Interior Design

Designing the inside of buildings — space planning, materials, lighting, furniture, finishes and the codes that govern all of it. ⚠⚠⚠ The fact that decides which programme you need: in Florida, ALL RESIDENTIAL interior design work is exempt from registration by statute. Registration exists for NONRESIDENTIAL work, and it runs through a national exam with a 60-credit education floor.

The degrees this program covers

⚠⚠⚠ THE LEVEL OF THE CREDENTIAL IS WORTH A YEAR OF YOUR LIFE, AND ALMOST NOBODY SAYS SO. To sit the NCIDQ exam — the gate to Florida registration — a bachelor's or master's in interior design needs 3,520 supervised work hours (two years full time). ⚠⚠ An ASSOCIATE DEGREE, CERTIFICATE OR DIPLOMA needs 5,280 (THREE years), for the same exam. ⚠ And Florida's output is overwhelmingly the second kind: of 341 credentials in Interior Design (50.0408), only 94 are bachelor's and 9 master's — 132 are short certificates and 97 associate degrees. ⚠⚠⚠ SO ROUGHLY SEVEN IN TEN FLORIDA INTERIOR DESIGN CREDENTIALS PUT THE HOLDER ON THE THREE-YEAR ROUTE. ⚠ FOUR PUBLIC PROGRAMMES ARE CIDA-ACCREDITED: University of Florida (Bachelor of Design, accredited since 1974), Florida State (B.S.), Seminole State College (B.A.S. — the only CIDA-accredited STATE COLLEGE in Florida), and Florida International (Master of Interior Architecture). ⚠⚠ CIDA accreditation does NOT shorten the work requirement — a non-CIDA bachelor's also sits at 3,520 hours. What it does is SATISFY the 60-credit interior design requirement automatically, so you never have to document it course by course. ⚠⚠⚠ AND THE DATA HIDES ONE OF THE FOUR: FIU awards NOTHING under 50.0408, because its CIDA-accredited Master of Interior Architecture is filed in the ARCHITECTURE family (04.09) instead. A school list built from the interior design code alone would omit it. ⚠ An NAAB architecture degree is also an NCIDQ route, at 5,280 hours.

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.

Interior Designer

Interior designers plan the inside of buildings — space, light, materials, furniture and the codes that govern all of it. ⚠⚠⚠ The decision this page exists to answer is not which major but WHICH MARKET: in Florida ALL RESIDENTIAL work is exempt from registration by statute, while nonresidential work runs through a 60-credit education floor, up to 5,280 supervised hours and a national exam. ⚠⚠ And the credential LEVEL is worth a year — an associate or certificate needs three years of work experience where a bachelor's needs two, for the identical exam.

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.

Architecture and Landscape Architecture 15 Florida schools

⚠⚠⚠ Two hard connections, not a resemblance. Florida regulates both in the SAME statute — chapter 481 Part I, one Board of Architecture and Interior Design — and s. 481.229(5)(a) lets a registered ARCHITECT perform interior design and use the title without separate registration. ⚠ An NAAB-accredited architecture degree is also an NCIDQ education route, at 5,280 work hours against an interior design degree's 3,520.

Construction Management 30 Florida schools

⚠⚠ Named because a registered interior designer's seal STOPS at a line the construction team has to cross: s. 481.2131 excludes structural, mechanical, plumbing, HVAC, electrical and vertical-transport systems, and every life-safety element. ⚠ Knowing who signs for what is most of coordinating a fit-out, and construction management is 30 Florida institutions against interior design's 9.

Graphic and Digital Design 41 Florida schools

⚠ The neighbour students most often confuse this with, and the federal projections differ sharply: BLS names AI as expected to REDUCE the need for graphic designers (−2%) and makes NO AI claim at all about interior designers (+3%). ⚠⚠ A drawing can be generated; a code-compliant occupied room cannot.

Drafting and Design Technology 25 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the practical reason: BLS says most interior designers use CAD for most of their drawings, and Revit and AutoCAD are what a Florida interior design office actually runs. ⚠⚠ Drafting is also the commonest way to earn NCIDQ work hours while finishing the credential — but check that the hours are supervised and recorded as interior design work.

Florida public institutions offering this program

11 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (1-2 years), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year), 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.

Daytona State College

Associate · Certificate (1-2 years)

Florida International University

Postbaccalaureate certificate

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida State University

Bachelor's · Master's

Hillsborough Community College

Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Indian River State College

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

Miami Dade College

Associate

Palm Beach State College

Associate

Pinellas Technical College-Clearwater

Certificate (1-2 years)

Seminole State College of Florida

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

University of Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

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 22 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.