Touro University Nevada in Henderson offers a summer nursing skills class for students entering the nursing program this fall. Students Alison Bautista, from left, Leah Goldblatt and Ayumi Sawa work together on a blood pressure check during a class last month.
Thursday, July 3, 2008 | 2 a.m.
Have you heard of Regis University?
How about National University? Or Touro University Nevada?
Did you know there is a University of Southern Nevada?
If not, you’re not alone. Many Las Vegas Valley residents have never heard of these local universities.
But these private, nonprofit schools are changing the face of higher education in the region. They offer degrees in fields ranging from religious studies and liberal arts to nursing and osteopathic medicine.
In states such as California and Massachusetts, public and nonprofit private colleges compete for the best students. The private schools — think Santa Clara University, Chapman University and Emerson College — are as well-known as the publics.
In Southern Nevada, on the other hand, public institutions have long dominated higher education, with many residents unaware of other choices.
But founders of private start-ups have been keen on Las Vegas as of late, drawn by the region’s skyrocketing population. Regis, National, Touro and the University of Southern Nevada all began enrolling students at new campuses across the valley less than 10 years ago.
Though we’re not talking Ivy League here, these new schools are producing professionals who can help ease state staffing shortages in health care and other areas.
Unlike for-profit behemoths such as Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix, nonprofit education providers need not answer to shareholders. Making money is not their objective.
Some have religious affiliations. Touro is a Jewish-sponsored organization and Regis is a Catholic Jesuit institution.
As public colleges cut jobs, increase class sizes and put new projects on hold while bracing for budget cuts, their private counterparts are planning new programs.
“The state has grown tremendously in terms of general population,” said Michael Harter, a founder of Touro University Nevada. “Publics could not keep up with the demand. There’s just a limited amount of resources that could be pumped into the public domain. Either the shortages would be exacerbated, or there would be private programs arriving in the state, and that’s what happened.”
The University of Southern Nevada, which began enrolling students in 2001, houses the state’s first and only accredited pharmacy college. Plans for a public program have long stalled, with a lack of funding being one barrier.
“There was no college of pharmacy in Nevada, so due to the high demand for pharmacists, we came in and filled that role,” said Thomas Metzger, the University of Southern Nevada’s director of institutional research and assessment.
In 2007-08, just 35 percent of the school’s students were from Nevada. But those who are tend to stay here after graduation, along with a smattering of classmates from places such as California and Utah, Metzger said. Exit interviews showed that 46 percent of June 2008 pharmacy college graduates had accepted jobs in Nevada.
From the outside, the University of Southern Nevada’s facilities aren’t ritzy. The school, like Touro University Nevada, is housed in a converted warehouse in Henderson.
Inside, though, both institutions have high-end teaching tools such as life-size mannequins that simulate symptoms in patients health care workers might encounter. Touro has equipment that allows instructors to monitor medical students on video as the students practice examining patients — played by actors — in 11 rooms. The system also records students’ sessions on DVD so they and their teachers can review their work.
Maurizio Trevisan, executive vice chancellor of health sciences for the Nevada System of Higher Education, said the arrival of any new, high-quality private colleges in the region is a plus given the state’s need for more programs to train health professionals.
The public Nevada State College has partnered with Touro to offer a five-year program that allows participants to earn a bachelor’s degree in occupational science from NSC and a master’s degree in occupational therapy from Touro.
The local campuses of Regis, National and Touro are part of larger, more established university systems, lending them an extra degree of credibility and stability.
Still, private schools are not for everyone. They tend to be more expensive than public schools. Even nonprofits must stay afloat financially, and most of their funding comes from tuition, which can easily run into five figures. Nevada residents at UNLV can take a full course load for less than $5,000 a year.
Also, some students might not like nontraditional approaches to education, including online teaching, that some private schools emphasize.
Tracy McMurry, associate regional dean for National University, said more than 90 percent of the students at her Henderson campus are in Web programs. Classroom courses are typically in the evening and on the weekend. Instead of enrolling for several classes in a semester, students take one intensive class per month.
Enrollment at some of Nevada’s newest private colleges shows many students are looking for alternatives to NSC, UNLV and the College of Southern Nevada, the valley’s three publics. Together, Regis, National, Touro and the University of Southern Nevada serve more than 2,500 students, topping NSC, a fellow start-up, which launched in 2002.
Demand has been so high that new offerings are on the way. National University is launching a nursing associate degree program Monday. The first class in the University of Southern Nevada’s College of Dental Medicine will begin this fall. Touro is planning to offer a bachelor’s degree in radiological sciences and a nurse practitioner degree for 2009.
The University of Southern Nevada has had no trouble attracting students, turning away more than 1,000 pharmacy students who applied for admission this fall. The school opened a branch in South Jordan, Utah, in 2006, and will open two new buildings in Henderson this fall.
To locals such as Ray Kwong, private colleges present opportunities to pursue choice careers without leaving home.
Kwong, 27, is a biochemistry student at UNLV and is set on becoming a pharmacist. The University of Southern Nevada’s program is No. 1 on his list.
His family is in the area and he owns a home here. If the University of Southern Nevada didn’t exist, he would be looking to study out of state.
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