Florida Gulf Coast University

It seems as if, every year, more and more students want to head south to a medium to large public university with Greek life and school spirit. And with some of the flagship institutions becoming extremely selective, Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers is a great option. It’s a lovely campus 20 minutes from the Gulf Coast beaches serving about 14,000 undergraduates, 69% of them full time, and about 4700 of whom live on campus.

FGCU has a lot of enthusiasm for its D1 sports teams, Greek life, and a beautiful waterfront on a lake where students can rent paddleboards, kayaks, and sailboats for free. You can walk from one end of campus to the other in 30 minutes, but there are also buses available.

There are eleven colleges are schools offering dozens of majors, but some unique offerings include the School of Resort & Hospitality Management offering degrees in Resort and Hospitality Administration and Hospitality & Tourism Management as well as minors in Event Planning, Customer Experience Management, and Club Management. This school has strong relationships with local businesses and brings in over 50 recruiting employers per year and guarantees internships to all students.

The Water School at FGCU offers majors in Environmental Geology, Marine Science, and Environmental Studies with concentrations in Ecology & Environmental Assessment, Environmental Education, and Water Resources Science and Management. Their philosophy is to teach holistically by partnering with business, engineering, health sciences, and social sciences departments at FGCU as well as conservation and research facilities off campus such as the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.

Housing at FGCU is available on a first-come, first-served basis, and it’s neither required nor guaranteed. As with the other Florida publics, one should put down the $50 housing deposit well before May. I was told that there hasn’t been a tuition increase in 11 years – amazing! But make sure to apply early action to be considered for merit scholarships of up to $5K for Florida residents, and up to $15K for out-of-state students.