Florida Atlantic University

Nearly 150,000 living alumni have called Florida Atlantic University home at one point or another over the school's relatively short history. Opening its doors for the first time in 1964, Florida Atlantic University or FAU continues now serves six counties in Southeast Florida with a total annual economic impact of $6.3 billion. Students here can choose from more than 180 degree programs via 10 unique colleges, including the College for Design and Social Inquiry, the Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters and the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College. The school spans five campuses, one of which is dedicated to ocean engineering, and its main campus at Boca Raton sits just three miles from the beach. Top majors include business administration, the biological sciences, psychology, and criminal justice.

Florida Atlantic University Accreditation Details

On a university level, FAU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. In 2015, the university gained accreditation for its College of Medicine from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, which is a joint committee of the Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Medical Association. Many of the school's individual programs also hold field-specific accreditation. The bachelor's degree in social work, for instance, is accredited through the Council on Social Work Education.

Florida Atlantic University Application Requirements

Admission into Florida Atlantic University is competitive since more students apply each year than there are spaces in the incoming freshman class. Undergraduate, non-international students need to submit an official application with a nonrefundable application fee of $30. The application should include official test scores, such as those from the ACT or SAT, along with any relevant transcripts of previous coursework. Minimum admission requirements include specific high school courses outlined in the school's catalog, minimum scores on standardized tests, a high school GPA of at least 2.6, and a high school diploma or GED.

Undergraduate students who want to enroll via the Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College should submit additional documentation. In addition to the standard application and acceptance into the school, the Honors College requires interested students to submit a supplemental application; a resume outlining the student's extracurricular activities, community involvement, and other work and volunteer experience; and a graded writing sample.

Graduate students also must submit an application along with relevant transcripts and a nonrefundable application fee of $30. Due to the specialized nature of graduate programs, students who want to pursue a master's, specialist or doctoral degree at FAU should check with the individual program's requirements for specific application information. In general, graduate applicants must have a bachelor's degree or equivalent from an accredited university. They also need scores from applicable standardized admissions tests, such as the GRE or GMAT.

Transfer students and international applicants should follow the respective list of guidelines outlined in the university's catalog. Students applying internationally may need to submit additional documentation for equivalency purposes.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Tuition and fees for Florida Atlantic University are broken down by enrollment type and residency status. For undergraduate residents of the state, basic tuition without fees is $105.07 per credit hour in the 2017-2018 academic year. Nonresident undergraduates pay the same basic tuition rate with an added non-resident fee of $493.86 for a total per-credit rate of $598.83. For graduate residents, the tuition rate per credit hour is $303.71. Nonresident graduate students pay the same rate with an added nonresident fee of $623.80 for a total per-credit rate of $927.51. On top of the basic tuition rate, students at FAU will pay addition fees, such as the capital improvement fee, student activity fees and a financial aid fee. Online programs charge the same basic tuition rates and fees as onsite programs, but there may be different course fees depending on program.

For students who need assistance in paying for college, FAU offers financial aid. In fact, over 65 percent of students here use financial aid of some kind to attend college. During the 2015-2016 academic year, FAU awarded over $207 million via grants, scholarships, work study opportunities and loans. Students who need assistance should check with the school's Financial Aid department for requirements and application deadlines.

Along with federal loans, grants and work-study options, students can choose from a variety of scholarships in different categories, including freshmen, transfer and international; university and academic department; athletic; community foundation; state of Florida; and Prestige scholarships. In addition, Florida Atlantic University works with military students and veterans to ensure a smooth transition. The school holds memberships with the Service Members Opportunity Colleges Consortium and the National Association of Veteran's Program Administrators. These memberships help veterans specifically when it comes to financial aid and attending school.

Online Degree(s) Available

Florida Atlantic University offers 31 programs in seven of the school's colleges that are partially or completely offered online, broken down into the following categories: one endorsement program, three certificate programs, 10 bachelor's degree programs and 17 graduate-level programs.

Most of the online degrees offered at FAU are through the College of Education, including the endorsement program in Gifted Education, the certificates in Appreciative Advisement and Teacher Leadership, and nine of the school's 17 online graduate programs. Graduate students in the College of Education can earn a master's degree either entirely or partially online in the following areas:

• Instructional technology
• Early childhood special education
• Higher education leadership
• K-12 school leaders
• Adult and community education leadership
• Curriculum and instruction with a multicultural focus
• Curriculum and instruction with a TESOL focus
• Exercise science and health promotion
• Educational psychology

Undergraduate students can pursue programs in areas such as interdisciplinary studies, business administration, criminal justice and computer science. Business administration is one of the top majors at Florida Atlantic University, and students interested in this field have several options to choose from when pursuing an online degree program. Specializations include accounting, marketing, hospitality and tourism management, and management with a concentration in leadership and applied managerial skills.

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The university also offers an online master's degree in business administration. FAU's College of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, and the online MBA was ranked among the top 50 online graduate business programs by U.S. News and World Report in 2017. The business program at Florida Atlantic University also ranks among Bloomberg Businessweek's 2015 list of the best business schools in the country.