The Best Associate's in Healthcare Administration in Florida for 2026

Seminole State College of Florida's Health Services Management Associate in Science runs in classes capped at 30 students, offered both in person and online, and articulates directly into a bachelor's degree at Seminole State or at the University of Central Florida through the DirectConnect to UCF agreement. The college reports that most of its A.S. programs post job placement rates above 90%, based on state data, though that figure covers Seminole State's A.S. programs broadly rather than this program alone.

The program's Hakia Score is 82.2, ranking fourth of the 12 programs here and just ahead of a three-way tie at 82.1 for ranks five through seven, on a 41% graduation rate and 15,390 total enrollment. Tuition is $2,393 a year, identical for in-state and out-of-state students, the only Florida public college in this ranking with no residency premium; Florida Institute of Technology-Online, a private school, is the only other flat-rate program here, at $12,480. Seminole State's own tuition comparison table quotes current tuition and fees at $3,131 a year, still $2,823 less than UCF's $5,954, before counting UCF's estimated $13,412 in room and board that a commuter student at Seminole State does not pay at all. That combination, small classes, a guaranteed transfer path, and a lower bill than the state universities even before housing costs, fits a reader planning to finish a bachelor's degree without leaving the Seminole State to UCF pipeline.

Broward College's Associate in Science in Health Services Management trains students for the administrative side of health care rather than direct patient care. The program's own page lists the target work explicitly: improving efficiency in healthcare delivery, developing departmental goals, keeping a facility compliant with regulations, recruiting and supervising staff, managing patient fees and billing, and building budgets. It is designed to place graduates in hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, and doctor's offices, and the curriculum is built to feed directly into the upper-division classes of a bachelor's in Health Services Administration.

The numbers back a low-risk entry point: 39% of students graduate, in-state tuition runs $1,968 a year against $7,402 for out-of-state students, a nearly fourfold gap that rewards Florida residency. Broward enrolls 30,728 students total, giving it the scale to run a broad health-sciences curriculum. Its Hakia Score of 82.1 places it fifth among Florida's ranked associate's programs in health services administration. It fits a Florida resident who wants a low-cost on-ramp into hospital or clinic administration and plans to transfer into a four-year HSA program afterward.

Indian River State College's Associate in Science in Health Services Management is built for front-office work in a medical clinic or doctor's practice: the program page names scheduling appointments, maintaining confidential medical records, and handling billing and accounting as the day-to-day tasks graduates step into. IRSC frames the degree as a two-way door, either an entry-level job right after graduation or a launch pad into a bachelor's degree program at IRSC itself or another Florida public university. The college also points prospective students to HOSA, its student health-occupations organization.

Of the three community colleges in this set, IRSC posts the strongest completion number: a 45% graduation rate, six points above Broward and seven above St. Petersburg. In-state tuition is $2,496 a year, out-of-state runs $9,360, a gap of roughly 3.75 times. Enrollment sits at 15,429. Its Hakia Score of 82.1 ties it with Broward and St. Petersburg for this cohort, ranking sixth. IRSC suits a Florida resident who wants the online flexibility the page advertises and the best graduation track record among the three schools tied at this Hakia Score.

St. Petersburg College's Associate in Science in Health Sciences is a broader on-ramp than a dedicated health-services-management degree. It builds general workplace preparedness for the non-clinical, administrative side of health care, and graduates receive an embedded Certificate in Health Care Services on top of the AS. The college states the degree transfers directly into its bachelor's in Health Services Administration, and all six core Health Sciences courses can be taken online, which matters for students who need to work while they finish gen-eds before specializing.

SPC posts a 38% graduation rate and the lowest in-state tuition of the three programs tied at this 82.1 Hakia Score, $1,943 a year, against $7,774 out-of-state, a four-times spread. Enrollment is 23,936. Its Hakia Score of 82.1 puts it seventh in this ranking, effectively tied with Broward and IRSC. SPC fits a student who wants the lowest price tag among the three schools tied at its Hakia Score and is not yet locked into a management track, since the Health Sciences AS keeps focus areas like dental hygiene, EMS, and health information technology open before the transfer point.

Florida Institute of Technology's online Associate of Arts in Healthcare Management is a private-college alternative to Florida's public community colleges, built around the business side of running a health care organization. The program page names budgeting, resource allocation, and human resource management as the core coursework, and lists the jobs graduates target: medical records specialist, health information technologist, patient services representative, and medical office administrator. Students can also use the AA to continue into a bachelor's program.

Unlike the six Florida public colleges above, Florida Tech reports an admit rate rather than a graduation rate: 40% of applicants are admitted. Tuition is flat at $12,480 whether a student lives in Florida or not, since the program runs entirely online at $572.92 per credit hour across 64 total credit hours. Florida Tech accepts up to 45 transfer credits toward that total, so a student who transfers in the maximum pays for only 19 credits in residence, about $10,885 at the posted per-credit rate, well under the $12,480 sticker figure. Enrollment is small at 815, and the Hakia Score of 82 ranks it eighth. It fits an out-of-state student, or a Florida resident with existing transfer credit, who wants a private online program over a public in-state one and is prepared to pay roughly six times Broward's in-state tuition for it.

South Florida State College's Health Services program centers on the Associate in Science in Health Services Management, a two-year fully online degree built to train students for the business side of health care: physicians' offices, hospitals, health care agencies, insurance companies, and nursing homes. The college also offers a one-year College Career Certificate in Health Care Services that aligns directly with the AS, letting students claim a workforce-ready credential before finishing the full degree, and the AS shares general education coursework with the college's limited-access Nursing, Radiography, and Dental programs.

The program carries a 48% graduation rate and a Hakia Score of 79.5, good for rank 9 in this group. In-state tuition of $3,135 sits far below the $11,829 out-of-state rate, a gap of roughly $8,700 that makes residency the single biggest cost variable here. Enrollment across the college is 2,880 students. This program fits a Florida resident who wants a low-cost, fully online administrative track into health care and who may value the option to exit early with the one-year CCC.

Lake-Sumter State College's AS in Health Services Management is a 60-credit-hour program, completed in two years full time, offered fully online with hybrid course options. Coursework covers healthcare systems, healthcare law and ethics, patient experience, human resources, and revenue cycle management, and the program includes a 50-hour internship for hands-on experience. The college states that graduates are prepared for the PAHCOM Certified Medical Manager (CMM) and HITCM-PP exams, and the degree's credits transfer directly into LSSC's B.A.S. in Leadership, Health Services Administration.

Graduation rate is 48%, matching South Florida State College for the highest among the four programs ranked 9 through 12 here, and the Hakia Score of 79.1 puts it at rank 10. Tuition runs $3,292 in-state versus $13,276 out-of-state, a difference of just over $9,900, on an enrollment base of 5,810 students. This program fits a Florida resident who wants a clear, built-in pathway from associate's to bachelor's without transferring schools, plus applied experience through the internship before graduating.

Pensacola State College's Health Services Management program trains students for administrative, behind-the-scenes roles in health care rather than direct patient care: managing insurance, payroll, patient admissions, billing, regulatory reports, marketing, and auxiliary services in hospitals, clinics, insurance companies, pharmaceutical firms, and doctor's offices. The Associate in Science includes an embedded College Credit Certificate in Health Care Services Specialist, and the college notes students are encouraged to apply for that certificate once its requirements are satisfied, giving them a credential milestone partway through the degree.

The program's graduation rate is 36%, the lowest graduation rate among all 12 programs in this ranking, and its Hakia Score of 77.8 ranks it 11th. Tuition is the cheapest in this group at $1,884 in-state against $7,536 out-of-state, a 4x spread, on an enrollment of 9,491 students. This is the option for a cost-first student who wants the lowest sticker price for an administrative-track health care credential and is comfortable with a lower on-time completion rate than the schools ranked just above it.

Palm Beach State College's Health Sciences Career Pathway is built around the Associate in Arts, a transfer degree the college states guarantees admission to a Florida public university on completion, with specific tracks such as Community Public Health, Exercise Science & Health Promotion, and Health Sciences. The pathway page also lays out career-focused alternatives, an Associate in Science for direct workforce entry or transfer into PBSC's own bachelor's programs, plus a BSN track for licensed RNs moving into administrative and supervisory roles, along with stackable College Credit Certificates and Applied Technology Diplomas that count toward the associate's degree.

Graduation rate stands at 41% and the Hakia Score of 77.5 places the program at rank 12. In-state tuition is $3,030 against $10,890 out-of-state, a gap of about $7,860, spread across a much larger student body than the other three programs ranked 9 through 11 in this list: 25,916 total enrollment. This program fits a Florida student who wants a guaranteed transfer path into a four-year public university and has not yet committed to a specific health administration specialty.