{"id":408066,"date":"2026-09-23T09:14:29","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:14:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408066\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T09:14:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T09:14:29","slug":"majority-of-florida-universities-fall-in-national-rankings-per-u-s-news-world-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/408066\/","title":{"rendered":"Majority of Florida universities fall in national rankings, per U.S. News & World Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ExteriorUniversity of South Florida Credit: Joseph Hendrickson\/Shutterstock<\/a><\/p>\n

Of the eight Florida universities recognized nationally, five dropped in the U.S. News & World Report\u2019s annual national rankings<\/a>. Two universities climbed and one stayed steady.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida\u2019s two top-25 public universities, University of Florida and Florida State University, each dropped \u2014 UF by one spot, from No. 7 last year to No. 8; and FSU by three spots, from No. 21 last year to No. 24.<\/p>\n

Staying in the top 50 were Florida International University, which maintained its place at No. 46, and University of South Florida, which dropped three spots from No. 43 to No. 46. FIU is the best<\/a> university in Florida, according to state Board of Governors metrics.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 10 consecutive years, the University of Florida has been recognized among the nation\u2019s top public universities,\u201d UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini said in a news release.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere should be no doubt in anyone\u2019s mind now that this is where UF belongs, and even greater things are coming. That kind of consistency is the result of the hard work of our faculty, staff and students, the support of our Legislature and our governor and a shared commitment to making UF better every year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two universities increased their ranks. Florida A&M University leaped 13 places, from No. 92 to No. 79. Florida Atlantic University moved into the double-digits, improving by one spot to No. 99.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The University of Central Florida dropped a spot, from 57th to 58th, and the University of North Florida dropped from No. 122 to No. 128.<\/p>\n

The rankings consider metrics<\/a> such as graduation rates, retention rates, earnings by major, a peer assessment, and Pell Grant recipients\u2019 graduation rates.<\/p>\n

FSU pointed out in its news release that the rankings no longer factor in the federal loans students take on. Florida has among the lowest in-state tuition in the nation, meaning students have to borrow less, or no money at all, to attend state universities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur responsibility is not to chase rankings but to create one of the nation\u2019s best educational experiences,\u201d FSU President Richard McCullough said. \u201cThat means continuing to invest in outstanding faculty, innovative academic programs and the resources that help students succeed from enrollment through graduation. If we remain focused on those goals, the results will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top public school was the University of California, Berkeley, followed by the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Michigan; the University of Virginia; and the University of North Carolina.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Among various rankings throughout the year, U.S. News & World Report\u2019s are perhaps the most widely cited. In walking around some of the campuses, university display their ranking on light-post banners, for example.<\/p>\n

FAMU lost a spot among all historically Black colleges and universities, falling from No. 5 to No. 6. It was passed by North Carolina A&T State University.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That means FAMU lost its seven-year streak as the No. 1 public HBCU in the nation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

New College of Florida dropped six places in the national liberal arts colleges category, from No. 10 to No. 16, among 39 schools in that category.<\/p>\n

In a new category, UF and FSU rank in the Top 10 for \u201cBest Value Schools for In-State Students,\u201d with the Gainesville university ranked No. 3 and the Tallahassee university No. 7.<\/p>\n

FIU maintained its No. 1 rank in the nation as the top performer for social mobility.<\/p>\n

The chair of the Florida Board of Governors, Alan Levine, posted<\/a> on social media his feeling, that the peer review metric damages Florida universities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year, more than 400,000 people applied to a Florida university. The scoreboard says it all \u2014 Florida\u2019s universities are among the highest value, best degrees you can pursue. So says the market,\u201d Levine wrote. \u201cTake away the subjective peer assessments, which make up 20% of the @usnews<\/a> rankings, and Florida\u2019s universities, already highly ranked, would skyrocket even higher.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rankings are frequently mentioned by university leaders, including by UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini, in arguing against increasing the ratio of in-state students who attend state institutions.<\/p>\n

During a Board of Governors meeting earlier this month, Hosseini said UF is pursuing a Top Five rank, and to do so will decrease enrollment to maintain the state\u2019s required ratio of in-state students to out-of-state students and maintain higher GPA, SAT, and ACT score expectations.<\/p>\n

Florida Gulf Coast University was ranked No. 170 last year, but was not ranked this year.<\/p>\n

Best public institutions, among 227 public universities<\/p>\n

University of Florida | #8 \u2193 1<\/p>\n

Florida State University | #24\u00a0\u2193 3<\/p>\n

Florida International University | #46\u00a0No change<\/p>\n

University of South Florida | #46 \u2193 3<\/p>\n

University of Central Florida | #58 \u2193 1<\/p>\n

Florida A&M University | #79 \u2191 13<\/p>\n

Florida Atlantic University | #99 \u2191 1<\/p>\n

University of North Florida | #128 \u2193 6<\/p>\n

Florida Phoenix<\/a> is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: [email\u00a0protected]<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article appears in Sept. 17 \u2013 23, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"University of South Florida Credit: Joseph Hendrickson\/Shutterstock Of the eight Florida universities recognized nationally, five dropped in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[31134,19175,135,137,136],"class_list":["post-408066","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-florida-education","tag-florida-universities","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}