ODESSA, Texas — The University of Texas Permian Basin is pairing up with the Permian Strategic Partnership in an effort to get nursing and pre-heath students a degree with little to no debt. The University and the PSP hope this will help out the community for years to come.

Donna Beuk, UTPB’s College of Health Sciences Dean said, “It’s to support them so that they can exit without having an extreme amount of debt.”

The Covid-19 pandemic caused a shortage in health care workers all over the U.S., now UTPB is doing something to help nursing students, as well as get more students to attend and hopefully keep them IN West Texas.

“This is a huge initiative for us and it’s going to support not just the Midland, Odessa area, but the entire Permian Basin,” added Beuk.

The CEO and President of Permian Strategic Partnerships, added, “We also know, much like any other profession, you’re more likely to want to work somewhere where you have your roots and you are passionate about and the pride that we take, so we said, let’s take the grow your own model and make health care professionals out of the amazing talent that’s already right here in the Permian.”

Bentley said they hope to show how great of a nursing and pre-health program UTPB already has and to give more to the university.

“We contacted UTPB and said, tell us more about your nursing program, and we found out they have one of the most excellent nursing programs in all of the state and that it could be expanded, if they had more resources to do so,” mentioned Bentley.

The Permian Strategic Partnership is investing $10.6 million to the university and hope that by limiting student’s debt, they can raise the number of health care workers in the Permian Basin.

For more information on the program, you can look at the press release attached below, or follow this link to see more videos from the University of Texas Permian Basin.