The Florida College System

The Florida College System is the state’s network of 28 public colleges, which the Florida Department of Education calls the primary access point to higher education for Floridians, from recent high school graduates to returning adults.

Since 2018 the system has been written into the Florida Constitution. Article IX, Section 8, proposed by the Constitution Revision Commission as Revision No. 2 and adopted in 2018, establishes a single state college system made up of all public community and state colleges, governed college by college by local boards of trustees and supervised by the State Board of Education (Florida Constitution). The article lists its purposes: access to undergraduate education, articulated pathways to a bachelor’s degree, a superior commitment to teaching and learning, and certificate and degree programs aligned with local and regional workforce needs.

State law draws the outer lines. A Florida College System institution may not offer graduate degrees and may not call itself a university, and its associate and bachelor’s programs must deliver substantial savings to the student and the state compared with a state university (Florida Statutes s. 1001.60). For the student side of the system, which college serves each county, tuition per credit and transfer rules, see the separate Digital Towns guide to Florida community colleges in 2026.

Last verified: October 19, 2026, by re-reading the Florida Constitution’s state college article, sections 1001.60, 1001.61, 1001.64 and 1007.33 of the 2026 statutes, and the Department of Education’s college system pages.

Several Florida public colleges began as junior colleges, and Palm Beach State College describes itself as the state’s first public community college, preparing students since 1933 (Palm Beach State College).

St. Johns River State College says it was established in 1958 as one of several public junior colleges founded under legislation of the 1957 Florida Legislature, opening for organizational purposes on February 25, 1958, with 191 students starting the fall semester of 1958 in the educational buildings of First Baptist Church of Palatka (St. Johns River State College history). The same college became St. Johns River Community College in 1977, won approval for its first bachelor’s degrees from the State Board of Education and its accreditor in 2010, and officially became St. Johns River State College in January 2011.

The statute that defines the system today, section 1001.60, was created by chapter 2008-52 of the Laws of Florida and was last amended in 2023 (Florida Statutes). Each college’s own history page is the place to confirm its founding year and former names.

Each Florida college is governed locally by its district board of trustees, under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Education, while the Chancellor of the Florida College System reports to the Commissioner of Education (FLDOE).

The Division of Florida Colleges inside the Department of Education carries out State Board rules and the statutes and gives the colleges technical assistance and data; it takes questions at [email protected] (Division of Florida Colleges). The policies themselves come from State Board of Education decisions, made at meetings it holds through the year.

Trustees are appointed by the governor to staggered 4-year terms and confirmed by the Senate, and each must live in the college’s service area (Florida Constitution). A Florida board has five members when the college district sits within one school board district, seven if such a board elects to, and not more than nine when the district spans two or more school districts; Florida State College at Jacksonville must have an odd number and St. Johns River State College has seven from its three counties (Florida Statutes s. 1001.61). Trustees are unpaid apart from expense reimbursement, elect a chair at the first regular meeting after July 1, and the chair must tell the governor in writing when a member misses three consecutive regular meetings in a fiscal year.

The board of trustees appoints, suspends or removes the college president, may use a search committee, and must evaluate the president every year and send that evaluation to the State Board of Education for review (Florida Statutes).

The president serves as the board’s executive officer and corporate secretary, sets meeting agendas with the chair, and is the chief administrative officer through whom every part of the college answers to the trustees (Florida Statutes s. 1001.61). Florida law also lets a board act without a recommendation from its president and ask the Commissioner of Education for an inspector general investigation of the president when it considers one necessary (s. 1001.64).

Money decisions sit with the same Florida board. Trustees set fees under sections 1009.22, 1009.23, 1009.25, 1009.26 and 1009.27 and send an institutional budget request, including fixed capital outlay, plus an operating budget to the State Board of Education (s. 1001.64). Because trustees set fees, submit the budget requests and appoint the president, the board’s meetings are where those decisions are made.

A Florida college needs State Board of Education approval for each new bachelor’s program, after a public notice period in which state universities and then private colleges may object or offer to run the program instead (Florida Statutes).

A Florida college that offers bachelor’s degrees must keep as its primary mission responding to community needs for postsecondary academic and career degree education and providing associate degrees that give access to a university (s. 1007.33(2)). Programs authorized by law before July 1, 2009, and programs run under a formal agreement with another accredited institution follow separate routes (s. 1007.33(4)).

The State Board takes up the recommendation at its next meeting and must give written reasons if it says no. A college approved for its first bachelor’s program must then earn accreditation as a baccalaureate-degree-granting institution from an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (Florida Statutes).

A Florida college may adopt the name college or state college, with its trustees’ approval, once it is authorized and accredited to grant bachelor’s degrees (Florida Statutes).

A college without that standing may still ask the State Board of Education for the plain name college, but only by agreeing to keep its community mission, an open-door admissions policy for associate and workforce programs, outreach to underserved students, remedial education and the statewide articulation agreement (s. 1001.60(2)(b)). Either way, the board that approves a new name must seek to have it written into section 1000.21 of the Florida Statutes at the next regular legislative session, and no Florida College System institution may use the designation university.

The board approves the name first and seeks codification at the next session. St. Johns River State College, for example, ran a public name survey in 2010 before its trustees chose the new name (St. Johns River State College), and section 1000.21(5) is the statutory list of Florida College System institutions.