University of South Florida: A Tampa-Based Research University

The University of South Florida is one of Tampa’s major public institutions, with its main campus located in the city and another campus in St. Petersburg. The university is part of the 12-campus State University System of Florida and serves as a large academic and research center with connections across the state and beyond.

Founded in 1956, USF has grown into a university organized across 14 colleges. Those colleges offer more than 245 programs at the undergraduate, graduate, specialist and doctoral levels. The institution is classified as an R1 doctoral university, a designation associated with very high research activity. It is also accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

USF belongs to the Association of American Universities, a group that includes major research institutions, and the Florida Board of Governors has designated it one of the state’s three Preeminent State Research Universities. Together, those distinctions place the Tampa-based university among Florida’s most research-focused public campuses.

The university’s reach extends well beyond Hillsborough County. USF reported 49,876 students during the 2022–2023 academic year. Those students came from more than 145 countries, all 50 states, the five U.S. territories and the District of Columbia. That broad enrollment gives the Tampa campus an international and national dimension while it remains rooted in the local community.

USF has also operated across multiple Florida locations. In addition to the Tampa and St. Petersburg campuses, the university previously owned a campus in Sarasota. A Florida budget agreement transferred ownership of that Sarasota campus from USF to New College of Florida on July 1, 2026, changing the institution’s campus footprint.

The university reported a $2.31 billion annual budget in 2022. The source material also identifies an annual economic impact but does not provide the figure. USF’s size, research classification, student population and public-university role make it a significant Tampa institution for understanding higher education, regional research and civic life.

For local coverage, USF can serve as a starting point for examining how a large public university functions within Tampa and how decisions affecting its campuses may shape the institution’s presence across the region. The available information does not provide details about specific student groups, campus policies or LGBTQ-related programs.

Source and reuse information This automatically generated backgrounder adapts text from “University of South Florida” on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_South_Florida The adapted text is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-SA 4.0): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/. The source article’s linked references are provided below where available. This story has not been independently reviewed or fact-checked.

Further links listed by the Wikipedia page (not independently checked): - https://web.archive.org/web/20080903100916/http://usfweb2.usf.edu/History/presidents.html - https://web.archive.org/web/20130905221850/http://flbog.edu/aboutsus/universities/poly.php - https://web.archive.org/web/20070715052001/http://www.sarasota.usf.edu/studentservices/documents/newcampus.htm - https://web.archive.org/web/20130730144636/http://raymondjamesstadium.com/about-the-stadium/ - https://www.usf.edu/academics/colleges.aspx - https://web.archive.org/web/20070701234854/http://www.sarasota.usf.edu/ir/QuickFacts/QuickFacts.htm Image rights Photograph description: USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Creator: Chiefmiz. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). Original image page: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AUSF_Health_Morsani_College_of_Medicine.jpg. The image was resized for display; no other changes were made.