There might never have been a better time to go to school at Northwestern Michigan College than right now, at least from a financial standpoint.

That’s because state scholarship funds will drastically slash tuition costs for a variety of short-course healthcare programs that are in high demand throughout the region, state and beyond.

Funds available through the Michigan Achievement Skills Scholarship and the Michigan Reconnect program will reduce costs for practical nurse, phlebotomy technician, pharmacy technician, eldercare certificate, medical assistant, hemodialysis technician, medical coding and billing and medical scribe programs.

The former scholarship offers up to $2,000 per year for two years to 2023 high school graduates, and the latter offers $1,500 to students 21 and over who don’t already have a college degree. Tuition for most of the eligible programs ranges up to around $4,000.

“None of these programs are insanely expensive, but if you're not working a professional job, if you're making $15-$20 an hour, it's a big investment,” Elizabeth Sonnabend, program manager for NMC Extended Education and Training, tells The Ticker. “It's been hard for people who are probably the best candidates for this kind of training and employment to put down that kind of money.”

The programs are mostly online and require 300-600 hours to complete, but much of that can be done at a student’s own pace (within reason), making the training much more accessible, Sonnabend says.

“Every one of these you can get done in less than a year with roughly a 10 to 20 hour a week commitment,” she says. “And some of you get done faster than that if you can commit more time.”

State officials say the scholarships are part of a broader plan to increase the number of working-age adults in Michigan with a skill certificate or college degree from 50 percent now to 60 percent by 2030. Of particular focus are programs that can put people in the best chance to succeed by giving them broadly applicable training.

“The great thing is the funding covers things that meet some sort of national standard certification, or statewide certification,” Sonnabend says. “So if you become a medical assistant through one of our programs, you can work pretty much in any state in the country with that certification. Medical billing and coding is another really popular one…every hospital in the country uses the same medical coding language.”

Gina Stein is manager of talent acquisition operations for Munson Healthcare. She confirmed there is a significant demand for the positions the NMC programs are training people for, both at Munson and elsewhere.

“All of those positions are very much in need,” she tells The Ticker. “And they can be used in a variety of locations...these are great opportunities, and a lot of employers are going to be eager to speak with individuals that pursue these roles.”

What’s more, Stein says, is that these entry-level positions provide a great pathway for career advancement once people get their feet in the door.

“This training is going to be really key to getting them hired, and it will also be a launching pad for them to move into other roles,” Stein says. “Sometimes phlebotomists, once they master that skill, can work as a medical assistant or nurse assistant. Once they're trained, they can advance to a nurse tech…and they may find that they want to be a nurse or they may want to be a career nurse assistant, which is great, because we need plenty of them as well.”

Sonnabend echoed those sentiments.

“If you look for medical assistant positions in town, almost every doctor's office is hiring. There's this huge retirement boom,” she says. “And for pharmacy tech, every pharmacy you see is hiring – CVS is hiring, Walgreens is hiring, and they're constantly hiring for that. There's just a high demand for what they do.”

For more information and application details, visit NMC’s website.