HGT: Kettering College creates plan for affordable tuition

Affordability. It’s one of the most important words to anyone in the college search process.

To honor its 50th anniversary, Kettering College is pushing the boundaries of innovation, creating a plan to make health science education more affordable for students.

Kettering College is partnering with Kettering Health Network to offer a tuition assistance program helping cover student expenses. The college initiative, which can be combined with a 30 percent discount for Kettering Health Network employees, is already rolling for nursing students completing a bachelor’s degree.

Right now, Kettering College gives up to $7,000 a year in tuition assistance to nursing students through the tuition assistance program. The institution is working to expand this tuition assistance program in the future to all other undergraduate programs, including sonography and respiratory care.

“We all know the costs of college tuition are skyrocketing, and that graduating with large amounts of college debt is a huge concern for American families,” said Kettering College President Nate Brandstater. “It’s really becoming a national problem, and I’m really excited about the ways we’re innovating here.”

In addition to the tuition assistance program, Kettering College is offering two new program scholarships available to students interested in earning a human biology or respiratory care degree. Each scholarship is awarded based on academic achievement and financial need.

Kettering College is striving to educate and share ways in which college can be affordable for students. Understanding college finances, which include scholarships and financial aid, is an integral part of making a college decision, as well as knowing what graduates earn. In the last year, it was reported Kettering College graduates make an average of $54,000 a year.

Kettering College is also taking an innovative approach to learning. The institution’s Inter-Professional Educational Simulation Center is a state-of-the-art healthcare training facility, which integrates various types of simulations in order to improve patient safety by replicating diverse and real-world scenarios.

“The multidisciplinary approach mirrors real-life experience and is a more effective way for students to learn,” said Donna Moore, IPE Simulation Center director.

This center invites multiple disciplines, such as nursing and occupational therapy students, to practice in a life-like emergency room setting.

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