The $15 million expansion of the community college into Stafford County will focus on meeting critical needs in cybersecurity and health care.
"Stafford has the largest population in Germanna's service area," said Jack Rowley, president of the Germanna Educational Foundation's Real Estate Foundation, which announced the expansion this weekend. "We will now be better positioned to serve county students with an affordable, high-quality, college education. With Germanna's focus on Allied Health Service and cybersecurity, students will be prepared for skills-gap careers in health care and government."
Community donors have contributed $4.5 million to the cost of the expansion, Rowley said.
Two buildings, named the Barbara J. Fried Center and the Kevin L. Dillard Health Sciences Center, will total over 74,000 square feet of space for students in nursing and cybersecurity, as well as IT, general education, and dual enrollment programs.
Germanna's Real Estate Foundation worked with Next Tier Connect to facilitate the expansion, which is the single biggest transaction and project ever undertaken by the foundation," said foundation executive director Bruce Davis.
Stafford has the largest number of applicants to Germanna's nursing program and travel to the health sciences campus in Locust Grove is difficult for many of them, said Patti Lisk, the community college's dean of nursing.
The area's nursing shortage is projected to worsen when the new Veterans Administration Clinic opens in Spotsylvania in 2023 or 2024, which is one of the reasons Germanna is expanding its nursing program.
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