Jacksonville University was my first stop on a sweep of small private colleges in Florida. Located in the city of Jacksonville, in the northern part of Florida, Jacksonville University has 4000 students, 2400 of whom are undergraduates. 55% of them are from Florida. While a variety of majors are are offered across 4 undergraduate schools, JU is known for nursing, aviation, and health sciences. They strongly believe in the confluence between healthcare, business, and technology. They showed us virtual reality software in the nursing school that allowed students to look at various organ systems from the inside out, which was very cool! They offer Division 1 sports, and athletic scholarships can be stacked on top of merit, which starts at $14K and goes as high as $36K per year.

While I was impressed with the campus and the students, I was most impressed with the president of the university, Tim Cost, who spoke to our group. He's an alumnus of Jacksonville, and returned as president after a successful career as an executive with several Fortune 500 companies. His energy, drive and ambition for the institution are infectious. He firmly believes in including students in every decision he makes. He gives all students his cellphone number during orientation week and the can and do text him to talk about anything they'd like. For example, he renovated the former president's house and turned it into a multi-function space for the student body. He said, "I have a house already. The students needed a space where they can meet." So he met with student representatives and planned the space according to the needs that they articulated. He said that Jacksonville had been the largest city in the country without a law school, so they built one. They are now the largest city in the country without a school of medicine, so they are building one. He is also, personally, a very generous donor to the university. This tells you a little bit about the leader of this institution, and why I'll feel good about putting it on more students' lists.