Students at four Iowa community colleges can now earn a UI degree without ever setting foot on the Iowa City campus.

As part of a new strategy, the UI is expanding its influence to the students unable to commit to the traditional four-year undergraduate experience.

This semester is the first term the UI is using both the Internet and an in-person employee to teach the program’s two UI courses, Globalization and Entrepreneurship.

UI Globalization teaching assistant Alex Cohen — who drives to Cedar Rapids, Davenport, and Des Moines every other week to hold evening meetings for his class — said he thinks the program is a good investment.

“Distance students are being given an opportunity to interact with course material that may not be available at their local institutions,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The program is aimed at students with family or job commitments, making it difficult for them to uproot and move to Iowa City.

Interest in the program has yet to meet expectations, but officials said they hope enrollment will grow with increased marketing strategies and class options.

Western Iowa Tech Community College is the most recent addition to the roster of four Iowa community colleges where students can earn a bachelor of liberal studies or bachelor of applied science. Registered nurses can also earn bachelor of science degrees in nursing from the UI at these colleges.

Students can apply to the program once they acquire an associate degree.

Four students are currently enrolled in the program at Western Iowa Tech, said Susan Grau, an enrollment management secretary, bringing the total number of enrolled students to 20 across all four institutions.

Although the university waives fees relating to on-campus facilities, the program’s students pay the same in-state tuition rate as those located on the main campus, said Chet Rzonca, the dean for the UI Division of Continuing Education.

This semester, revenue taken in from the program did not exceed the amount of money needed to run it. The majority of the cost is spent on paying instructors.

Revenue from the program is an added bonus, Rzonca said, but it is not the main reason for running it.

“This is not a solution to financial issues, which are related to the overall economy,” he said.

And when these students graduate, he said, their degrees hold just as much weight as ones earned on the Iowa City campus.

“Anecdotal information from graduates say that there is no apparent advantage or disadvantage to the online course work or degree,” Rzonca said.

Some UI students said they are wary of the program’s fairness.

“It doesn’t seem like the degree would be the same,” said UI senior Shona Daedlow. “I don’t think they would have to work as hard if they weren’t here.”

UI freshmen Matt Palmer had a similar opinion.

“It seems it could possibly devalue our degrees,” the 19-year-old said. “But it seems helpful to the overall economy for them to have an opportunity to further their degrees.”

Those with comments on the program can share their thoughts at two upcoming open forums. The UI’s task force on Public Outreach and Civic Engagement will host the forums on Nov. 4 and Nov. 10 to seek feedback on UI outreach and engagement, including discussion on UI degrees extending to community colleges.

“It’s an opportunity to encourage people to participate,” Rzonca said.