Justin Helman, a recent high-school graduate from Park Ridge, N.J., did not receive his dream acceptance from the University of Florida. But that is not stopping him from pursuing the classic college experience there. He is set to move into a private apartment near campus this fall, enrolling in UF’s online program for the first few semesters and paying an extra fee package for access to services such as the campus gym and student-section football-game tickets. He plans to study at the library, join clubs, and might rush a fraternity.
“I’m going to get almost the entire same experience, and the only thing I’m really missing is going into class and dorming,” Helman told The Wall Street Journal. “To me, it was just almost a no-brainer.”
Helman’s offer was to UF’s Pathway to Campus Enrollment program, which requires students to complete online coursework before transitioning to full in-person status. The program has exploded from about 250 students in 2015 to nearly 3,000 in fall 2024, according to the school’s website. Helman will share a Gainesville, Fla., apartment with three other PaCE students moving from out-of-state. He said he chose the program over traditional acceptances, some with scholarships and honors, at the University of South Carolina, Seton Hall, and the University of Tennessee.
“It’s a way to get what you want if the traditional, standard way doesn’t work,” said Beth Kraemer, a consultant for In College Consulting who has observed an uptick in the trend.
The programs can be a savvy way for universities to protect their rankings and generate revenue, according to Adam Nguyen, founder of admissions-consulting firm Ivy Link. These are often students who narrowly missed the admissions cutoff, Nguyen said. “But they can still enroll, take courses, participate in the community, and more importantly, pay tuition.”
Some school administrators disputed that characterization. Officials at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said the goal of its dual-enrollment program with a nearby community college is to provide affordability for students and smooth the transfer process.
Other students are taking a different approach, attending community college while joining parties and athletic events at a nearby public university. “Those slots are really precious, and people will get creative when they need to,” said Jenna Cullinane Hege, a vice chancellor at Austin Community College, referring to enrollment space at the University of Texas at Austin.
Ashley Bottoms, from California, never planned on attending community college and had dreamed of going to Texas A&M. She was initially distraught to be offered a dual-enrollment program between Blinn College and Texas A&M, but said she has come around. Though most of her classes have been at Blinn this past year, she joined three clubs at Texas A&M and traveled to Nashville, Tenn., for a national convention.
Bottoms is among a growing number of out-of-state students at Blinn through the program, according to program manager Caleb Mullins. “I use that term, ‘backdoor entry,’ to Texas A&M,” Mullins said, adding that some students save $1,400 a semester. At orientation, Mullins tells students they do not have to share that they are enrolled at Blinn; they can simply say — to peers and on their résumés — they attend Texas A&M, since they are students there too. Blinn students are sometimes jokingly referred to as “Blinn-dergartners.”
The Blinn partnership, which started 25 years ago, has tripled in size to around 1,000 students a year and has inspired 10 other spinoff programs, including an engineering-specific pathway to Texas A&M.
In Illinois, students in the Parkland Pathway program pay community-college rates for classes at both nearby Parkland College and the University of Illinois. “Some of them have called it, like, the college hack,” said Sara MacKenzie, director of admissions at the University of Illinois. Students can live in on-campus housing, a perk about 40% used this past year.
J.R. Mulhall, who just finished his freshman year as a University of Florida online student, sat in the student union for his online classes, joined a campus radio station, and worked in guest services at the football stadium. All his friends were traditional students. “I know it’s weird getting into these alternative pathways, but if it’s the right school for you, it’s the right school for you,” said Mulhall, who is set to begin in-person classes in the fall.
Hunter Sixkiller, who is part of the Blinn program, said he participated in Texas A&M traditions such as the game-day “Midnight Yell” and “Muster,” a remembrance of students who died. He joined a freshman leadership organization and is helping with orientation camp. “My entire social life revolves around A&M and my A&M people,” Sixkiller said.
Academically, Sixkiller has had trouble enrolling in some A&M courses because traditional students have priority. To transition to A&M full-time as a business major, he needs a 3.85 GPA. To meet that, he has been trying to take easier courses at A&M and harder ones at Blinn. This fall, he plans to take rock climbing at Texas A&M.
The approach has drawn skepticism from some consultants who view alternative pathways as “a cheat code,” Kraemer said, and sometimes point to limited major-transfer options. For Helman’s mother, Maria Debowska-Helman, the decision was partly financial: she said his tuition would be cheaper than a traditional UF student’s. The optional fee package will cost around $550 for a semester, depending on course credits.