the nwsa opened its doors in fall 1987. the continuing students at pavac's north and south transitioned into nwsa, as did many of pavac's faculty. nwsa issued its first high school diploma in 1988 to the former pavac students. nwsa enrolled its first freshman college students in 1988. in order to award a bfa, it partnered with florida international university (fiu). on january 12, 1994 university of florida replaced fiu in this partnership. the first graduating class of the college was in 1992.