Southeast
Florida universities: Where academic excellence meets athletic prowess
Florida recently overtook New York as the nation’s third-largest state.
With a booming population of 22 million and growing, the Sunshine State is making considerable investments in its public institutions of higher learning, while private universities are also seeing surging enrollment.
Here is a look at some of the top universities in Florida based on enrollment rates.
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University of Florida
Long famous for its legendary football program, the University of Florida now boasts an impressive academic record, and entrance is extremely competitive, with an acceptance rate of just 23%.
Located in northern Florida in Gainesville, it is the flagship school of the State University System of Florida. As the fifth-largest university in the country, it features over 57,000 students studying at 16 academic colleges.
Additionally, it offers numerous graduate programs, including medicine, pharmacy, engineering, law, business administration and dentistry.
Gainesville, University of Florida, campus entrance with students. (Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Florida State University
Founded in 1851, Florida State University is located in Florida’s capital, Tallahassee.
Comprised of 16 colleges, it features a student body of over 45,000 hailing from all 50 states and 130 countries. It has an annual budget of $2.2 billion, and its athletics programs have won 20 NCAA Division I national championships. It currently offers 104 baccalaureate programs, 112 master’s degree programs, and 70 doctoral programs.
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private research university, located in the Coral Gables neighborhood of Miami.
The university enrollment stands at nearly 20,000 students, and the school is the second-largest employer in Miami-Dade County. Like UF and FSU, it is renowned for its athletics programs, particularly football, in which it has won five national championships. Admission is highly competitive, with a 2023 acceptance rate of 18.5%.
University of Miami plays at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida. (Samuel Lewis/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
University of Central Florida
Formerly known as Florida Technical University, the University of Central Florida is located near Orlando in unincorporated Orange County and features a study body of over 68,000.
It is particularly strong in science, technology, engineering and math, with a historical relationship with the U.S. Space Program at the nearby Kennedy Sapce Center. Located 13 miles east of downtown Orlando, the school features 230 degrees across 13 colleges.
Heavily research-focused, it is known for corporate partnerships with major companies, including Disney, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, SpaceX and Universal.
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Florida International University
Florida International University, a research university commonly known as FIU, was founded in 1965 by the state legislature and is located in Miami-Dade County.
Being the third-largest university in the state, it has a budget of over $1.7 billion and has invested more than $1 billion in research expenditures in the past five years. It has over 45,000 undergraduate students and 10,000 graduate students. FIU offers 60 baccalaureate programs, 81 master’s programs and 34 doctoral programs. It features a student body from every state, including a considerable international student population, with the largest student groups coming from Venezuela, China, Kuwait, India, Brazil, and Cuba.
Students on campus at the Florida International University in Miami. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Florida Atlantic University
Florida Atlantic University is a public research university in Boca Raton, with 180 undergraduate and graduate programs across 10 colleges.
Its 30,000 students hail from all 50 states and 180 countries. The school consistently ranks as one of the most diverse in the nation, and it receives high marks for its two featured honors programs: the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College and the University Scholars Program.
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Florida A&M University
Florida A&M, located in Tallahassee, is a historically Black land-grant school, founded in 1887.
It is the third-largest historically Black university in the nation, and its creation was promoted by prominent abolitionist and Florida legislator Jonathan C. Gibbs. It offers 54 bachelor’s degrees, 29 master’s degrees, and 12 doctoral programs, and competes in NCAA Division I in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.
University of South Florida
The University of South Florida was founded in 1956, with its flagship campus in Tampa.
Additionally, it has satellite campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. Its 14 colleges feature over 240 undergraduate and graduate level programs. The fourth-largest school in the state, its 50,000 student body comes from all 50 states and 145 countries.
Known for its cutting edge research, the USF community boasts over 2,400 patents, while the National Academy of Inventors and the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame are located on school grounds.
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Southeast
Father claims daughter accused of sex crimes with Florida middle schoolers is the ‘real victim’
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A Florida woman who posed as a teenager to sexually abuse five middle school boys is “mentally defective” and is the real victim of the alleged sex crimes, her father said.
Alyssa Ann Zinger, 25, dealt with various mental disorders, including ADHD, ADD, OCD, Tourette’s syndrome and anorexia while growing up in a “good Christian home” in suburban Tampa, her father, Josh Zinger, told the California Post.
“She had a lot of problems growing up. Our daughter has been to 10 to 12 psychologists and psychiatrists throughout her life,” Zinger said.
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Alyssa Zinger, 23, was out on pretrial release from a November arrest when she was arrested again last week. (Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office)
He noted that Zinger once scored a 72 on an intelligence quotient test, well below the assessment’s 100-point average.
“She’s defective — mentally defective. And do you know what that means under the law? If somebody is mentally defective and has sex with somebody, no matter their age, it’s illegal to have sex with a mentally defective person,” Zinger said.
“In all actuality, she is the victim.”
Zinger was arrested in 2023 after allegedly posing as a 14-year-old teen on social media and having dozens of sexual encounters with a boy between the ages of 12 and 15.
The boy, who Josh Zinger called “the little bastard,” seduced his daughter and took her virginity, he told the newspaper.
“That boy found her [social media] account, found her dancing like a 13-year-old on it and said, ‘Hey, girl, I’ll Uber you to my $5,000-a-month apartment — come on and hang out’,” the dad said.
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Alyssa Zinger, pictured in court, is accused of communicating with teenage boys via TikTok and Snapchat while claiming to be a 14-year-old homeschooled student. (FOX 13 Tampa Bay)
“And then when she got there, she never said she wasn’t 14 to him, but he knew her real age, and he knew she was mentally unstable,” Josh claimed.
He claimed that, over several months, the boy had Zinger over at his apartment and introduced her to other school-age boys, four of whom would become Zinger’s other alleged victims.
“The boy who harbored her in his house for five months, he’s the one who introduced her to his friends, and they all were like, ‘Hey, this girl is 14,’ wink, wink, high-five, high-five, ‘Your turn, bud,’” Josh Zinger said.
“There will be no plea deal. There will be no sex offender registry. She’ll get time served and adios.”
Alyssa Zinger was arrested in April 2024 after investigators allegedly identified the four other middle school victims.
Alyssa Zinger allegedly communicated with teenage boys via social media. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
Zinger is slated to go to trial in May.
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She remains in jail on charges of lewd or lascivious battery, lewd or lascivious molestation, possession of child pornography, in-state transmission of child pornography by an electronic device and sexual cyber harassment, all felonies.
In addition, other inmates have treated her poorly, her father said, adding “s— in her food all the time — fingernails, hair, objects, plastic — because whoever was making her food knew who she was, and they knew that that food was going to a pedophile,” he said.
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Southeast
ICE lodges detainer for illegal immigrant accused of sexually assaulting teen
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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an arrest detainer Friday against a criminal illegal alien from Egypt accused of raping a 16-year-old girl on New Year’s Eve while she was asleep in her bed in Tennessee.
Mena Mohsen Farez Nmn Awad, 31, allegedly broke into an apartment in Nashville and began sexually assaulting the victim while she was asleep in her bed next to her nephew, WSMV-TV reported.
The girl allegedly found Awad in her bed with a handgun tucked into his waistband and was sexually assaulted, the outlet reported.
She later broke free, grabbed her nephew and told Awad she would not tell anyone about the incident if he left.
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ICE filed an arrest detainer for Mena Mohsen Farez Nmn Awad, an illegal immigrant from Egypt accused of sexually assaulting a sleeping teenage girl, authorities said. (Metro Nashville Police Department )
According to DHS, Awad has a history of violence since entering the U.S. in 2017 through the Diversity Visa program.
He was previously charged with domestic violence, intimidation, possession of a weapon, violation of a court order and vehicle theft, the agency said.
“Horrendous immigration policies allowed this monster into our country and made victims of children and families,” Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. “This child rapist was allowed into our country by the Diversity Lottery program. Secretary Noem paused the diversity lottery to ensure no more Americans are harmed by this disastrous program.”
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Mena Mohsen Farez Nmn Awad is accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement lodging an arrest detainer, according to federal authorities. (Metro Nashville Police Department )
McLaughlin added that ICE’s arrest detainer would “ensure he is not released onto our streets to victimize more children.”
According to DHS, the victim called her sister, who then contacted authorities after Awad left the residence.
Awad was later apprehended by police in Louisville, Kentucky, on Jan. 16, and was extradited to Tennessee the following week.
ICE filed an arrest detainer for Mena Mohsen Farez Nmn Awad following allegations he sexually assaulted a sleeping teenage girl in Nashville, authorities said. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
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He was charged with aggravated rape with a weapon, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated burglary, DHS said.
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Southeast
Virginia Democrats blasted for threatening historic military college VMI with funding threat over DEI concerns
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Virginia Democrats in the state’s House of Delegates introduced a resolution on Tuesday that would establish a task force to investigate the Virginia Military Institute and determine if the historic military college should continue to receive funding.
The move is the latest of Virginia Democrats’ efforts to reinvigorate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policy in the state after much of the DEI mandates and policies were revoked after President Donald Trump was elected in 2024.
“This takes away from VMI, takes away from its mission,” Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., told Fox News Digital. “I think that it’s harmful to the Commonwealth of Virginia, harmful to VMI as an institution, harmful to all the incredible military leaders and community leaders that have come out of VMI.”
“It’s just reprehensible that they would even go down this road,” Wittman added. “But, it seems to be what’s happening in Richmond.”
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Republican lawmakers are blaming Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger and renewed DEI efforts for what they describe as an ideological push that could jeopardize the nation’s oldest state-supported military college. (Win McNamee/Getty Images; Greg Nelson /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Wittman, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, represents the Northern Neck, Middle Peninsula and parts of the Peninsula of Virginia. He attended Virginia Tech University and was a member of the Corps of Cadets, which he says had a friendly rivalry with VMI.
VMI was founded in 1839, making it the oldest public senior military college in the country. VMI has had several notable graduates, including sitting Ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, and Gen. John “Dan” Caine, Trump’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz attended VMI. (Adam Gray/Getty)
Wittman was not the only member of Congress who voiced concerns about the potential Democratic-driven demise of the nation’s first state-funded military college.
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Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, also serves on the House Armed Services Committee and pointed to newly elected Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger as the culprit of the threat to VMI.
“Less than a month in office as governor of Virginia, Abigail Spanberger has shown a commitment to turning the commonwealth into California,” Fallon told Fox News Digital. “The left’s renewed focus on VMI is not intended to benefit our military.
“Instead, it’s yet another avenue to tear down an institution that has developed exceptional leaders and statesmen who have made significant contributions to our nation, such as George C. Marshall, Mike Waltz, and the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, whom I had the privilege of serving with in the Air Force,” Fallon added.
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger speaks during inaugural ceremonies at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (Steve Helber/AP)
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In 2021, then-Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered a state-sanctioned investigation into VMI’s DEI structure. An investigation which specifically looked for racism and sexism. The audit came in President Joe Biden’s first full year in the White House, when DEI policies were running rampant at universities and corporations across the country.
One of Spanberger’s first acts since being elected was appointing Northam to VMI’s Board of Visitors.
“To appoint disgraced former Governor Ralph Northam, a man of poor moral character, to the Board of Visitors at VMI is an insult to our nation’s oldest state-supported military school and the leaders it produces,” Fallon told Fox News Digital. “He has no business overseeing VMI, and leftists like Spanberger can’t help themselves from advancing their radical, far-left agenda.”
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam ordered an investigation into VMI in 2021.
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Spanberger has received sharp criticism for many of the liberal policies she has implemented in her short time in office, including an executive saying local and state law enforcement are no longer required to cooperate with ICE, a reversal from a previous order issued by former Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
“Screw any and all of you who lied to low-information voters and sold Abigail Spanberger as some kind of moderate,” Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Sen. John McCain, posted to social media. “She’s been in office like 6 hours and is already trying to turn Virginia into Minneapolis.”
George W. Bush speaking to cadets at the Virginia Military Institution in 2002. (PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
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Should the legislation introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates make it to Spanberger’s desk, it is possible that the military institution will not survive if state funding is revoked.
“There is no logic, there is no logical reason why you would do this,” Wittman told Fox. “If you have issues with VMI, many of those have played out in years past, the institution has done everything that the General Assembly has asked for them to do.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Spanberger, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston
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