About 22 percent of the freshmen admitted into UF’s Class of 2019 won’t have the average start.
Out of the 13,667 freshman admitted to UF last week, 3,118 were accepted through Pathway to Campus Enrollment, or PaCE, a joint program that combines online and residential learning to accommodate the overflow of applicants for Fall 2015.
Students will begin their college careers online by earning 60 credits before coming to campus, UF spokesman Steve Orlando said. Then they are guaranteed admission as a residential student for the next two years.
“It (PaCE) tells a student you’ve been admitted to the university, and you can come in through UF online once you have completed 60 credits,” Orlando said.
Students can enter the program with up to 45 credits earned from AP, IB, dual enrollment or other accelerated methods, Orlando said.
Students enrolled in PaCE will receive a 25 percent tuition discount that doesn’t include some of the fees on-campus students have to pay. This and the GPA requirements mirror the conditions of UF Online.
High school senior Natalie Rossian, 17, was accepted into the PaCE program, but she said she is unsure if accepting the offer will deny her a full college experience.
Rossian, who attends Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School in Miami-Dade County, contacted UF to see if the plan was to isolate students enrolled in the PaCE program. She said she was told there were no plans because the program is so new.
“If I knew that socially I would be with other people and not just living off of UF ... then I would do it,” she said, “but I would need that reassurance.”
[A version of this story ran on page 1 on 2/20/2015 under the headline “UF introduces hybrid program for freshmen"]
