It’s football season, a big time in the South, and a friend called me after hearing from a sports announcer that the University of Central Florida in Orlando was “Florida’s largest college.”  “Could this is true?” he asked.  More than you know.

Not only is in true but within a few years UCF will be America’s largest university. UCF ranks #2 behind Arizona State, but with 59,770 students and climbing, it will soon be tops.

The University of Florida (#8 at 49,042) is actually third behind Florida International University at #4 with 52,980.   The University of South Florida has more students than Florida State University, which at least can say they’re #1 in football.

The largest community college and educational school in the USA is Miami Dade College with 174,000 students on multiple campus locations.    The largest private university in the South is the University of Miami with 16,935 students.

Florida A&M University is the largest historically black university in the USA with 12,057 students in 2012.  Only two schools in South Africa have more black students in the world.  Florida is a higher education center when it comes to numbers.