“It’s not just a concept anymore. It’s reality.”
Shallina Goodnight, executive director of the Alliance for Healthcare Education, concluded her report in the group’s March board meeting with that sentiment of the group’s status.
During that same meeting on March 26, officials with Missouri State University, Ozarks Technical Community College and Springfield Public Schools shared encouraging enrollment numbers into the alliance’s new system.
In September 2023, the three schools announced a partnership with Cox College to create a career pipeline for students to enter into the health care industry, helping to address an employee shortage in the field. With MSU and Ozarks Tech reporting nearly full enrollment, that career path for nursing will be developed and operational, and its first students will take classes under the alliance’s banner this fall.
And the first 10 students who represent its inaugural cohort earned recognition for becoming certified nursing assistants. They were honored during a pinning ceremony on May 7.
Pending a review from the State Board of Nursing, the group’s course path is set for full implementation. And the group is planning to review a builder in June for a renovation of about 40,000 square feet at Cox College. A $15 million state grant is paying for the bulk of the renovation.
Alliance’s pipeline
In a nutshell, the Alliance has formalized course instruction that allows students to earn certifications more quickly and more affordably, by using dual-credit arrangements. Its classes will be held at Cox College, located at 1423 N. Jefferson Ave.
While a student can enter the program at any age, it offers a full pathway for a high school student to enter the industry:
- Through the SPS Choice program, high school juniors can enroll in a two-year program that goes through Ozark Tech’s Middle College. For high schoolers, the alliance curriculum offers up to 60 hours of hands-on experience and job shadowing alongside working professionals, while students also earn their high school diploma.
- At Ozarks Tech, students in the Middle College can earn certification as a nursing assistant, allowing them to start working professionally at area hospitals and earn an associate’s degree in nursing. From here, students can begin exploring directions such as rehabilitation or imaging.
- Through MSU, students can begin working on a bachelor’s degree in nursing, and eventually a master’s degree — certifications that Cox College will stop offering once its final students have graduated.
Goodnight said that the system will enroll more new students than any one of the founding institutions was previously serving. Those students will also earn college credit, industry certifications and real-world experience.
She also pointed out how students will save money through the joint effort:
- Ozark Tech’s associate of science in nursing program saves students anywhere from $14,000 to $19,000 compared to other local programs.
- The sonography and radiography programs at Ozarks Tech offer even bigger benefits to a smaller pool of students — sonography students can save more than $50,000 and radiography students can save about $21,000.
- Missouri State’s bachelor of nursing program saves each student $12,000 when going through the Alliance.
“These are not projections,” Goodnight said. “These are measurable savings that remove barriers and create access for students who may have otherwise been priced out of a health care career.”
Missouri State University
MSU in March reported that it should have a total of 112 students enrolled for its bachelor of science in nursing program; 56 each for the fall and spring semesters.
Mark Smith, dean of MSU’s McQueary College of Health and Human Services, said the enrollment represents a doubling of its available spots for students. Six years ago, the university admitted 56 total students for the year, eventually moving to 48 per semester.
“That means our first Alliance cohort, as in MSU’s part of the alliance, in the fall will be full capacity,” Smith said during the meeting. “From MSU’s standpoint, that’s huge growth, but from the Alliance standpoint, that’s exactly what we said we would try to do.”
Final numbers will not be in until registration periods close for each semester, Smith said. In an interview with the Daily Citizen, Smith said that MSU has confidence in the demand because the program has a waiting list despite virtually no messaging for it.
The Alliance’s nursing program is scheduled for a site review in July by Missouri’s Board of Nursing. It has already received a preliminary approval from the board; an approval in July would finalize and formalize that approval.
Missouri State could not advertise the program’s availability to students until at least that preliminary approval was granted earlier this year, Smith said.
“We haven’t actually done a lot of advertising for the program,” Smith said. “We had a wait list without doing that, which suggests there is a demand.”
Once students begin attending on the Alliance’s Jefferson Avenue campus, MSU will gain two major advantages, Smith said: extra space and close proximity to a hospital.
While 40,000 square feet of Cox College is slated for renovation, about 80,000 square feet of classrooms, simulation spaces, labs and other features already exists, ready to be used.
Being in the same general building as Cox North will help students complete necessary clinical experiences.
“The biggest challenge with any clinical program, and especially the medical program, is the clinical placement,” Smith said. “Fifty percent or more of their training has to be in hospital settings, or it has to be in a clinical setting. It cannot be simulation.”
Ozarks Tech
As part of its share, Ozarks Tech expanded availability of its associate of science in nursing program, from 24 to 150. The spots are spread across five cohorts of 30 students, with different class models between them. Some are traditional day classes, while others are night and weekend sessions or hybrids of in-person and online. A new cohort will start about every eight weeks.
Aaron Light, dean of health sciences for Ozarks Tech, reports that similar demand exists for those program spots, and that official registration numbers will be available once each cohort gets closer to starting. Other associated certification programs for radiography, sonography and other related fields also have similar interest.
Light said that Ozarks Tech and MSU would have been working together to speed entry into the field even without the Alliance — a statement Smith also made. But the Alliance partnerships have sped that process up considerably.
“Now there is a joint agreement between four parties that we are going to make this happen,” said Light, who in July will become Ozarks Tech’s new provost. “Everybody is on board, everyone is going in the same direction, so that part has helped. But then we have CoxHealth being part of the same alliance, so when (Smith and I) need additional nurse clinical spots, Cox can help make those opportunities.”
Ozarks Tech’s Middle College and SPS
The Alliance’s main pathway through Springfield Public Schools uses Ozark Tech’s Middle College, a scholarship-based effort where students attend full-time on Ozark Tech’s campus.
Officials anticipate seeing 33 first-year students and 21 second-year students in the fall, as of March 26.
The first group of high school students is completing its first year. Of the 21 second-year students:
- 13 are in the bioclinical sciences pathway and have received more than 50 college credits so far.
- Six are certified nursing assistant students who have completed their certification.
- Two are emergency medical technician students who have completed an EMT course.
The Middle College shows the biggest opportunity for growth. There are 50 spots each for juniors and seniors in the program.
Of the 54 enrolled students for 2025-26, Parkview is sending 17, Central 11 and Hillcrest 10, while Glendale and Kickapoo are sending eight each.
Superintendent Grenita Lathan in March said that the district plans to improve its recruitment, and that the task of introducing the unproven program to students who had already made pathway plans was challenging.
“There is still a lot we can do, in terms of helping people understand what this is,” Goodnight said. “I feel like this is probably going to take three years for people to really understand it, then also have enough notice to learn about it early enough in their educational career that it will be more palatable to make that choice.”
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