Sarasota Stamps Its Class in Higher Learning


 

SARASOTA, FLORIDA, November 3rd, 2016 – Two institutions for higher learning in Sarasota continue to grow their prestige, thus adding to the market strength of residential properties in the county.

Auspiciously in time for the 2016‒2017 school year opening, the highly respected publication The Hollywood Reporter again listed the Ringling College of Art and Design in its ranking of the “Top 25 American Film Schools.” Ringling College improved its position in this list wherein it likewise got the bragging rights as the youngest school. It moved up a notch to no. 16, coming up ahead of another Sunshine State lister, Florida State U, which came out no. 24.

A Winning Tradition from Superb School Resources

Sarasota stamps its class higher learning

In giving its ranking to the Sarasota school, THR noted that Ringling College will open next year a 30,000-square-foot post-production and soundstage complex, the first such professional film facility in the Gulf Coast. The publication likewise cited the school’s Studio Lab program which has enabled access to some of the film industry’s top gurus like Roman Coppola, Werner Herzog, Kevin Smith, and Sissy Spacek.

Ringling College opened the film program at its 48-acre campus east of the Sapphire Shores community and south of the Bayou Oaks in 2007. Since then, it has produced many notable alumni like the Oscar-winning animator Patrick Osborne and YouTube sensation Michelle Phan.

Just this September, two of its students bagged a silver medal in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences student awards for a piece called “The Wishgranter.” Three productions of Ringling College students made it among the seven finalists of this year’s competition which drew 1,749 entries from 286 U.S. and 95 international colleges and universities.

Quality Education at Affordable Cost

Similar accolades have been received recently by the New College of Florida which was founded in the 1950s to complement the growth of the art museum, symphony orchestra, and theaters in Sarasota. Located about two miles north of the Ringling School, New College is ranked fourth in the “Best National Liberal Arts Colleges” for 2016, an annual nation-wide rating of the U.S. News & World Report.

Sarasota stamps its class higher learning

New College has also been widely cited for its academic quality and affordable cost, with such citations coming from Forbes Magazine, The Princeton Review, the online Fiske Guide to Colleges, and the personal finance website Kiplinger. It has likewise been rated as no. 15 amongst U.S. schools whose students have the least debt at graduation.

New Landmark for Learning

Not resting on its laurels, New College is further enhancing the facilities of its 110-acre bayfront campus off U.S. 41. Just this October, the school broke ground for a new wing of its Heiser Natural Sciences Complex. Costing some $9 million, this annex will add 22,000 square feet more to the 34,000-square-foot complex and create space for additional labs, faculty offices, and a reading room for computer science students.

Like Ringling School, New College is also just a short distance from residential neighborhoods offering some amazing deals on Sarasota homes for sale. These communities include The Uplands just north of the college campus and Sapphire Heights towards southeast. Farther down southward, the choices can gravitate to the Ringling School’s neighboring communities of Sapphire Shores/Indian Beach with market reputations as lofty as Sarasota’s higher institutions of learning.