Inaugural ‘Bridge Program’ is Success
This past summer, UT Knoxville successfully launched a dual-enrollment program with Pellissippi State Community College.
Guided by advisers on both campuses, seventy-five freshmen who had been wait-listed at UT accepted our invitation to be part of the inaugural Bridge Program. They attended the second summer session at UT and took a set of credit courses to help them adjust to college life and get a head start on their UT degree. The students are now taking classes at Pellissippi State. At the end of the spring semester, provided they complete thirty transferable credit hours and have a cumulative GPA of 2.5 or better, they will transfer to UT as sophomores.
This partnership is just one way UT is complying with the Complete College Tennessee Act of 2010. The act is intended to enhance cooperation between colleges and universities in the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) and UT systems.
Most of the students who accepted our invitation to attend the Bridge program were from east and middle Tennessee, although a handful came from other states. The common thread we saw was that all of these students really wanted to come to UT, and the Bridge program was a way for them to work toward UT admission and be successful in their college careers.
About sixty of the seventy-five Bridge students took UT up on its offer to live on campus.
While the program ran pretty smoothly, we are already making some adjustments so our next class of Bridge students will find it easier to work with two institutions at the same time.
Read an Insider Higher Ed blog about our Bridge program at Inside Higher Ed.