Mai Martinez, a finance and management double major in the University of Dayton School of Business Administration, originally planned to attend a large public university. But when she visited UD, her plans changed.
“From the minute I set foot on campus, I knew this is where I wanted to go,” Martinez said. “It was so friendly, and it was really welcoming.”
There was still an important question to answer: How could she make a UD education attainable?
The University of Dayton Sinclair Academy (UDSA) provided an answer.
A Different Path to a UD Degree
UDSA offers students a pathway to begin their college education at Sinclair Community College before transitioning to the University of Dayton to complete their bachelor’s degree.
Martinez entered college with approximately 24 credit hours earned through College Credit Plus and learned that starting at Sinclair could allow her to take advantage of financial benefits while keeping UD as her ultimate destination.
“I knew that I really, really wanted to go to UD,” Martinez said. “It was the perfect opportunity.”
Starting at Sinclair reduced the cost of her first two years and gave Martinez something else she valued: greater financial flexibility. Because she saved money early in college, she could put those resources toward experiences she wanted later, including studying abroad in Japan through a UD business program in summer 2025.
“Being more financially free during those first two years allowed me to save up to do these experiences, like go abroad,” she said.
The Best of Both Worlds
For Martinez, UDSA was more than a financial strategy. It gave her access to resources and relationships at both institutions.
At Sinclair, she used academic resources like tutoring while building relationships with classmates from a wide range of ages, backgrounds, and experiences. She also began building connections with the University of Dayton by attending campus events and meeting with Holistic Academic Advisors from the School of Business Administration, who visited Sinclair each semester to answer questions and support students preparing to transfer.
“Having twice the resources allowed me to have the best of both worlds,” Martinez said.
Those connections also helped Martinez begin building a UD community before she officially transitioned to campus. She attended Up the Orgs to get engaged, met UD students and developed friendships that made Dayton increasingly feel like home.
When it was time to transition fully to UD, Martinez admits she was nervous about the academic rigor and adjusting to a four-year university. But she leaned on faculty office hours, advising, career resources and the relationships she had already started building.
Over time, she found her place and then began helping other students find theirs.
From UDSA Student to UD Student Leader
Today, Martinez is a Mittelstaedt Center for Academic Advising and Business Student Success peer advisor, a member of the UDSA Leadership Council, and has served as a student orientation leader and welcome team leader. She participated in the Women’s Leadership Immersion, completed the IBM AI Challenge and continues to work in a finance internship with UD’s information technology division.
Her journey has also shaped the way she thinks about business education.
“We’re all applied learning,” Martinez said of her UD business experience. “It’s not just theory. We’re doing real-world projects that actually are applied in the real world.”
Making College Work for You
Martinez’s advice to students considering UDSA is simple: Take advantage of what is available.
“The more you give, the more you get out of the program,” she said.
For cost-conscious students and families, her experience demonstrates that the path to a UD business degree doesn’t have to look the same for everyone. Starting at Sinclair allowed Martinez to reduce costs while building toward the college experience she wanted — one that eventually included study abroad, leadership, professional experience and a community spanning both campuses.
“The path looks different for everyone,” Martinez said. “That’s what’s so beautiful about it.”