $71.98 programs. Each Florida college board may set its tuition and out-of-state fees anywhere from 10 percent below to 15 percent above the standard, and may add an activity and service fee of up to 10 percent of tuition, a technology fee of up to 5 percent and a capital improvement fee of up to 20 percent of tuition for residents (Florida Statutes).

Valencia College, which serves Orange and Osceola counties, lists in-state tuition of $103.06 per credit hour (Valencia College), and a December 4, 2025 memo from its president recommended that the district board of trustees approve the 2026-27 schedule with no increase in matriculation, technology, student financial aid, student activity or capital improvement fees, for the thirteenth consecutive year (Valencia board of trustees). Miami Dade College charges Florida residents $82.78 of tuition per credit plus student services, financial aid, capital improvement, technology and parking fees, for a total of $118.22 per credit and $1,418.64 for a 12-credit term (Miami Dade College).

Miami Dade College says tuition is set annually by the Florida Legislature, with additional local and institutional fees set by its board of trustees and the Florida Board of Governors, and that its rate tables apply to the current academic year and are subject to change (Miami Dade College).

Admission to a Florida college associate degree program requires a standard high school diploma, a State of Florida high school equivalency diploma or another credential the statute lists, plus demonstrated college-level communication and computation skills, and every entering student receives admissions counseling (Florida Statutes).

Within those Florida rules, each college board of trustees adopts its own admission rules, and programs other than associate degrees set their own education requirements (Florida Statutes). Students who have earned the 24 credits for a standard Florida diploma but not passed a required assessment may still enroll in certificate career education programs.

Open access is built into Florida law. A college without bachelor’s authority that wins State Board of Education approval to use the name college must agree to keep an open-door admissions policy for associate-level degree programs and workforce education, keep outreach to underserved populations and continue to provide remedial education (Florida Statutes). FLDOE describes the colleges as serving both recent high school graduates and returning adult students (FLDOE).

Florida high school students in dual enrollment take college courses free: they are exempt from registration, tuition and laboratory fees, and their assigned instructional materials are provided free of charge (Florida Statutes).

To start college credit dual enrollment in Florida, a student needs a 3.0 unweighted high school grade point average and must show college-level communication and computation skills on the state placement measures (Florida Statutes). The courses are creditable toward high school completion and a career certificate or an associate or bachelor’s degree.

Florida also offers early admission, a full-time form of dual enrollment in which eligible students take courses creditable toward the high school diploma and an associate or bachelor’s degree; a student may not be required to take more than 15 college credit hours a semester, and the same fee exemption applies (Florida Statutes). Career early admission works the same way for programs leading to industry certifications at a career center or Florida College System institution.

Every associate in arts graduate of a Florida College System college has met all general education requirements and must be admitted to the upper division of a Florida state university, except in limited access, teacher certification or audition programs (Florida Statutes).

The same Florida articulation law gives these associate in arts graduates priority over out-of-state students for upper division admission, at a state university or at a Florida college that offers bachelor’s degrees (Florida Statutes).

For guaranteed access to a particular state university and a degree program there, Florida uses 2+2 targeted pathways: each Florida College System college and each state university must execute at least one such agreement. To qualify, a student enrolls in the pathway before completing 30 credit hours, finishes the associate in arts and meets the university’s transfer requirements (Florida Statutes).