(Photo courtesy of COCC)
More than 50 rural-based students enrolled in health care training programs at Central Oregon Community College — in areas like public health, nursing and behavioral health — will have their tuition fully or partly covered by a recently announced $224,532 grant from the Central Oregon Health Council.
In addition to providing scholarship support, the funding from COHC will be used to help expand health sciences programming at Jefferson County 509J high schools, and also pay for field placements so COCC students can earn while they learn. The grant period opened this past November and continues until November of 2030.
COHC’s funding reinforces a $300,000 grant from the Oregon Health Authority, received by COCC in early 2025 and designated for the same purpose; OHA funding continues until the end of June 2027. Scholarships from that grant are being awarded to COCC students — about 100 in all — in various health care specialties, such as public health, nursing, nursing assistant, medical assisting and addiction studies.
The need for health care workers in Oregon, particularly in rural areas, is significant. A 2025 state biennial health care workforce assessment — a recurring report that’s mandated by Oregon law — found that while Oregon’s health care and social assistance sector increased by more than 15,000 jobs in 2024, it had 18,800 position vacancies.
“With our newly expanded Madras campus, the timing of this funding is allowing more students from rural areas to work toward high-demand health care careers in the region,” said Zak Boone, vice president for college advancement and COCC Foundation executive director. “Central Oregon Health Council will change the trajectory of many lives with this support.”
Opened last month, the expanded college campus in Madras now offers complete degree and certificate trainings in the fields of nursing, nursing assistant and medical assisting.
Scholarship priority for the COHC and OHA grants is being given to students who have lived in, are attending or formerly attended school in, or intend to work in a Health Professional Shortage Area, which includes a large portion of Central Oregon and the Warm Springs Reservation. Awards range from $500 to $5,000.
Interested students can explore scholarship options and conditions at cocc.edu/departments/financial-aid. COCC’s spring term begins March 30.
