Business Administration and Management

Business administration is the general management degree — accounting, economics, finance, marketing, operations, organisational behaviour and law, taken broadly rather than as a specialism, usually with a concentration chosen in the final two years. It is by a wide margin the most awarded programme in Florida, and it is how the state teaches most of the business careers on this site, including human resources.

The degrees this program covers

⚠⚠ This is the largest programme on this site by any measure: 46 Florida public institutions and roughly 19,500 credentials in the 2023 federal award year, at every level from a short certificate through the A.A. and A.S. to bachelor's and master's degrees. Valencia alone awards 2,799, Miami Dade 2,408, Broward 1,592, UF 1,590. ⚠ The breadth is the point and the caution: a business administration degree is the most available and most flexible credential in the state, and it is also the least differentiating. What distinguishes graduates is the CONCENTRATION, the internships and the quantitative courses taken inside it. ⚠⚠⚠ It is also where Florida teaches human resources. Only one public institution in the state awards a degree under the human resources CIP code, so for practically everybody, HR is a concentration inside this programme rather than a degree of its own — which is worth knowing before searching fruitlessly for an HR major.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Commercial and Airline Pilot

⚠⚠ The commercial certificate (250 hours) lets you be paid to fly, but airlines need 1,500, and nearly everyone fills the gap by working as a flight instructor or charter pilot. ⚠⚠⚠ The cost is flight time, not tuition: one Florida college publishes $64,579.80 in flight fees against $4,838.28 in tuition. A qualifying aviation degree cuts the airline minimum to 1,250 or 1,000 hours. Median pay: $123,220 for commercial pilots, $232,140 for airline pilots.

Construction Manager

Construction managers plan, price, schedule and deliver building projects — coordinating trades, controlling cost, enforcing code and safety, and answering for the programme. ⚠ A median of $114,990 with 9% growth, on a route with no licence gate at entry — compare architecture at $99,280 after an accredited degree, 3,740 supervised hours and a six-division exam. ⚠⚠⚠ And the finding that matters most in Florida: a construction degree is worth THREE YEARS of site experience toward a contractor licence under s. 489.111. This page covers three related roles, and two routes that look alike and end in different places.

Farmer, Rancher and Agricultural Manager

⚠⚠⚠ 67% of this occupation is self-employed, and BLS puts the entry-level education at a HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA plus five or more years of experience. For most farmers the entry requirement is land and capital, not a qualification. ⚠⚠ The degree leads to the other third: the hired farm, ranch, grove, nursery and greenhouse managers, who are the only people the $89,900 median describes — and who in Florida earn $141,370 at the 75th percentile. This page explains what the degree is actually for.

Health Care Administrator

Running the non-clinical half of health care — budgets, staffing, quality, compliance, revenue, regulators. $123,860 median, 616,200 employed, 62,100 openings a year, growing much faster than average. ⚠⚠ There is no required major: Census microdata puts HEALTH first at 169,319 people, BUSINESS second at 75,396 and PSYCHOLOGY third at 47,154. ⚠⚠⚠ But Florida statute puts a price on the choice — on the nursing home side, a health administration major halves the required training programme from 2,000 hours to 1,000.

Hospitality, Restaurant and Event Manager

⚠⚠⚠ Lodging managers earn $69,250 and food service managers $69,390 — $140 apart — but 72% of employers want a bachelor's for the first and 30% will take a high school diploma for the second. ⚠⚠ And food service management is SEVEN TIMES the occupation: 352,800 jobs against 52,000, with 42,000 annual openings against 5,400. In the industry Florida is built on, the degree buys you the smaller half at the same money.

Human Resources Specialist

Human resources specialists recruit and hire, administer pay and benefits, interpret employment law and policy, and handle the disputes and complaints that come with employing people. ⚠ A median of $75,940 across 939,700 jobs, all of it growing. ⚠⚠ It is the most open CHOICE path on this site: business supplies only about a quarter of HR workers, PSYCHOLOGY is the second largest feeder, and 16% have no degree beyond some college. ⚠⚠⚠ And the money is in progression, not credentials — the step to HR manager is worth $73,340 and asks for experience, not another degree.

Instructional Designer

⚠⚠⚠ One job title, two federal occupations pulling in opposite directions. Instructional coordinator: $77,440, 60% master's, growing 1–2%. Training and development specialist: $69,280, 78% bachelor's, twice the jobs, twice the openings, growing much faster than average. ⚠⚠ And you cannot major in it — Florida's public institutions awarded 978 credentials in this field and SIX were bachelor's degrees.

Marketing Manager and Sales Professional

⚠⚠⚠ $166,790, among the highest medians of any bachelor's-entry occupation on this site — beside computer and information systems management at $175,140 and computer hardware engineering at $161,740 — and 80% of employers report a bachelor's rather than a master's. ⚠⚠ The way in is the other half of this page: market research and marketing specialist roles number 941,700 with 87,200 openings a year, and sales representatives 1,571,400 with 123,400.

Paralegal

Paralegals do the substantive legal work that does not require a licence — drafting pleadings and contracts, investigating facts, searching records, managing discovery and keeping cases organised. ⚠ A median of $62,890 on an associate degree, at 32 Florida institutions. ⚠⚠⚠ Read the outlook honestly: this is the only path on this site where the federal handbook names ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE as a reason demand will be limited, and it projects 0% growth. That does not make it a bad career, but it changes how you should enter it.

Real Estate Agent, Broker and Analyst

⚠⚠⚠ The licence to sell property in Florida is 63 classroom hours — about a week and a half — and employers report 52% accepting a high school diploma and 22% less than that. ⚠⚠ Meanwhile Florida's universities award 408 real estate credentials a year, 138 of them MASTER'S. Those two facts describe different jobs that share a word, and choosing between them is what this page is for.

School Teacher (K–12)

School teachers plan and deliver the curriculum, assess what has been learned, manage a classroom and account for every child's progress. ⚠ This page covers elementary, middle, secondary and special education together, because in Florida they share one certification system and differ mainly by which subject examination you sit. ⚠⚠⚠ And it leads with the finding a Florida student most needs: the state ranks around 19th nationally for STARTING pay and 50th for AVERAGE pay. The salary that recruits you is competitive; the one you reach after fifteen years is not.

Small Business Owner and Entrepreneur

⚠⚠⚠ Half of new US businesses are gone in five years and two-thirds in ten — BLS tracks it, and the rate barely moves between cohorts: 79.6% survive year one, 50.2% survive five, 34.7% survive ten. ⚠⚠ Every entrepreneurship page should open with that and almost none does. ⚠ Florida's own answer is a cheap certificate rather than a degree: 86% of the 2,102 credentials in this field are certificates of under a year.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Cosmetologist, Barber, Nail and Skin Care Specialist

⚠ For the salon owner or manager.

Fitness Professional and Exercise Physiologist

⚠ Named because the top of this occupation's wage table is management and self-employment, and because the larger degree in this family is already a business degree.

Journalist, PR Specialist and Communicator

⚠ Corporate communication, internal communication and investor relations are business functions, and a communication degree with business coursework reaches them. ⚠⚠ The portable option if media contraction continues.

Systems Analyst and IT Manager

⚠ The parent field: an MIS degree is a business degree with a technology concentration, and general business with information systems coursework reaches many of the same jobs from more institutions.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Accounting 50 Florida schools

⚠ The specialised alternative, and the most common decision a Florida business student faces. Accounting is narrower, harder to walk away from, and has a licence worth having; business administration is broader and more available. ⚠⚠ They share most of a first two years, so the choice can be deferred — but the CPA's 150-hour rule means an accounting student should decide by the end of the first year.

Finance 14 Florida schools

⚠ The quantitative specialisation, taught at only 12 Florida public institutions and almost entirely at universities — against 46 here. ⚠⚠ If the analytical side of business is the draw, finance is the sharper credential; if you are not sure yet, business administration keeps finance open as a concentration at far more colleges.

Logistics and Supply Chain Management 23 Florida schools

⚠ A specialisation that has separated out into its own degree, and one of the few business concentrations where the specialist credential clearly beats the general one. Worth reading before settling for a general management degree if operations and supply chain are what interest you.

Marketing 21 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The parent field and the commonest substitute — Census microdata puts BUSINESS first among the undergraduate fields held by marketing managers, at 175,070 people. ⚠ A general business degree with marketing coursework competes perfectly well for the same jobs, and is taught at more Florida institutions.

Entrepreneurship and Small Business 30 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The degree route, if a degree is what you want. General business is far more widely taught and far more portable — an entrepreneurship bachelor's is rare in Florida (144 a year) and signals less to an employer than a business degree does if the venture does not work out. ⚠ Take the entrepreneurship certificate alongside it rather than instead of it.

Agricultural Business and Food and Resource Economics 5 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The broader and far more portable version of the same training. BLS lists business alongside agriculture as a degree field for farm managers, and 45 Florida institutions award business against a handful awarding agribusiness. ⚠ The agribusiness degree adds commodity markets, agricultural finance and farm law, which a general business degree will not teach.

Teacher Education 37 Florida schools

⚠ Named because Florida's alternative certification route accepts ANY bachelor's degree plus a subject-area examination, so a business degree can lead to a classroom. ⚠⚠ What it does not give you is the supervised internship or the reading, ESOL and exceptional-student-education preparation Florida requires, which you would then complete while already teaching on a temporary certificate.

Hospitality and Tourism Management 23 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The substitute a great many hospitality managers actually hold, and a more portable one. A business degree with operations and finance coursework competes for the same corporate posts and is taught at far more Florida institutions. ⚠ Hospitality-specific study wins on industry knowledge and internship networks; business wins if you might leave the industry.

Instructional Design and Educational Technology 10 Florida schools

⚠⚠⚠ Named because the LARGER employer is corporate, not educational. Training and development specialists number 452,300 nationally against 232,600 instructional coordinators, grow much faster, and 78% of employers report a bachelor's rather than a master's as the entry requirement. ⚠ A business or communication background plus a portfolio competes perfectly well there.

Cosmetology, Barbering, Nails and Skin Care 44 Florida schools

⚠ For the salon owner or manager. Most of the trade is self-employed, and the step from working a chair to running a shop is a business step.

Real Estate 8 Florida schools

⚠ The substitute most people in this industry actually hold. Real estate as a named degree exists at 8 Florida institutions; general business is far more widely taught and reaches the same commercial roles with a real estate concentration or the REE courses taken as electives.

Health Care Administration 24 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The second-largest feeder by a long way: 75,396 medical and health services managers hold a BUSINESS undergraduate degree against 169,319 in health fields. ⚠ It is a genuine route, and in health plans, finance and revenue-cycle roles it is arguably the stronger one — but note s. 468.1695: on the nursing home side a non-health major doubles the required training programme from 1,000 hours to 2,000.

Construction Management 30 Florida schools

⚠ A genuine alternative route, because the federal handbook names business as an acceptable degree field for construction managers. ⚠⚠ But it does NOT satisfy Florida's contractor-licence education pathway, which names engineering, architecture and building construction specifically — so a business degree leaves you on the four-year experience route to a licence.

Management Information Systems 13 Florida schools

⚠ The parent field. An MIS degree is a business degree with a technology concentration, and the general business route with information systems coursework reaches many of the same jobs from more institutions.

Journalism, Public Relations and Communication 14 Florida schools

⚠ Named because corporate communication, internal communication and investor relations are business functions, and a communication degree with business coursework reaches them. ⚠⚠ It is also the portable option if the media industry's contraction continues.

Kinesiology, Exercise Science and Sport Management 16 Florida schools

⚠ Named because the management half of this family IS business, and because the earners at the top of the fitness wage table are running facilities or their own practice. ⚠⚠ 45 Florida institutions award business against six awarding exercise science.

Florida public institutions offering this program

45 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (<12 weeks), Certificate (1-2 years), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year), Doctorate (research/scholarship), Master's, Postbaccalaureate certificate. A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Atlantic Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Broward College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Chipola College

Associate · Bachelor's

College of Central Florida

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Daytona State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Eastern Florida State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida Atlantic University

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's

Florida Gateway College

Associate

Florida Gulf Coast University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida International University

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

Florida SouthWestern State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida State University

Bachelor's · Master's

Gulf Coast State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Hillsborough Community College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Indian River State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Lake-Sumter State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Lorenzo Walker Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Manatee Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Marion Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Miami Dade College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (1-2 years) · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

North Florida College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Northwest Florida State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Palm Beach State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Pasco-Hernando State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Pensacola State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Polk State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Saint Johns River State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Santa Fe College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Seminole State College of Florida

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Sheridan Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

South Florida State College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (1-2 years)

St Petersburg College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

State College of Florida-Manatee-Sarasota

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Suncoast Technical College

Certificate (1-2 years)

Tallahassee Community College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

The College of the Florida Keys

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

University of Central Florida

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

University of Florida

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

University of Florida-Online

Bachelor's

University of North Florida

Bachelor's · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

University of South Florida

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's

University of West Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

Valencia College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (<12 weeks) · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 21 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.