UCF, Valencia College and the City of Orlando appreciate the support of the Florida Legislature, which has earmarked $15 million toward the downtown Orlando campus project in the state budget.
We thank Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli for their leadership and confidence in our plans to provide more students with access to a first-class education, prepare our workforce of tomorrow and invest in the future of downtown Orlando and the Parramore community.
This funding provides us with a great start toward UCF Downtown. The campus ultimately will bring upwards of 13,000 students to learn, live and work in downtown Orlando, building upon UCF’s existing Center for Emerging Media already located there. Projects such as these are often funded over multiple years, and we expect that to happen here. In addition to state funding, UCF is exploring other funding sources, including philanthropy.
Academic programs slated to relocate downtown are in visual arts and design, digital and emerging media, communications, health and public affairs. The campus is expected to open in Fall 2017.
Project updates and media coverage will be posted to the UCF Downtown website.