2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Florida

Design & Applied Arts is of the hottest bachelor's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #27 most popular major in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 11 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Florida ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 812 bachelor's degrees in design & applied arts to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Design & Applied Arts School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of design & applied arts for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality design program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.

A Great Overall School

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we consider a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a combination of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Early-Career Earnings

One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to design & applied arts students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other design & applied arts students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt design & applied arts students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized design & applied arts related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for design & applied arts students working on their bachelor's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Design & Applied Arts Bachelor's Degree Schools in Florida ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Design & Applied Arts in Florida

The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts.

10 Top Florida Schools for a Bachelor's in Design

1

University of Florida
Gainesville, FL

54 Annual Graduates

$43,144 Median Starting Salary

University of Florida is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. UF is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Gainesville.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Florida receive $8,906 more than the average design grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Florida

2

Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL

33 Annual Graduates

$49,144 Median Starting Salary

Florida State University is a good decision for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Florida State is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Tallahassee.

Design & Applied Arts bachelor's degree recipients from Florida State University get an earnings boost of around $14,906 over the average income of design & applied arts majors.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Florida State University

3

Ringling College of Art and Design
Sarasota, FL

124 Annual Graduates

$28,137 Median Starting Salary

$115,467 Median Student Debt

It's difficult to beat Ringling College of Art and Design if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the city of Sarasota, Ringling College is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the design program report average early career income of $28,137.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Ringling College of Art and Design

4

University of Miami
Coral Gables, FL

18 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat University of Miami if you wish to pursue a bachelor's degree in design & applied arts. Located in the suburb of Coral Gables, U Miami is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of Miami

5

The University of Tampa
Tampa, FL

37 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Tampa, UT is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from The University of Tampa

6

Seminole State College of Florida
Sanford, FL

45 Annual Graduates

$39,221 Median Starting Salary

Seminole State is a large public college located in the small city of Sanford.

Bachelor's recipients from the design & applied arts program at Seminole State College of Florida earn $4,983 more than the typical college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Seminole State College of Florida

7

University of South Florida - Main Campus
Tampa, FL

18 Annual Graduates

$38,938 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large city of Tampa, USF Tampa is a public university with a very large student population.

Those design & applied arts students who get their bachelor's degree from University of South Florida - Main Campus receive $4,700 more than the typical design student.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from University of South Florida - Main Campus

8

Flagler College - St Augustine
Saint Augustine, FL

27 Annual Graduates

$34,236 Median Starting Salary

Flagler St. Augustine is a small private not-for-profit college located in the suburb of Saint Augustine.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the design program make an average of $34,236 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Flagler College - St Augustine

9

Rasmussen University - Florida
Ocala, FL

19 Annual Graduates

$32,482 Median Starting Salary

Located in the small city of Ocala, Rasmussen University - Florida is a private for-profit university with a small student population.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the design program make around $32,482 for their early career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Rasmussen University - Florida

10

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
Tallahassee, FL

21 Annual Graduates

$23,504 Median Starting Salary

Located in the medium-sized city of Tallahassee, Florida A&M University is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

After graduation, design bachelor's recipients generally make an average of $23,504 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a bachelor’s in design & applied arts from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Georgia	224	1,028
Tennessee	220	208
North Carolina	213	529
Virginia	213	635
South Carolina	195	224
Kentucky	187	64
Alabama	184	196
Louisiana	171	50
Mississippi	169	25
Arkansas	167	216
West Virginia	147	106

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Design

One of 10 majors within the Visual & Performing Arts area of study, Design & Applied Arts has other similar majors worth exploring.

Design Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Other Design & Applied Arts	333
Graphic Design	175
Illustration	110
Interior Design	94
Visual Communications	77
Game & Interactive Media Design	23

Most Popular Majors Related to Design

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts	1,224
General Visual & Performing Arts	1,041
Film, Video & Photographic Arts	1,012
Music	852
Drama & Theater Arts	525
Arts & Media Management	427
Dance	94
Other Visual Art	10

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard). More about our data sources and methodologies.