Billionaire Stephen Ross Has Been Working To Get An Ivy League In FL. Vanderbilt Now Has A Proposal

Photo byJbaker08, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

I've written about several billionaires who have moved their businesses to Florida, including Ken Griffin, Barry Sternlicht, and John Paulson. However, as much as some have seen the potential in the Sunshine State, other billionaires have been open about what Florida lacks.

For example, billionaire Barry Sternlicht has talked about Florida's lack of elite schools and Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross has been trying to lure an an Ivy League college to Florida. And now it appears that he might be one step closer to reaching his goal.

How Ross Is Trying To Lure An Ivy League To Florida: Florida is admittedly home to high-ranking UF, which Forbes included in its "new Ivy Leagues" colleges list in May of 2024. However, most of the time, institutions recognized as Ivy League schools are in the Northeastern United States.

To get an Ivy League in Florida, Ross hosted elite guests in April of 2024 to raise monies to lure an elite university to the southern part of Florida.

Vanderbilt University Chancellor Daniel Diermeier reportedly attended the meeting, and there has reportedly been $100 million raised toward luring an Ivy to Florida.

Vanderbilt University Is Reportedly Pitching A $520 Million Florida Campus: Officials with Vanderbilt University will reportedly present their vision for a Florida campus to Palm Beach County officials in late August of 2024.

The $519.6 million campus would be 300,000 square feet and have 1,346 full-time employees and about 1,000 students. The University reportedly estimated that the economic impact of such a campus would be around $7 billion over two and a half decades and would eventually create around 35,000 jobs.