A new program that will allow students to enroll at the UA while taking classes exclusively at Pima Community College could encourage more minority students to complete a four-year degree, UA and Pima officials hope.

The joint admissions program, announced over winter break and scheduled to take effect in the fall, will allow students to enroll simultaneously at the UA and PCC even if they aren't taking classes at the university.

Both UA President Peter Likins and PCC Chancellor Roy Flores said this new connection between the two schools would encourage students who might otherwise be intimidated by the university to gradually adjust to the large-school environment.

"The idea is to set up a situation so that students will have more ways of getting a four-year degree from the university," Flores said. "They will be a UA student on the very first day."

Flores cited minority and rural students as people who are frequently deterred from applying to a university, often because of its size and what they perceive as an intimidating atmosphere.

"A lot of students are not ready at the outset for a big university experience," he said. "Minority students, for example, it takes them a long time to get used to a large university environment."

Students could begin taking classes at the UA as soon as they felt ready, but in the meantime would enjoy many of the same privileges of UA students, said Patti Ota, the UA's senior vice president for enrollment management.

If students weren't taking UA classes, they wouldn't pay UA tuition or be counted in enrollment statistics that dictate how much funding the university gets from the state, she said.

"What these students will get is a whole lot of counseling both from Pima and UA people," Ota said. "As soon as that student is ready psychologically ... for the program they want to enter, the student will move."

Further details of the program, including the privileges participants would be entitled to, likely won't be released until March.

At Pueblo High School, which is more than 80 percent Hispanic, qualified students often feel they couldn't succeed at the UA, said Joanne Kingman-Sanchez, a PCC employee who works at Pueblo trying to encourage students to attend college.

"They think this university is an unattainable goal," she said.

She said by offering student status to participants in the program, the UA might be able to bridge the gap between the community college and the university.

She estimates that only the top 10 percent of Pueblo graduates attend the UA right out of high school. Under

current regulations, the top 50 percent of Arizona high school graduates are guaranteed admission to state universities, though some are required to participate in an academic assistance program.

Students in the top 25 percent of their high school class would most likely be allowed to participate in the joint admissions program.

As officials work out details of the program, they say they need to be careful not to discourage qualified students from coming to the UA directly from high school.

The possibility that students would see the joint admissions program as a justification to take classes at PCC rather than the UA worries Socorro Carrizosa, director of Chicano/Hispanic Student Affairs.

She wants to see relationships between the UA, PCC and local high schools solidified so students are kept informed and qualified high school graduates are encouraged to enroll directly at the UA.

"I hope this doesn't mean that students who should be starting at the UA start at a community college," Carrizosa said.

UA and PCC officials share that concern, and the UA's president and PCC's chancellor agree that the program's ultimate goal is to increase the number of students who earn four-year degrees.

"We don't want to deflect students who want to come here," Likins said.

Flores said that for the program to be successful, community members and high schools need to encourage

students to take advantage of the program.

"We need to enlist the aid of the people in public schools and community organizations ... that this is a sensible way to go," he said.

But Carrizosa also wonders whether students enrolled in the program will feel connected to the UA if they aren't taking university classes.

"If the students aren't taking any classes here, I would have a question about how we're able to make that connection," she said.

Still, Likins believes students will be more likely to finish a degree if they're already a part of the UA "family."

"The key idea is access to the bachelor's degree," he said.

PCC students said the program sounded like a good idea, and agreed that people enrolled simultaneously at both schools might take advantage of an easier transfer process.

"That's cool," said Alex Romero, a first-semester PCC student. "You don't have to take time enrolling."

Though he liked the concept behind the program, Romero, who graduated from Amphitheater High School in Tucson, said he didn't know anybody who had felt intimidated about the UA and decided to attend PCC instead.

"I think it's a good idea," said second-semester PCC student Mike Krauter, a Catalina Foothills High School graduate. Krauter said he's attending PCC because it's easier, but plans to transfer to the UA.

If he does, Krauter will join the ranks of about 1,000 students each year who transfer from PCC to the UA.