Environmental Science and Studies

Measuring, understanding and regulating the natural environment — water, air, soil, habitat and the rules that govern them. ⚠⚠⚠ Two adjacent degrees hide inside this family and they lead to different jobs: Environmental SCIENCE is the laboratory and field science, Environmental STUDIES is policy, law and communication. Florida's largest producer is UCF, and UCF's programme is the studies one.

The degrees this program covers

⚠⚠⚠ CHECK WHICH OF THE TWO YOU ARE APPLYING TO. Environmental Science (03.0104) produces 456 credentials at 14 Florida public institutions — USF 149, Florida State 96, UF 48, UWF 35, plus certificate programmes at Broward and FAU. Environmental Studies (03.0103) produces 225 at five — UCF 108, FGCU 59, FIU 37, New College 14, FAMU 7. ⚠⚠ The science degree carries the chemistry, biology, statistics and field-methods load a consultancy, laboratory or monitoring programme hires on; the studies degree carries the policy, regulation and communication load an agency, non-profit or planning office hires on. Both are legitimate; they are not interchangeable, and employers screen on the coursework rather than the title. ⚠ Two smaller codes fill out the family: Natural Resources and Conservation General (03.0101) is Florida State's 41 bachelor's, and Natural Resources Other (03.0199) is a Broward College bachelor's, 23. ⚠⚠⚠ AND THE FAMILY IS WIDER THAN THIS PROGRAMME CAN SHOW. Forestry (03.05, UF, 130 credentials), Wildlife and Wildlands (03.06, UF and the College of the Florida Keys, 113), Fishery Sciences (03.03, UF, 40) and Natural Resources Management (03.02, FGCU, St Petersburg and Florida Gateway, 69) sit in adjacent codes the site's tree does not yet carry. They are concentrated at UF, and a student whose interest is wildlife, fisheries or forestry rather than pollution and compliance should look there directly. ⚠ There is no licence to practise environmental science in Florida and no programme accreditor, so nothing external validates the preparation — which makes the course list matter more here, not less.

Careers this program leads to

Each one sets out the courses along the way, the licence or certification at the end, and the sources behind it.

Environmental Scientist and Specialist

Measuring and protecting water, air, soil and habitat, and making the case in front of a regulator. ⚠⚠⚠ Two things a Florida student should know before choosing the major. FIRST, environmental SCIENCE and environmental STUDIES are different degrees leading to different jobs, and the state's largest producer teaches the studies one. SECOND, Florida pays this occupation $21,390 below the national median — a far wider gap than architecture's $3,040 or interior design's $6,330 — so choosing the employer matters more here than almost anywhere else.

Marine Biologist and Wildlife Biologist

⚠⚠⚠ The numbers first, because nobody puts them in front of Florida students: 19,500 zoologists and wildlife biologists nationally, about 1,400 openings a year across all fifty states, and a FLORIDA median of $52,750 against $76,780 nationally — the widest gap this site has measured. ⚠⚠ Florida awards 98 marine biology bachelor's a year at three institutions, and roughly 5,000 biology bachelor's, many of whom want the same jobs. This page is about what to do with that, not about talking you out of it.

Careers that name this program, but not as a route

Biologist and Biological Technician

⚠ The ecology and field destination. PCB3043 and BSC3052 are the shared courses and Florida's restoration and water-quality programmes are permanent — but the Florida wages there are $21,390 below national at the median.

Chemist and Chemical Technician

⚠⚠ Where a large share of Florida's bachelor's-level chemistry work actually is — environmental and water-quality laboratories, which run on analytical chemistry. ⚠ Worth knowing that those laboratories pay on the environmental scale, which is $21,390 below national at the median in Florida.

Farmer, Rancher and Agricultural Manager

⚠ The land-stewardship neighbour, and where UF's forestry, wildlife and natural-resource programmes sit.

Urban and Regional Planner

⚠ A feeder for resilience, conservation and coastal planning, which Florida comprehensive plans require.

Programs similar to this one

Neighbouring fields that share much of the same coursework, and often the same employers. ⚠ Read these before you commit to a major — which doors a neighbouring degree keeps open is the part no catalog tells you, and it is far cheaper to change now than later.

Environmental Engineering 7 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The neighbour with the licence and the higher ceiling. An environmental ENGINEER can sit the FE and become a PE and seal designs; an environmental scientist cannot, whatever their experience. ⚠ Engineering is 7 Florida institutions against this family's 16, the mathematics load is far heavier, and the wage gap is large — so it is a genuinely different decision rather than a harder version of the same one.

Biology and Biomedical Sciences 15 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The overlap is a course sequence rather than a resemblance: PCB3043 General Ecology and its laboratory, PCB4674 Evolution and BSC3052 Conservation Biology are shared, and ecology is where the two fields are the same subject. ⚠ Biology is the better route if the target is wildlife, fisheries or habitat work rather than pollution and compliance — but it is also far more crowded, at about 5,000 Florida bachelor's a year against this family's 745.

Public Health 14 Florida schools

⚠⚠ A genuine and underadvertised destination. Environmental health — water quality, air quality, vector control, hazardous materials — is a named public health specialism, county health departments employ it, and the SOC title for this occupation is literally 'Environmental Scientists and Specialists, INCLUDING HEALTH'.

Civil Engineering 9 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the Florida-specific reason: stormwater, coastal resilience and water resources are civil engineering work that environmental scientists are staffed onto constantly, and the water management districts employ both. ⚠⚠ Knowing which side of that line you are on decides who signs the report.

Data Science and Analytics 13 Florida schools

⚠ Named for the skill that most changes an environmental graduate's employability: monitoring programmes generate large time-series and spatial datasets, and GIS2040 plus STA2023 are the two courses this field and that one actually share. ⚠⚠ Environmental data work pays closer to the computing market than to the environmental one.

Marine Biology and Ecology 5 Florida schools

⚠⚠ The paid version of a similar interest, and worth weighing seriously: 745 credentials at 16 Florida institutions against 98 at three, and a Florida median $8,000 higher. ⚠ Water quality, estuaries, seagrass and coastal resilience are the same coastline from the regulatory side.

Chemistry and Biochemistry 10 Florida schools

⚠ The largest employer of bachelor's-level chemistry in Florida, and it is not obvious from either department. Environmental and clinical laboratories run on analytical chemistry — CHM3120 and CHM4130 are the courses that get someone hired — and Florida's water-quality programmes are permanent work.

Agricultural Business and Food and Resource Economics 5 Florida schools

⚠ The land-stewardship neighbour. Soil, water and natural-resource management are daily farm decisions in Florida, and the forestry and wildlife programmes at UF sit in the same family.

Urban and Regional Planning 5 Florida schools

⚠ Florida comprehensive plans carry conservation and coastal management elements, and resilience planning is now routine, so environmental science graduates move into planning master's programmes.

Florida public institutions offering this program

19 institutions awarded a credential in this field in 2023, at these levels: Associate, Bachelor's, Certificate (1-2 years), Certificate (12 weeks-1 year), Doctorate (research/scholarship), Master's, Postbaccalaureate certificate. A school appears here if it awards anything in the field, however limited its offering — a technical college teaching only practical nursing has a nursing program. Listed alphabetically, not ranked.

Broward College

Associate · Bachelor's · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Daytona State College

Associate

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

Bachelor's · Doctorate (research/scholarship) · Master's

Florida Atlantic University

Certificate (12 weeks-1 year) · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

Florida Gateway College

Associate · Certificate (1-2 years) · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida Gulf Coast University

Bachelor's · Master's

Florida International University

Bachelor's · Master's · Postbaccalaureate certificate

Florida State College at Jacksonville

Associate · Certificate (1-2 years) · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Florida State University

Bachelor's

Hillsborough Community College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Miami Dade College

Associate

New College of Florida

Bachelor's

Palm Beach State College

Associate · Certificate (1-2 years) · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

St Petersburg College

Associate · Certificate (12 weeks-1 year)

Tallahassee Community College

Associate

University of Central Florida

Bachelor's

University of Florida

Bachelor's

University of South Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

University of West Florida

Bachelor's · Master's

Source: federal IPEDS completions data for 2023, first majors only — the most recent year published. ⚠ It records what was awarded, which is strong evidence of what is offered, but a program launched since 2023 will not appear here. Check the institution’s own catalog before applying.

Updated 23 September 2026. ⚠ Program pages describe a field of study, not one school’s degree — always read the catalog of the institution you are applying to.