Frequently Asked Questions
The BYU-Pathway Worldwide website includes helpful information about the one-year PathwayConnect program and includes details about how to begin the application process.
No. BYU-Idaho offers a limited number of online degrees which are currently available through BYU-Pathway Worldwide. BYU-Idaho’s online degrees are available in several high-interest areas such as business, health, technology, family studies, and professional studies.
Rather than encouraging online students to complete general education requirements to begin their bachelor’s degree, BYU-Idaho and BYU-Pathway Worldwide employ a certificate-first approach where students begin taking courses with highly relevant job skills in their chosen area of emphasis. This approach serves multiple purposes.
First, students gain valuable job skills and are better prepared to support themselves and their families if they are unable to complete a bachelor’s degree or if their progress towards a bachelor’s degree occurs over many years, as is often the case for online students.
Second, students tend to persist at higher rates when they see the value of their education through highly employable and relevant courses and certificates.
Finally, the certificate-first approach still enables students to obtain the full benefits of a general education. They simply do so in an alternative sequencing which prioritizes employability first in a student’s academic experience.
First, students gain valuable job skills and are better prepared to support themselves and their families if they are unable to complete a bachelor’s degree or if their progress towards a bachelor’s degree occurs over many years, as is often the case for online students.
Second, students tend to persist at higher rates when they see the value of their education through highly employable and relevant courses and certificates.
Finally, the certificate-first approach still enables students to obtain the full benefits of a general education. They simply do so in an alternative sequencing which prioritizes employability first in a student’s academic experience.
Students enrolled in PathwayConnect are BYU-Pathway Worldwide students. After they successfully complete their gateway course and matriculate into BYU-Idaho, they become BYU-Idaho students. Although these online students continue to use the registration and student services tools available through BYU-Pathway’s web portal, they register to take BYU-Idaho courses and are on track to earn a BYU-Idaho accredited degree.
Occasionally people will refer to online students who completed the PathwayConnect program and then matriculated into BYU-Idaho as “Pathway Students” as a means of distinguishing them from traditionally admitted campus students. However, all students enrolled in BYU-Idaho online courses and degrees are BYU-Idaho students. BYU-Pathway is not a degree-granting institution, but as a service provider, they consider all students they serve through their online web portal as their “students.”
Occasionally people will refer to online students who completed the PathwayConnect program and then matriculated into BYU-Idaho as “Pathway Students” as a means of distinguishing them from traditionally admitted campus students. However, all students enrolled in BYU-Idaho online courses and degrees are BYU-Idaho students. BYU-Pathway is not a degree-granting institution, but as a service provider, they consider all students they serve through their online web portal as their “students.”
PathwayConnect students can qualify for admission into BYU-Idaho’s online degree programs by successfully earning a “B” average in PathwayConnect. During their final PathwayConnect semester, students complete the first course of their chosen BYU-Idaho certificate.
Conversations about new online certificates or degrees can be initiated by BYU-Idaho or by BYU-Pathway Worldwide. The associate online vice president of online programs serves as a liaison between institutions for these conversations. New online certificates or degrees must be approved by the Church Education System Curriculum Council as well as by each individual institution.
BYU-Idaho faculty, departments, and curriculum councils approve the structure and content of each new certificate or degree they plan to offer. Similarly, BYU-Pathway has a curriculum vice president and a curriculum committee which must approve all new certificate or degree proposals before making them available through BYU-Pathway’s web portal.
BYU-Idaho faculty, departments, and curriculum councils approve the structure and content of each new certificate or degree they plan to offer. Similarly, BYU-Pathway has a curriculum vice president and a curriculum committee which must approve all new certificate or degree proposals before making them available through BYU-Pathway’s web portal.