Colleges in Alabama

Alabama provides a variety of different private and public institutions. University of Alabama is arguably the largest public university, but there are also smaller colleges such as Huntingdon College. The selection makes it easy to find a school that matches interests and degree programs. While there are over a hundred schools in Alabama, the following are some of the best in the state whether you're looking for a big public university or a private Christian institution.

University of Alabama - Huntsville

With an enrollment of 7,681 students, this public university has a variety of popular programs in business, engineering, nursing and research.

Founded in 1950, the Huntsville campus also partners with NASA, Pratt & Whitney, U.S. Arm and other important companies to provide better programs for their students. The school has been ranked high in the nation by U.S. News and World Report as well as the Carnegie Foundation, which found that it had very high marks for research.

Huntsville offers 71 degree programs in all with 33 bachelor's degree programs, 23 Master's degree programs and 15 PhD programs. The schools for the degrees include engineering, business, liberal arts, nursing and science.

University of Alabama

University of Alabama is one of the oldest schools in the U.S. Founded in 1831, the main campus of UA is located in Tuscaloosa. Widely known for its strong athletic program that includes NCAA Division 1 football, UA is a top public university with a strong liberal arts and sciences program.

It's also a larger campus with nearly 29,000 students. The school has 13 academic divisions including arts and sciences, commerce, business administration, communication and information sciences, community health sciences, continuing studies, education, engineering, human environmental sciences, nursing, law and social work.

Auburn University

Auburn is another historic college in Alabama. With over 150 degree programs and hundreds of student organizations, Auburn University was founded in 1856 and is one of the top choices for students in Alabama.

Auburn is ranked highly by almost all academic ranking institution. U.S. News and World Report ranked the public school as the 82nd university in the nation among both public and private colleges as well as 37th among public universities. In addition, the school has Division 1 athletic programs. Each of Auburn's schools also has an above average rating which includes business, education, engineering, veterinary medicine, pharmacy, public affairs, audiology, psychology, public affairs, computer science, English and biology.

Birmingham Southern College

With an enrollment of just 1,549, Birmingham Southern College is one of the smaller yet strong liberal arts and sciences schools in the state. Known for being a private Methodist liberal arts college, Birmingham Southern College offers good financial aid programs and a great repertoire between faculty and students.

Huntingdon College

Located in Montgomery, Huntingdon is a historic private Methodist college with only about 1,075 undergraduates. It's faculty to student ratio is 15 to 1, and the average class size is about 20 students. With popular business degrees and financial aid grant programs, students have an easier time paying tuition.

Samford University

While bigger than some of the smaller schools, Samford University still only has about 4,600 students. As a private Christian university located in Birmingham, it's the largest one in Alabama and has almost 140 undergraduate majors. In addition, all classes are taught by professors, not graduate students. Samford is also a member of the NCAA Division Southern Conference.

University of Montevallo

Montevallo has to be one of the most beautiful areas to go to school. The campus spans 160 acres and at the center is the National Historic District. University of Montevallo is a public liberal arts college with 75 majors and a 16 to 1 faculty to student ratio.

There are plenty of other public and private institutions in Alabama, but these are the top ranked in the state and provide the best variety in education.

Alabama's Bustling Economy

Alabama is widely known as the birthplace of the Civil Rights Movement. The state has grown so much in recent years with investments in education, health care, banking, aerospace, agriculture and automobile manufacturing. These industries play a large role in the steadfast and growing economy of this state, which has brought a large number of investors and companies to the area.

Agriculture has long been Alabama's prime industry, but this has slowly changed as the state has made more investments in businesses and aerospace. Still, this southern state outputs include eggs, poultry, cattle, fish, peanuts, cotton, corn, milk, peaches and soybeans. Alabama is also one of the largest cotton producers though it ranks nearly tenth in the nation for production.

Much of Alabama is also devoted to military branches like Redstone Arsenal and Maxwell Air Force Base. These are two of the major employers in the state accounting for nearly 40,000 jobs in Alabama. Redstone Arsenal is a United States Army post that is near Huntsville in Madison County. Maxwell Air Force Base was established in 1910 and is located in Montgomery. It's also the headquarters of Air University, which is the main campus for all trainees to learn air education and training command.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham is also one of the larger employers in the state with nearly 20,000 jobs overall. This number also includes UAB Hospital, which is a teaching hospital that is located in the Medical Center District of campus.

Education is one of the most popular degree programs in the state largely because the public school systems account for many jobs in the state. For example, nearly 10,000 jobs are held by Mobile County Public School system faculty.

In addition to these large employers, AT&T, Boeing, Wal-Mart, Marshall Space Flight Center, Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, Regions Financial Corporation, Hyundai and multiple healthcare locations account for thousands of jobs in the state.

Unemployment in Alabama has gone down considerably in the past recent years, but it has always remained below the national average for unemployment. With a large part of the state's resources going to public schools and assistance programs, Alabama residents are able to find jobs quickly in a variety of industries.