<P> While Alabama's public education system has improved in recent decades, it lags behind in achievement compared to other states . According to U.S. Census data (2000), Alabama's high school graduation rate--75%--is the fourth lowest in the U.S. (after Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi). The largest educational gains were among people with some college education but without degrees . </P> <P> Although unusual in the West, school corporal punishment is not uncommon in Alabama, with 27,260 public school students paddled at least one time, according to government data for the 2011--2012 school year . The rate of school corporal punishment in Alabama is surpassed only by Mississippi and Arkansas . </P> <P> Alabama's programs of higher education include 14 four - year public universities, two - year community colleges, and 17 private, undergraduate and graduate universities . In the state are four medical schools (as of fall 2015) (University of Alabama School of Medicine, University of South Alabama and Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine and The Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine--Auburn Campus), two veterinary colleges (Auburn University and Tuskegee University), a dental school (University of Alabama School of Dentistry), an optometry college (University of Alabama at Birmingham), two pharmacy schools (Auburn University and Samford University), and five law schools (University of Alabama School of Law, Birmingham School of Law, Cumberland School of Law, Miles Law School, and the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law). Public, post-secondary education in Alabama is overseen by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education and the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education . Colleges and universities in Alabama offer degree programs from two - year associate degrees to a multitude of doctoral level programs . </P> <P> The largest single campus is the University of Alabama, located in Tuscaloosa, with 37,665 enrolled for fall 2016 . Troy University was the largest institution in the state in 2010, with an enrollment of 29,689 students across four Alabama campuses (Troy, Dothan, Montgomery, and Phenix City), as well as sixty learning sites in seventeen other states and eleven other countries . The oldest institutions are the public University of North Alabama in Florence and the Catholic Church - affiliated Spring Hill College in Mobile, both founded in 1830 . </P>

The two states that florida borders are alabama and