There are many benefits to going to a university near home. There's the lack of rent payments, the proximity of parents in case anything goes wrong, and the fact that you'll be near your friends who have gone on to play with tubing cutters in machine shops instead of going to college. Therefore if you're already living in or you're going to be moving to Miami, Florida (or anywhere in Florida for that matter) it's worth putting Miami Dade College on your list of local colleges and universities to apply to.
Miami Dade College may sound like a small institute of local learning, and it was when it was first founded in 1959, but in the intervening years it's actually become one of the largest college systems in the entire country. With eight campuses and twenty outreach centers spread across the state, there are over 160,000 students, some who speak English as a second language, others who are native speakers, enrolled at Miami Dade College at any one time. This is nearly equivalent to the population of the entire city of Tallahassee. However, despite these large numbers Miami Dade College prides itself on having small class sizes where students can get to know one another and their professors.
There are over 150 academic programs to choose from at Miami Dade College ranging from associate degree programs that can help you go on to baccalaureate programs at other universities to full undergraduate degrees to career programs that can help you become a commercial mortgage broker or health technician. Some of the areas of the study you can choose from include: accounting, speech pathology, forestry, architecture, criminal justice, and communications. The program you choose will affect which campus you will study at.
For instance, if you want to do firefighter training you will be at North Campus in Miami, whereas if you chose to study aviation you would be at the Homestead Campus in Homestead Florida. In addition to strapping machine operating and academic programs there's also a sports program. The Miami Dade Sharks are competitive in basketball, baseball, volleyball, and softball.
The best part about Miami Dade College for most students, however, will be the comparative lack of gold bullion bars they'll require when it comes to tuition. Programs at Miami Dade College cost between $930 and $1,260 per term. When you compare that to university programs where you're paying up to $12,000 per term, choosing Miami Dade can make a huge difference in your debt situation after graduation.
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