Pasco-Hernando State College will add nursing seats, dental hygiene slots and a bigger simulation center after the Florida Legislature approved $850,000 for the college's health care workforce programs.

The money goes to the Institute for Nursing & Allied Health Advancement, a training hub PHSC created in 2024 to close staffing gaps at hospitals and clinics across Pasco and Hernando counties. State Rep. Randy Maggard and state Sen. Danny Burgess secured the institute's original $1.5 million appropriation that year. A $750,000 follow-up came in 2025, and the latest $850,000 brings the state's total commitment to roughly $3.1 million, according to the Laker Lutz News.

PHSC President Eric Hall said the funding opens career pathways for students and helps local hospitals fill open positions in a county that has grown roughly 15% in five years and now sits near 650,000 residents, according to the college.

Institute trains students for local health care jobs

The institute trains registered nurses, radiographers, surgical technologists, medical assistants and phlebotomists. Most finish in two years or less. They go to work locally, according to the college.

College directs funds to simulation lab, seats

PHSC has begun directing the cumulative state investment into several priorities. The college is putting $800,000 toward expanding its simulation center, where students practice clinical skills on advanced manikins, virtual-reality systems and standardized actors without risking real patient safety. Another $300,000 is going toward increased nursing enrollment, and $150,000 will fund 12 new seats in a planned dental hygiene cohort. The college also set aside $5,000 in scholarships so 25 students in grades 6-12 can attend health care career camps at no cost to their families.

Pasco County's rapid growth is driving demand

The demand tracks with Pasco County's growth.

Local business leaders project the county's population will eventually reach 1 million. That growth is driving parallel investments in health care education at the K-12 level. Pasco County Schools Superintendent John Legg said in August, when the district announced an $80 million medical magnet high school in Wesley Chapel, that the region will need 30,000 new medical jobs within five years.

"We want our students here in Pasco County to be front of the line for those jobs," Legg told Tampa Bay 28.

Hospital partnership backs regional talent pipeline

Beyond state dollars, Orlando Health contributed $500,000 to the institute in August 2025. Virginia Whitaker, PHSC's director of strategic initiatives, leads the institute. Its Executive Council met at the Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch in Wesley Chapel, where Sally Seymour, CEO of HCA Florida Bayonet Point Hospital, said the partnership is helping build the talent pipeline the region's hospitals need.

The 25 career-camp scholarships are open to middle and high school students, with families paying nothing out of pocket.