Mapping the Future: Visual Guides to Highlight Florida’s Colleges
Taking the first steps in the college research process can be daunting for many prospective students. There are so many variables to keep in mind, such as the tuition cost, the overall cost of living in the area, and the college’s distance from one’s home! We understand this may be overwhelming, which is why we created two distinct maps that highlight Florida’s many colleges and their tuition cost!
The first map titled “A Guide to Colleges Across Florida” pinpoints the number of colleges within every city in Florida. Its goal is not just to serve as a useful tool for students/advisors but for those curious about the concentration of these higher education institutions in the Sunshine State. There are varying circle sizes that visually represent the number of colleges within that particular city. The bigger the circle, the more colleges are present in that town. The overall purpose of this map is to be a quick at-a-glance visualization that gives a viewer the gist of how different colleges are dispersed in Florida.
A major factor that impacts the college decision process for prospective students is the cost. They may have a certain range of tuition they are willing to pay — especially if they are out of state. This is why we decided to create the second map titled “Exploring Florida’s Colleges & Their Costs.” Here, a person can find each college’s in-state and out-of-state tuition cost alongside the city it’s located in and its population! There are blue circles that vary in both size and value — the bigger and darker the circle is, the more expensive that college is. The idea behind this map is to equip students with the information to help propel them forward in their research and weigh out their options based on location, cost, etc.
Both of these maps offer valuable information that can help a prospective student jumpstart their college search. They’re meant to be relatively easy to understand through the different visual components incorporated such as color, size, point location, etc. Sometimes reading articles on the various colleges can be a bit boring, but seeing the colleges on a map — rather than written out on a list — can be more useful and easier to grasp.
Florida is a hot spot for future college students and was even ranked number ten in “Best State’s Ranking” as the top state in the country for education. ClickOrlando wrote an article about the Sunshine State’s high ranking and said “Other factors in the education study involved Pre-K-12 education — something for which Florida also placed fairly high. The report looked at variables like preschool enrollment, high school graduation rates, college readiness, and test scores. According to the study, Florida held a 90.2% graduation rate for high school students, as opposed to a national graduation rate of 86.5%.”
ABC Action News Tampa Bay also reported on Florida winning for the 7th year in a row, on US News & World Report choosing Florida for №1 overall in education and №1 for higher education. Brian Lamb, Chairman of Florida’s Board of Governors, said, “Hey guys, how about that, seven years in a row,” during a Zoom meeting with fellow board members. “It’s a testament to our trajectory and the work that we’re doing. It’s working,” he said. This goes to show that Florida will continue to grow its education and will continue to attract students from all over the nation.
As these visualizations spread and reach students, educators, and curious minds alike, they signify a step forward in fostering a more accessible and transparent higher education landscape. In the information era where it is all out there, sometimes the data needs to be reorganized or consolidated in a different way that is more easily digestible for those researching which was the motivation for these maps.
