1. HIGHER EDUCATION STUDENT GPS GRADUATION PATHWAYS SITE Degrees Careers

2. It is well known that a college or university degree is the best route to a successful career and higher lifetime earnings. There is also agreement that a highly-educated workforce is the best route for the nation’s economic success. There is not agreement, however, about who should decide the route a student follows. Government bureaucrats believe they can best determine the routes students must follow. The 30 Florida independent colleges and universities believe students and their families should decide their own routes. It is their education, their time, their investment and their future. Government has a long history of wrong guesses, faulty projections and planning failures. The key to good decision-making is better information for those making their own decisions. That is the reason for this website for students and their families, as well as for the counselors at schools, colleges and universities who help them.

3. Some students start earning college credits in high school. Some students begin their college courses after earning their high school diploma. Some students return to a college or university to complete their degree. Some students attend only one college or university while others attend several. Each student must make 5 challenging decisions, once or several times as they navigate their way to a degree. Institution Location Home County Region Florida Nation Instructional Design On-Campus On-Line Blended Degree Costs Tuition & Fees Living Expenses Financial Aid-Debt Career Degree

4. This GPS is a place to begins to answer those five challenging questions. It provides an overview for high school, college and university students to start deciding their route to bachelor’s degree at an independent college or university. Each toolkit has on-line links to other resources. Counselors at schools, colleges and universities can best answer specific questions. In the coming months as other resources are found or created, they will be added to this site.

5. Independent colleges and universities have a successful record of awarding degrees to a diverse population of students. They provide simple, sure, swift and affordable routes to degrees at more than 130 on-campus sites. They are the largest provider of fully on-line degrees in Florida, offering more that 430 fully on-line degrees. Independent colleges and universities focus on research, liberal arts and science, technology, engineering, mathematics, computer animation, business, health care, the fine arts and more. These 30 colleges and universities range from large to small, urban to rural, comprehensive to specialized. Their students, on the average, graduate with manageable student loan debt, only modestly more than the average debt of state university students. According to U.S. News and World Report, an independent university, the University of Miami, is Florida’s best university. Several of the best mid-sized institutions in the Southeast are independent institutions. All provide students routes to success.