Well for starters I don't really know anything about either school, but I do know both places pretty well.
I grew up in Ft Lauderdale, then Miami for about 10 yrs as a young adult and have been in Cocoa (just north of Melbourne) for about 10 yrs.
I would do Melbourne easy.
Crime in Miami is no worse than any other big city. You just need to learn where not to go and pay attention etc. The thing I did not like there was that people were just generally not friendly.
I am a very outgoing person and this was an issue for me. Also unemployment in Miami is bad particularly for someone starting out.
In Melbourne everything is a lot more laid back and people are much more friendly. Your timing is going to be everything as far as job market in Melbourne. (I am assuming you may not want to work for dad.) Right now jobs are pretty available but the shuttle program is shutting down in 2010 so lots of people will be out of jobs at that point. (Including my husband.
) You may think this doesn't matter to you, but the Cape has jobs doing everything you can imagine including being a wildlife refuge. That part may still exist, but everybody from rocket scientists to cafeteria workers will be out of jobs in a couple of years.
One additional piece of info is that one of the on-line fish companies just opened a 10000sq ft building in Ft Pierce which is less than an hours drive from Melbourne. They are soon to open for retail/walk-in business but are running their on-line out of there as of now. Certainly sounds like a possible job opportunity to me. If you want to know who, pm me and I will respond. They are not a sponsor so I don't want to advertise for them. Once they open I'll try to get them as a RS sponsor then I can send them business. LOL
Well, if you have any questions about either city just let me know. Wish I knew more about the schools in question, but I agree with Wit on this one. Get the basics wherever (Community College sounds great) then worry about the best school for your major etc.