The two osteopathic medical schools under development in Arkansas are expected to give their areas a financial lift.
“Not only will it provide a needed influx of physicians to improve critical health care in this region, it will also provide a significant boost to our regional economy,” said Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders in a February 2014 news release that announced the proposed osteopathic college in Fort Smith.
The $32.4 million, 102,000-SF building is expected to be completed and furnished in July 2016, said Kyle Parker, president and CEO of the Arkansas Colleges of Health Education, which is doing business as the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine. The opening date will depend on when the school receives accreditation from the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.
The school will have room to teach 150 students in each class, for a total of 600 students when it’s full four years after opening. Annual tuition will be $43,000.
Parker said that other osteopathic schools that have a class size equal to the proposed school maintain that the economic impact is approximately $100 million per year.
Jonesboro is expected to see a similar economic boost.
The direct and indirect economic impact of the osteopathic school of the New York Institute of Technology at Jonesboro is expected to total $69.9 million during the two-year startup period, according to a January 2014 study by the consulting firm Tripp Umbach of Pittsburgh. NYIT’s Jonesboro’s location will also provide 317 jobs and add $2.1 million in taxes to northeast Arkansas, the report said.
NYIT’s Jonesboro location is expected to start taking its first class of 115 students in the fall of 2016.
By 2020, 460 students are expected to be at the NYIT’s Jonesboro location. NYIT’s annual tuition will be $53,000.
And in a number of cases, those 460 students will have significant others, spouses or families, said Jeff Hankins, vice president for strategic communications and economic development for the Arkansas State University System.
“You’re talking a about an extraordinary impact … on housing, apartments, restaurants,” Hankins said.
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