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Guide to Orlando colleges and universities

The University of Central Florida campus.

Orlando is a great place to attend college. Orlando colleges and universities offer students opportunities to graduate ready to work in virtually any field. As home to theme parks like Disney World, Orlando's bustling hospitality, entertainment and service industries offer students a variety of jobs to help pay for tuition and other college expenses. Tuition and fees at the main universities in the area are low compared to other parts of Florida and the rest of the country.

Graduates will appreciate Orlando's booming economy. Experts project 40 percent job growth over the next decade, and students can find employment in the industrial, technology, entertainment and health care service industries that make up Orlando's economic core.

Here is an overview of the top Orlando colleges and universities.

University of Central Florida
UCF is the second-largest university in the United States, with more than 66,000 students, and the largest by undergraduate enrollment, with more than 57,000 students.

Located in Orlando and with 12 satellite campuses throughout Central Florida, the University of Central Florida offers 211 degree programs with outstanding educational opportunities in fields such as optics, modeling and simulation, engineering and computer science, business administration and education.

The majority of University of Central Florida students choose majors in marketing, psychology, education, engineering and business.

The large size of the student population, coupled with more than 230,000 alumni around the world provide students with a wealth of social and networking opportunities while they are students and after graduation.

Newsweek has ranked the main campus as among the 20 most beautiful campuses in the country.

Central Florida Research park is located just south of the main campus where 116 corporations offer thousands of jobs to university graduates. It is the seventh-largest research park in the nation. The UCF is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Universities.

It is a bargain for in-state students, with a tuition of $6,600 a year.

Rollins College
Rollins College is in Winter Park, an upscale suburb northeast of Orlando. The school is more than 130 years old and today has about 3,000 students from all over the world.

The academic philosophy is that all learning is interconnected and should be a lifelong experience. A typical Rollins education will feature teachings in natural and social science disciplines, as well as humanities and the arts. 

There is a 10-1 faculty-to-student ratio, and class size averages 17 students.  For more information on education opportunities at Rollins, visit the school's website.

Valencia College

Valencia College is a public state college in Orlando.The school's career-oriented degree and certificate programs boast of a high job placement rate post-graduation. 

Stetson University
Stetson University is in DeLand, Florida, about 40 minutes to the northeast of Orlando.

A private institution founded in 1883, Stetson is on a 159-acre suburban campus with about 3,000 students. Tuition is in the area of $44,000 a year.

It's Florida's oldest private university, where for more than 100 years the mission has been to provide a "creative community where learning and values meet" and where students will "move from success to significance" in careers or graduate study.

Stetson is committed to academic excellence, traditions and benefits of a liberal arts education and establishing values through education. 

The DeLand campus is home to the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business Administration and the School of Music. 

For more information go here.