Which Florida liberal arts and general studies program has the lowest debt?

Chipola College reports the lowest median federal debt, $5,500, with first-year pay of $20,678.

How much do liberal arts and general studies graduates earn in Florida?

The median across 32 Florida liberal arts and general studies associate's programs is $26,978 in the first year after graduating and $42,236 five years after.

Liberal Arts and General Studies (Associate's) Programs in Florida, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Q: How many liberal arts and general studies associate's programs are in Florida?

32 Florida programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 31 of them also report federal debt.

32 programs report first-year pay
31 also report federal debt
Associate's in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Florida liberal arts and general studies associate's program pays its graduates $26,978 in their first year, $162 less than the national median. Saint Leo University reports the highest first-year pay ($41,989), and Chipola College the lowest median debt ($5,500).

Median first-year pay$26,978National $27,139

Median pay after 5 years$42,236National $40,284

Median federal debt$9,000National $10,864

Debt-to-earnings33%National 38%

All 32 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Saint Leo UniversitySaint Leo · private nonprofit	$41,989	$52,343	$23,687	56%
2	University of West FloridaPensacola · public	$31,140	$46,946	$15,125	49%
3	College of the Florida KeysKey West · public	$30,933	$45,818	$7,285	24%
4	Florida State College at JacksonvilleJacksonville · public	$30,678	$44,490	$10,909	36%
5	Hillsborough CollegeTampa · public	$30,406	$45,750	$11,000	36%
6	Palm Beach State CollegeLake Worth · public	$29,805	$43,120	$8,125	27%
7	North Florida CollegeMadison · public	$29,129	$37,429	Not reported	Not reported
8	St Petersburg CollegeSt. Petersburg · public	$29,069	$45,183	$13,699	47%
9	Daytona State CollegeDaytona Beach · public	$28,917	$37,223	$9,000	31%
10	Broward CollegeFort Lauderdale · public	$28,775	$42,236	$8,000	28%
11	Keiser UniversityFort Lauderdale · private nonprofit	$28,122	$42,745	$26,620	95%
12	Gulf Coast State CollegePanama City · public	$28,078	$40,804	$6,500	23%
13	Seminole State College of FloridaSanford · public	$27,926	$44,202	$10,500	38%
14	Florida SouthWestern State CollegeFort Myers · public	$27,740	$43,907	$8,000	29%
15	Pasco-Hernando State CollegeNew Port Richey · public	$27,253	$38,927	$8,500	31%
16	Polk State CollegeWinter Haven · public	$27,184	$42,129	$8,750	32%
17	Eastern Florida State CollegeMelbourne · public	$26,771	$39,019	$9,500	35%
18	Saint Johns River State CollegePalatka · public	$26,738	$43,641	$10,168	38%
19	Pensacola State CollegePensacola · public	$26,671	$39,146	$6,660	25%
20	Miami Dade CollegeMiami · public	$25,905	$42,435	$8,500	33%
21	Santa Fe CollegeGainesville · public	$25,823	$47,831	$9,998	39%
22	State College of Florida-Manatee-SarasotaBradenton · public	$25,597	$39,270	$7,500	29%
23	Indian River State CollegeFort Pierce · public	$25,578	$39,200	$7,000	27%
24	Tallahassee State CollegeTallahassee · public	$25,467	$40,782	$8,750	34%
25	Valencia CollegeOrlando · public	$25,001	$40,698	$9,897	40%
26	Northwest Florida State CollegeNiceville · public	$24,605	$40,178	$6,750	27%
27	College of Central FloridaOcala · public	$24,017	$38,269	$11,412	48%
28	Lake-Sumter State CollegeLeesburg · public	$23,608	$38,381	$6,822	29%
29	Florida Gateway CollegeLake City · public	$21,925	$43,785	$8,500	39%
30	Chipola CollegeMarianna · public	$20,678	$38,983	$5,500	27%
31	South Florida State CollegeAvon Park · public	$20,378	Not reported	$5,908	29%
32	Southeastern UniversityLakeland · private nonprofit	$19,475	Not reported	$12,000	62%

North Florida College reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay. 4 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Florida liberal arts and general studies program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 31 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Saint Leo University$41,989
University of West Florida$31,140
College of the Florida Keys$30,933
Florida State College at Jacksonville$30,678
Hillsborough College$30,406

Lowest median debt

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Common questions

Saint Leo University in Saint Leo reports the highest median first-year pay, $41,989. Its median federal debt is $23,687.

Liberal Arts and General Studies (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked728 programs by pay and debt Liberal Arts and General Studies (Bachelor's) programs in Florida, ranked11 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Florida rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the liberal arts and general studies associate's programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024