Florida Pharmacy Schools — Dismissals & Appeals

Written by Zachary Gaynor, attorney · The Florida Bar, admitted 2016 · court admissions. Reviewed September 3, 2026.

Where can you study pharmacy in Florida?

Six Florida-headquartered PharmD programs, plus one out-of-state program with a Florida branch — seven sites in total: the University of Florida (with branch campuses in Orlando and Jacksonville), Florida A&M University (branch at Crestview), USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy, Nova Southeastern’s Silverman College, Palm Beach Atlantic’s Gregory School of Pharmacy, Larkin University, and LECOM’s Bradenton branch.

The accreditation finding that matters most to students

Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Lloyd L. Gregory School of Pharmacy is cited by ACPE as NON-COMPLIANT with Standard 4 — “Students and Student Services.” A focused visit is scheduled for 2026-2027. The school is also Partially Compliant with Standard 7 (Assessment).

Standard 4 is the standard that governs student policies, student services and the fair treatment of students. Of all the possible accreditation findings, it is the one most directly relevant to a student-side dispute: the accreditor has already made a formal determination that the school is not meeting the standard covering how it treats its students. That is a documented, citable finding, and it is unusual.

Two other Florida programs carry lesser findings on Standard 5, Faculty and Staff: USF Taneja and LECOM, both Partially Compliant. Larkin has a comprehensive review scheduled for 2026-2027. No Florida PharmD program is on probation — nationally only two are, neither in Florida.

Where the policies live

UF, FAMU, USF and Nova all publish a pharmacy student handbook or a policy index openly, and FAMU additionally posts separate grade-appeal and remediation policies. Palm Beach Atlantic publishes a catalog but no standalone pharmacy student handbook could be located, and LECOM governs all three of its pharmacy pathways, Bradenton included, through a single School of Pharmacy catalog, which it has posted in two different 2026–2027 versions. Larkin publishes separate handbooks for its block and quarter curricula — check which one applies to your cohort, because they are different documents.

What usually ends a pharmacy student’s program

• Progression standards tied to a minimum grade in every professional course. How many failures end enrollment varies widely: at USF Taneja there is no post-course remediation and more than one F in a semester is a listed dismissal example, while at FAMU permanent dismissal follows four failures in professional courses.
• Advanced pharmacy practice experience failures, assessed by preceptors outside the institution, often on evaluations the student never sees before the decision.
• Professionalism and pharmacy-law components, which carry direct licensure consequences.
• Controlled-substance and diversion allegations, which move immediately to interim removal and frequently run in parallel with a Board of Pharmacy question.
• Branch-campus disparities. Where a program runs multiple sites — UF at Gainesville, Orlando and Jacksonville, FAMU at Tallahassee and Crestview, LECOM at Erie and Bradenton — the governing document is usually one policy applied across all of them, so a comparator argument about how the same rule was applied at another campus is available and is rarely made.

Related reading

• Pharmacy school dismissal
• Health professions programs
• Professionalism and fitness-to-practice findings
• Academic dismissal and suspension
• Disability accommodations under Section 504 and the ADA
• All Florida schools

Common questions

Can I use my school’s accreditation findings in my appeal?

Carefully, and as context rather than as a claim. An accreditor’s finding that a school is non-compliant with the standard governing student services does not decide your case, but it does make it harder for the school to assert that its student processes are sound, and it can support a request that a decision be reviewed more closely.

My APPE preceptor failed me. Can I challenge it?

Usually yes, through the program’s grade or evaluation appeal route, and the window is normally short. Ask for the written evaluation immediately — you cannot challenge an assessment you have not seen.

Does a pharmacy school dismissal affect licensure?

It can. Boards ask about academic separations, and the characterization in the record travels with you. The wording of the outcome is worth attention at the time.

Which handbook applies if my school has more than one?

The one for your curriculum track and your cohort year. Larkin, for example, publishes separate handbooks for block and quarter curricula. Confirm in writing which one the school says governs you.