Eckerd was a totally unknown school to us, even though we lived in St Pete for 5 years (all my kids were born in Pinellas County)! We just lived in the northeast part of the city and Eckerd is in the south, plus we were sure our kids would naturally go to our Alma mater in our young parenting naivete, so didn’t even contemplate colleges in those days.
It came on our radar when my youngest wanted tropical marine bio and, literally, everyone in the field that either of us asked about it had it in their top list of schools to consider, often #1 because of not having grad students and being right on the water. After visiting his top contenders, it was the only school my guy wanted to go to, so we’re glad finances worked out for us. (His Plan B was the work and not go to college.)
That’s as far as I can help out though, because my guy is a flora guy more than water guy. He dropped Marine Bio the first week or two of college after seeing what it entailed in more depth and knowing he wanted a different direction. He’s done well for himself and is now actively doing Permaculture Farming - not at all regretting having chosen Eckerd. Their “Think Outside” and being a very “green” college fit him well. They’re also a big party school (probably comes with being on the beach), but that part never appealed to him and he still had plenty of friends.
But I don’t know if the finances will work out for you or not TBH. Miami has a good program. A van ride to the lab isn’t the same as rolling out of your bunk and strolling across campus, but plenty of students choose it too. The grad students getting to do most of the “fun stuff” (my guy’s words) were also an issue for him.
If you’re looking in FL, definitely compare both.
Financially, you could consider Nova Southeastern too.