The educational landscape requires an increased variety of teachers entering the field. The Early Childhood Education Bachelor of Individualized Studies program is a new online program within a teacher preparation institution located in a comprehensive university on the east coast of the United States. It is designed for students who have earned their Applied Associate of Science in Early Childhood Education (ECE) from a community college to pursue teacher licensure. This teacher education program was developed to respond to a statewide teacher shortage for teachers who already had earned an Early Childhood Associates degree from a state community college. This program advocates for non-traditional students and continues to be refined as we (the researchers) continue to work to find better ways to support our students. This online early childhood program aims to increase access to students who have valuable attributes to contribute to the field of education (Kaplan & Bellwether Education Partners, 2018). The purpose of this study was to understand the students' sense of community in the online educational environment. As a faculty community of practice, we, the researchers, created and sent out a qualitative survey to students (N=31) to gather participants' perspective of community and perceived barriers of an online licensure program in which 24 students completed the survey. To enhance our knowledge about the sense of community, we utilized Rovai's (2002a) Classroom Community Scale (CCS) to collect data from the most recent cohort of students (N=17). The data suggest that both senior and junior students perceive a relatively high level of Connectedness and Classroom Community, with mean scores above 40. The mean score for Learning was slightly lower, with both groups scoring below 23 on average. In addition, the following themes emerged from the result of the qualitative study followed by interviews: (1) there is a transition period for non-traditional students from the community college to the University online setting; (2) it is important for faculty to be intentional in creating a culture of care and sense of community; (3) licensure assessments are a key barrier; and (4) coaching and mentorship are critical for students' success.