Student prepares for move to Gainesville to be online Gator
UF hopes to expand access with program
Emily Long owns a Gators umbrella, an orange and blue bathing suit and a University of Florida tailgating game. She could easily go about two weeks without wearing the same UF shirt twice.
When it comes to her college choice, “I’m not kidding,” said Long, 18, of Orlando. “I’ll do whatever it takes to go to UF.”
Long is one of a small number of students who have enrolled in UF’s controversial new program where she will take online courses for up to two years before she’s allowed to step into a real classroom. And she’s taking it a step further: Long is moving to Gainesville while she takes the online classes.
After the flagship university received about 30,800 applications for the fall semester, UF created Pathway to Campus Enrollment, or PaCE, to increase access to higher education when there wasn’t enough space on campus.
PaCE students will take online courses until they acquire 60 credits, after which they will gain regular admittance. Until then, they cannot attend in-person classes, live on campus or be eligible for the student football ticket pool.
Out of 3,118 students invited into the program, only 272, or about 9 percent, accepted, according to the latest numbers from UF spokesman Steve Orlando.
The program is so new that many PaCE students read their acceptance letters and thought they were rejected. Some criticized the program, saying PaCE would rob them of a typical college experience or made them feel like second-class UF students. Long is resolute. “To me, college is what you make of it,” said Long, a Bishop Moore Catholic High graduate.
Long focuses on what she can do. She can live off campus. She will possess a student ID. If she pays a fee, she can buy a meal plan or exercise in the campus gym. She wants to make friends and already has joined a UF club that pairs American students with international ones.
UF Provost Joe Glover said PaCE students also will have special advisers to help them stay on track and can visit professors’ office hours if they are in Gainesville in addition to extra online help.
While the UF program isn’t without its critics, others point to a changing land- scape in higher education where virtual classes are increasingly popular.
At the University of Central Florida, for instance, only 25 percent of students enrolled in an online class in the fall 2004. A decade later, that number grew to 64 percent, according to the school.
“The generation of students who are graduating from high school are used to acquiring education in a different way than I acquired it several decades ago,” said Glover, who couldn’t recall a similar program in the country.
When it comes to PaCE, “I think it’s the future,’’ said higher education consultant Ryan Craig, author of a book that examines the effect of online learning at universities
PaCE students pay $3,876 a year, about 39 percent less in tuition and fees than traditional students but won’t get them access to classroom buildings, which reminded Craig of a United Kingdom school that charged students less if they didn’t use the library. He called it “unbundling.”
Long’s older brother inspired her love of the Gators. Then he surprised everyone and attended the University of Alabama, so Long swiped some of his Gators gear. In high school, she toured the Gainesville school. Like any true romance, she couldn’t describe the feeling. It just felt right.
Her mother was more cautious.
“Emily did not apply to a lot of schools because she has her heart set on UF, even though we had discussion after discussion of the difficulties of getting in and everybody needs to have a Plan B,” said her mother, Anna Long.
Long didn’t rush to check her admittance when the announcement appeared online. She didn’t want to be crushed before her high school Sadie Hawkins dance that night. She waited until the next morning, saw the PaCE letter and cried.
It took months of researching and talking with UF admissions before Long made her decision to move to Gainesville and enroll in PaCE.
College means meeting new people and freedom outside her parents’ house. “I wanted to be a part of that,” Long said.
She has shopped for a Crock-Pot, a yellow comforter that matches her bedroom color theme and pretty kitchen towels for her new apartment in Gainesville.
She already has reminded her three high school friends who will be her roommates, who will study at Santa Fe College, to keep the common area tidy.
Her mother supports her choice.
“One of the things that was important in the decision is she believes she can do this,” Anna Long said.