With about 70,000 students, 13 colleges and over 230 degree programs, the University of Central Florida is one of the largest universities in the U.S. Appropriately enough, given its name, UCF spreads across the middle of Florida, with a base in Orlando and several regional campuses, including ones in South Lake, Ocala and Sanford/Lake Mary.

Greek life is popular on campus, with roughly 30 sororities and fraternities, and there are more than 650 student clubs and organizations. The school's Knights compete in the NCAA Division I American Athletic Conference (though they’re on track to join the Big 12 this summer). Students come from every state and 148 countries; they also visit many countries with study abroad options in locales like Ecuador, Switzerland, Azerbaijan and Germany.

UCF is considered a leader in a wide range of fields such as optics, modeling and simulation, engineering, computer science, education, biomedical sciences, hospitality management and digital media. Its main campus in sunny Orlando feels like a city, complete with a Barnes & Noble, Jimmy John's, Chick-fil-A and Qdoba.

According to Money’s calculations, the estimated net price of a UCF degree — before taking into consideration federal and state aid — is just over $106,000, significantly less than the average among schools in our 2023-2024 ratings. UCF boasts an impressive six-year graduation rate of 74% to boot.