Florida Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Four Florida colleges carry the federal historically Black college or university designation: Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, Bethune-Cookman University in Daytona Beach, Edward Waters University in Jacksonville and Florida Memorial University in Miami Gardens.

Each of the four Florida schools carries the Historically Black College or University characteristic in College Navigator, the federal college search tool run by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, FAMU; Bethune-Cookman; Edward Waters; Florida Memorial). The federal definition is historical: HBCUs are institutions that were established prior to 1964 with the principal mission of educating Black Americans (NCES Fast Facts).

Florida A&M is the only public one and belongs to the State University System of Florida; the other three are private not-for-profit colleges with a religious affiliation (FAMU; NCES). Nationally, NCES counted 99 HBCUs in 2022 across 19 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands, 50 public and 49 private nonprofit (NCES).

Florida A&M is the largest of the four Florida HBCUs with 9,313 students in Fall 2024, and it lists the lowest tuition and fees of the four for Florida residents at $5,785.

College Navigator lists FAMU at 9,313 students in Fall 2024, of whom 7,890 were undergraduates and 1,423 graduate students (NCES). For 2024-2025 its tuition and fees were $5,785 for Florida residents and $17,725 for out-of-state students, the same as the previous year. FAMU drew 22,756 applicants for Fall 2024 and admitted 21 percent of them, and the university reports a 17.25 percent acceptance rate in its 2025-2026 academic profile (FAMU). The two figures cover different admission years.

The three private Florida HBCUs are each between about 1,100 and 2,900 students. Bethune-Cookman enrolled 2,853 in Fall 2024 and charged $14,794 in 2024-2025 tuition and fees, unchanged from 2023-2024 (NCES). Edward Waters enrolled 1,177 and raised tuition and fees 10.0 percent to $16,366 (NCES). Florida Memorial enrolled 1,277 and charged $20,174, a 5.6 percent increase (NCES).

College Navigator reports a student-to-faculty ratio of 14 to 1 at FAMU and Edward Waters and 17 to 1 at Bethune-Cookman and Florida Memorial (NCES; NCES; NCES; NCES).

Florida’s HBCUs trace their founding dates from 1866 to 1904: two began with church bodies, one with a girls school opened by Mary McLeod Bethune, and FAMU in 1887 after a bill passed by the Florida Legislature.

Edward Waters has the earliest founding date of the four: it was founded in 1866 by members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and calls itself Florida’s first independent institution of higher learning and the first in the state established for the education of African Americans (Edward Waters University).

Florida Memorial dates to 1879, when members of the Bethlehem Baptist Association founded the Florida Baptist Institute in Live Oak, Florida; amid racial tensions, then President Rev. Matthew Gilbert and other staff members fled Live Oak for Jacksonville, where he founded the Florida Baptist Academy in the basement of Bethel Baptist Church (Florida Memorial University).

Florida A&M was founded on October 3, 1887 and began classes in Tallahassee with 15 students and two instructors (FAMU history). In 1891 the college received $7,500 under the Second Morrill Act and became Florida’s land grant institution for African Americans. It was renamed Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes in 1909, awarded its first degrees the following year with 317 students enrolled, and became Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University in 1953.

Bethune-Cookman traces its start to October 3, 1904, when Mary McLeod Bethune opened the Daytona Literary and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls; the university says she started it with $1.50 (Bethune-Cookman University). Its United Methodist connection is older, dating to 1872 and the Cookman Institute of Jacksonville, Florida.

Yes, Florida A&M is a public university in the State University System of Florida, the 12-institution system overseen by the Florida Board of Governors.

FAMU describes itself as an 1890 land grant, doctoral/research institution, part of the State University System of Florida and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (FAMU). The Board of Governors says its oversight impacts 12 institutions and more than 430,000 students annually (Florida Board of Governors). College Navigator classifies FAMU as Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity (NCES).

FAMU is not only a Tallahassee campus. Its College of Law is in Orlando, and its College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health has sites in Crestview, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami (FAMU). The university says it enrolls nearly 10,000 students from across the United States and more than 70 countries, and reports a 90.7 percent retention rate in its 2025-2026 profile.

The two official records give different street numbers for the Tallahassee campus: the FAMU website lists 1601 S. Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Tallahassee, FL 32307 (FAMU), while the College Navigator record lists 1500 S Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Both give the main number (850) 599-3000 (NCES).

Bethune-Cookman, Edward Waters and Florida Memorial are private not-for-profit Florida colleges with United Methodist, African Methodist Episcopal and Baptist ties, and Florida offers a non-need tuition grant at eligible private colleges.

College Navigator records the religious affiliation of each: United Methodist for Bethune-Cookman, African Methodist Episcopal for Edward Waters and Baptist for Florida Memorial (NCES; NCES; NCES). Edward Waters is accredited by SACSCOC and is a member of the United Negro College Fund (Edward Waters University). Florida Memorial states it is fully accredited by SACSCOC and is the only HBCU in South Florida (Florida Memorial University).

Florida Statutes section 1009.89 creates the William L. Boyd, IV, Effective Access to Student Education grant for any full-time degree-seeking undergraduate at an independent nonprofit college located in and chartered by the state, accredited by the SACS Commission on Colleges, granting baccalaureate degrees and not part of the state university or Florida College System (Florida Statutes, 2026). The Florida Department of Education issues the grant, and the Legislature calls it a tuition assistance program for its citizens rather than financial aid, because it is not related to financial need. A student must meet Florida residency rules, may not be in a theology or divinity program, and funding is as provided in the General Appropriations Act.

Contact points in Florida: Bethune-Cookman, 640 Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune Boulevard, Daytona Beach, (386) 481-2000 (Bethune-Cookman); Edward Waters, 1658 Kings Road, Jacksonville (Edward Waters); Florida Memorial, 15800 N.W. 42nd Avenue, Miami Gardens, 305-626-3600 (Florida Memorial).

Edward Waters in Jacksonville announced more than $33 million in campus investment on October 8, 2026, and Edward Waters, Florida Memorial and FAMU all post 2026 homecoming events.

On October 8, 2026, Edward Waters University announced more than $33 million in campus investment, including its first new student residence facility in nearly half a century, and its events calendar lists Homecoming Week on October 18, 19 and 20 (Edward Waters University). Florida Memorial posted 2026 homecoming news, including its President’s Speaker Series, on October 15, 2026 (Florida Memorial University), and FAMU news invites the community to its 2026 Homecoming Parade (FAMU).

Cost is moving at the private Florida colleges more than at FAMU: between 2023-2024 and 2024-2025, College Navigator shows tuition and fees flat at FAMU and Bethune-Cookman, up 10.0 percent at Edward Waters and up 5.6 percent at Florida Memorial (NCES; NCES; NCES; NCES).

Nationally, the student mix at HBCUs has changed: non-Black students made up 24 percent of HBCU enrollment in 2022, compared with 15 percent in 1976 (NCES). Last verified: October 15, 2026, on the NCES College Navigator website.