For-profit California college firm plans 2 Idaho nursing schools, including 1 in Boise
The owners of a private California nursing school see a market opportunity in growing Idaho. They plan to open two nursing schools in rented offices in Boise and Idaho Falls.
Unitek Learnng, an 18-year-old, for-profit company headquartered in Newport Beach, offers instruction at seven Unitek College campuses in California. The Boise campus will operate on the second floor of the Blackeagle Center at 9300 W. Overland Road.
Both of the Idaho campuses, to be known as Eagle Gate College — the same name used by two Unitek campuses in Utah — will offer a bachelor of science degrees in nursing, a master’s degree and a practical nursing program.
It’s unclear how much students in Boise and Idaho Falls will pay for schooling. Unitek representatives did not return phone calls and emails on Tuesday.
Eagle Gate’s Utah campuses are in Murray and Layton. Students there pay nearly $19,000 per year for tuition, books, fees and living expenses, according to the U.S. Department of Education. In California, where the cost of living is higher, Unitek students pay more than twice as much.
“The addition of these nursing programs will help alleviate nursing shortages in the state of Idaho,” Abdel Yosef, Unitek’s chief academic officer, said in a news release.
A 2018 report from the Idaho Alliance of Leaders in Nursing predicts a shortage of 5,906 nurses in Idaho by 2025. The national standard is 10.35 registered nurses per 1,000 residents. Idaho has 9.03.
The report said Idaho needs at least 400 additional nursing graduates per year to keep up with demand.
“There are waiting lists for students to get into nursing programs,” said Russ Barron, executive director of the Idaho Board of Nursing, in a phone interview. “Bringing in another program will help that problem.”
Idaho has about 30,000 nurses, and about 1,600 new nurses are licensed each year, Barron said.
Unitek, which was founded in 2002, received initial approval last fall from the Board of Nursing. The board must also conduct a site visit and give its approval for the college to begin teaching classes.
The school also needs approval from the Idaho State Board of Education and the school’s accreditation agency.
Classes are expected to begin later this year.
The Boise school will enroll up to 200 students at a time. Classes will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The Blackeagle Center will provide 12,000 square feet of space for classrooms and instructional laboratories, along with a student lounge and administrative offices.
On Monday, Unitek listed four jobs for the Boise campus. The company is hiring a campus director, two admissions representatives and a financial aid assistant.
The Idaho expansion comes less than two years after Unitek bought two Utah health care colleges: Eagle Gate College, based in Murray, and Provo College in Provo. The company is also planning to expand to Reno, Nevada.
Unitek also operates an emergency medical technician training program in Chandler, Arizona.
Unitek shows a 94% graduation rate, according to statistics from the U.S. Department of Education. The Eagle Gate campuses in Utah show lower rates: 60% in Layton and 59% in Murray.
Idaho has a number of nursing programs, offered by Boise State, Idaho State and Northwest Nazarene universities, the College of Western Idaho, Brigham Young University-Idaho, Carrington College, Lewis-Clark State College, North Idaho College and the College of Eastern Idaho.
This story was originally published January 8, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
