Staff Reports
Last Call — A prime-time read of what’s going down in Florida politics.
First Shot
The Gators are No. 1 in at least one ranking and Florida International University is doing well, too.
According to The Wall Street Journal’s 2024 Best Colleges in the U.S. ranking, the University of Florida is the top public university in the country.
The publication, which has published U.S. college rankings since 2016, partnered with College Pulse and Statista this year to retool the ranking methodology to focus on educational outcomes, such as graduation rates and starting salaries for alumni.
Notably, WSJ no longer considers many of the factors that buoyed scores for Ivy League institutions for years — endowment size, reputation and instructional spending aren’t part of the equation. Prestige schools still fared well, but the new methodology allowed public universities such as UF to shine.
Overall, UF is the No. 15 university in the country, just above Duke University and a rung below Lehigh. When only public schools are considered, UF is the best of the best — the New Jersey Institute of Technology is the next-highest-ranked public university at No. 19 overall.
“The University of Florida dared to be audacious, and we’ve succeeded — for our students and for our state,” said UF Board of Trustees Chair Mori Hosseini. “I’ve always believed that giving our students an amazing education and sending them out into the world with the tools they need to succeed is our No. 1 job. Now we’ve been recognized as being No. 1 for doing that. The people of the great state of Florida can take great pride in knowing that their tax dollars are well spent at the University of Florida. The best is yet to come.”
UF President Ben Sasse added, “The University of Florida has done incredible things, and we’re not slowing down. We are committed to providing an elite education that is radically practical. Graduating young men and women who are prepared for success in life may be the single most important thing we do as a university, and to be recognized as the best public university in the country is a huge honor.”
According to the ranking, the average UF graduate pays spends just three months paying off their college debt, while the degree they earn adds $44,468 in value to their salaries — WSJ says the latter metric is an estimate of how well a school’s students would do regardless of which college they attended.
“So much of our university’s reputation comes down to our post-graduation student outcomes and the kind of leaders we are producing,” Sasse said. “UF alumni are changing the world.”
UF was not the only Sunshine State university near the top of the list. Florida International University ranked No. 4 among public universities, just a hair behind the University of Michigan, and took the No. 29 spot overall. Like UF grads, FIU alums typically pay off their college debt in a matter of months. Meanwhile, their diploma adds nearly $33,000 in value.
Evening Reads
—”Ron DeSantis built a massive network of big donors. Many have ditched him.” via Alex Isenstadt and Jessica Piper of POLITICO
—”‘Time of crisis’: DeSantis, trying to catch Donald Trump, struggles to reinvigorate his 2024 campaign” via David Jackson of USA Today
—“DeSantis is taking aim at ‘zombie studies’ on the campaign trail. It’s a real thing” via Annie Nova of CNBC
—“‘History’ tells DeSantis climate change isn’t making storms stronger” via A.G. Gancarski of Florida Politics
—“The metaphor that explains why America needs to prosecute Trump” via Quinta Jurecic of The Atlantic
—“Trump’s 2020 crusade has led to 700 years in prison sentences” via Aaron Blake of The Washington Post
—“Vivek Ramaswamy and the lie of the ‘model minority’” via Prachi Gupta of Vox
—”Fate of abortion access in Florida: Some young people want more info and influence on the issues” via Jackie Llanos of the Florida Phoenix
—“Florida expected to approve ‘Classical Curriculum’ exam as a competitor to the SAT” via Dana Goldstein of The New York Times
—”Jimmy Buffett told us how he wanted to be remembered” via Brian Hiatt of Rolling Stone
Quote of the Day.
“I studied history, and they act like this is somehow unprecedented. It’s not.”
— Gov. Ron DeSantis, claiming climate change has not made hurricanes stronger.
Breakthrough Insights
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Last Call is published by Peter Schorsch, assembled and edited by Phil Ammann and Drew Wilson with contributions from the staff of Florida Politics.
