Eleven Schools, and One That Isn't There Anymore
Florida has eleven ABA-accredited law schools serving the third-largest state in the country. Ten hold full approval; Jacksonville University College of Law was granted provisional accreditation in February 2024, the first new law school in Florida in more than twenty years.
If you are working from an older list, you may also see Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville. It closed in 2021 after the ABA repeatedly found it out of compliance with accreditation standards and the Department of Education ended its access to federal student aid. It is not an option, and any ranking that still includes it is out of date.
Every Florida Law School, By the Numbers
Ordered by median LSAT. Tuition is the resident rate where a school reports one; private schools charge a single rate.
| School | Median LSAT | Median GPA | Acceptance | Tuition | Bar pass |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UF Levin | 169 | 3.91 | 16.5% | $19,139 | 88.6% |
| Florida State | 166 | 3.93 | 16.0% | — | 87.2% |
| Miami | 164 | 3.79 | 24.7% | $66,720 | 81.3% |
| Florida International | 161 | 3.80 | 18.8% | — | 88.3% |
| Stetson | 159 | 3.63 | 36.4% | $56,521 | 77.0% |
| Jacksonville | 156 | 3.48 | 35.1% | — | — |
| Ave Maria | 155 | 3.36 | 47.0% | $49,500 | 65.9% |
| Nova Southeastern | 155 | 3.52 | 47.3% | $49,350 | 67.4% |
| Florida A&M | 152 | 3.48 | 34.7% | — | 75.4% |
| St. Thomas (FL) | 152 | 3.42 | 60.3% | $44,730 | 80.9% |
| Barry | 150 | 3.23 | 55.9% | $42,000 | 68.6% |
All figures from ABA 509 disclosures for the 2025 cycle. Jacksonville has not yet graduated enough cohorts to report a meaningful bar-passage figure.
UF Is the Best Deal in American Legal Education
UF Levin charges Florida residents about $19,139 a year. No other law school ranked in the national top 30 comes close. Against that price it delivers 88.6% first-time bar passage, 98.5% employment, and 25% of the class into Big Law — the only Florida school above 20%. Eighty-eight percent of students receive a grant, at a $19,000 median, which means a substantial share of residents attend at close to no tuition cost.
The catch is admission: a 169 LSAT median and 3.91 GPA median, with a 25th percentile LSAT of 165. There is not much room below the line.
FIU Is the State's Most Underrated Program
Florida International posts 88.3% bar passage — within a rounding error of UF and above every private school in the state — from a 161 LSAT median. That is eight points below UF and five below Florida State. Its 18.8% acceptance rate makes it the third most selective school in Florida despite the lower numeric profile.
For an applicant in the high 150s to low 160s, FIU offers outcomes that schools twenty LSAT points more selective struggle to beat. Big Law placement is modest at 10.5%, so this is a Miami-market play rather than a national one.
Sticker Price Is Not the Price
Miami lists $66,720, the highest in the state, and then discounts it with a $47,000 median grant — but only 65% of students receive anything. The spread between what a funded and unfunded Miami student pays is roughly $47,000 a year, or $141,000 across the degree.
Stetson takes the opposite approach: 94% of students get a grant, at a $25,000 median against $56,521 tuition. Nearly everyone pays a discounted rate, and the discount is smaller. Florida A&M is the hard case — only 45% receive aid, at a $7,500 median.
Bar Passage Varies More Than Rank Does
The gap between the best and worst first-time bar passage among Florida's ABA schools is 22.7 points — 88.6% at UF against 65.9% at Ave Maria. Nova Southeastern (67.4%) and Barry (68.6%) sit in the same band.
This matters more than the ranking difference between those schools and the tier above, because a JD without bar admission does not do the job it was bought for. Two schools stand out against their admissions profile: St. Thomas converts a 152 LSAT median and a 60.3% acceptance rate into 80.9% bar passage, the best outcome-per-input in the state, and Florida A&M reaches 75.4% from the same 152 median.
Choosing by Market
Where you study in Florida maps closely onto where you practice. Miami-Dade hiring runs through Miami, FIU, St. Thomas, and Nova Southeastern. Tallahassee government and appellate work runs through Florida State and Florida A&M. Tampa Bay litigation runs through Stetson, which has built a national trial-advocacy reputation. Orlando is served by Barry and Florida A&M, and Jacksonville now has Jacksonville University.
UF is the only Florida school that travels reliably outside the state.
