{"id":167071,"date":"2026-07-23T12:15:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=167071"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:15:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T16:15:15","slug":"wright-state-university-and-premier-health-nursing-academy-expands-affordable-pathway-to-nursing-careers-amid-growing-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2026\/07\/23\/wright-state-university-and-premier-health-nursing-academy-expands-affordable-pathway-to-nursing-careers-amid-growing-demand\/","title":{"rendered":"Wright State University and Premier Health Nursing Academy expands affordable pathway to nursing careers amid growing demand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Three<\/a>

Wright State Nursing Academy students gain hands-on clinical experience in the classroom and through paid positions at Premier Health. (Photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n

The Wright State University and Premier Health Nursing Academy<\/a> is helping more students pursue nursing careers through financial support, hands-on clinical experience and a direct pathway to employment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The program provides eligible nursing students with up to $8,000 in annual tuition assistance from Premier Health. Combined with Wright State University scholarships<\/a> and available federal and state financial aid, the support helps make earning a nursing degree more accessible, enabling students to complete their degrees and launch careers that strengthen and retain the nursing workforce across the Dayton region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Students in Wright State\u2019s Nursing Academy complete the same academic curriculum as other nursing students while working as paid, part-time Premier Health employees. This experience allows students to become acclimated to a professional healthcare environment, build relationships with care teams, explore nursing specialties and gain firsthand insight into the career opportunities available across Premier Health\u2019s network of facilities and locations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Nursing Academy has demonstrated early success in local workforce retention. Of 13 students from Wright State\u2019s Bachelor of Science in Nursing program who have completed the academy, 10 are currently employed at Premier Health.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy connecting students with meaningful healthcare experiences early in their academic journey, Premier is able to develop and retain this talent while helping address critical workforce needs across our organization,\u201d said Mallon Briggerman, workforce and talent development business partner at Premier Health.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lillian Currey, a 2026 graduate, is employed as a new graduate nurse in the Emergency Department at Atrium Medical Center in Middletown.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRemaining in the Dayton area to serve this community was extremely important to me. I also wanted to begin my nursing career with an organization where I could continue learning, gain experience and be encouraged to grow both personally and professionally,\u201d said Currey.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBy working at Premier Health through the program, I became familiar with their environment, equipment, workflows and patient interactions, while also building confidence and developing relationships. With support from my managers, encouragement to pursue professional development and being advocated for as both a student and a professional, I saw how Premier invests in their employees\u2019 growth and development.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAffordability is a key consideration for many students and families when making decisions about higher education,\u201d said Bethany DeLong, director of enrollment and retention in the College of Health, Education, and Human Services<\/a>. \u201cThe financial support provided by these programs makes pursuing a nursing degree more accessible and helps students see a career in healthcare as an achievable goal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Currey echoes this sentiment, noting that Premier\u2019s financial investment demonstrates how the organization is actively supporting the next generation of nurses in their career goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs someone who has paid for their own education, the program significantly reduced my financial burden,\u201d she said. \u201cLooking back, if the academy had existed when I first began at Wright State, I would have graduated debt-free.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Building on the success of the undergraduate Nursing Academy, Wright State University and Premier Health expanded their partnership to support nurses throughout their careers with the launch of the graduate-level Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Academy<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Nursing Academy helps undergraduate students begin their nursing careers through tuition assistance and clinical experience, the APRN Academy supports current practicing nurses who hold a bachelor\u2019s degree as they pursue advanced practice education at Wright State. Participants pursue either adult-gerontology acute care or family nurse practitioner concentrations, which align with Premier Health\u2019s highest workforce needs, and are eligible for up to $10,000 annually in financial support.<\/span><\/p>\n

The College of Health, Education and Human Services anticipates continued growth in program participation as Wright State\u2019s nursing program expands. The university\u2019s nursing facilities are undergoing a $6 million expansion project<\/a> that will nearly double enrollment from 380 this spring to an estimated 740 by the 2027-28 academic year.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Financial support, paid clinical experience and a direct connection to Premier Health are helping Wright State nursing students graduate with less debt while building a stronger local healthcare workforce. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":167083,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,2048,744,725,715,2796,4920],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-167071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-enrollment-management","category-education-human-services","category-home-news-sidebar","category-news","category-nursing","category-premier-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167071"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167258,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167071\/revisions\/167258"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}