The Pathway Program from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints represents an affordable, online educational program to serve Church members throughout the world. BYU – Idaho began formulating the plan in 2008 and the program began with a pilot program in the fall of 2009 serving 50 students.
PathwayConnect is a reduced-cost online program that prepares students to start or finish a degree by building spiritual confidence and teaching foundational academic skills. And all course credits count toward a bachelor’s degree. The current (as of the preparation of this blog post) cost for PathwayConnect is $73 per credit. Over the span of one year (three semesters), students complete coursework online and also gather once a week with other local PathwayConnect students. After completing PathwayConnect, students may apply their course credits toward a BYU – Idaho online degree at the same reduced cost.
In May 2019, the Church announced that individuals who are completing or who have recently completed a full-time mission are now pre-approved to participate in PathwayConnect.
Brandon Vazquez, formerly of the YSA Branch and Hickory Ward and now a member of the Morganton Ward after recently marrying Mindy Clark, is a participant in the PathwayConnect program.
Brandon shared that he was introduced to the program by Sister Keller and Bishop Stoddard. He shared that the application process was very easy and can be accomplished simply by using your existing church account. The key item is to simply check on the application deadlines and make sure that you apply prior to the deadlines.
When asked to share his thoughts on the program, Brandon offered: “I believe the program to be inspired. The way the classes are arranged and the content that I learned were applicable to life and the other classes.” Brandon took two classes per semester, one religion class and one core class.
In addition to the online elements, the classes also meet together once a week. Brandon’s group included 12 people and the group became very close over time – “you become like family.” After completing the three semesters, the students can sign up to take online classes through BYU – Idaho and continue on to earn a certificate or a degree.
