PHSC Wins $850,000 in State Funding to Grow Nursing Programs at Wesley Chapel's Porter Campus

Pasco-Hernando State College is getting $850,000 from the Florida Legislature to expand nursing and allied health training at its Porter Campus in Wesley Chapel, money the college says will add nursing seats, grow its simulation lab, and start a new dental hygiene track as local hospitals compete for staff.

It's the third year in a row state lawmakers have funded PHSC's Institute for Nursing & Allied Health Advancement, which is based at the Wiregrass Ranch campus. Counting this year's appropriation, the state has now put roughly $3.1 million into the program since it launched in 2024.

For Wesley Chapel families, the practical effect is more room. The Institute trains the people who staff exam rooms, operating rooms and ambulances across Pasco and Hernando counties, registered nurses, radiographers, surgical technologists, medical assistants and phlebotomists, most of whom finish their programs in two years or less and go straight to work locally.

Where the money is going

PHSC has already begun directing the funds into four specific initiatives.

The simulation center expansion is the biggest single piece. It lets students run through realistic clinical scenarios, on manikins and with actors playing patients, without the risk that comes with practicing on real patients. That matters for a college trying to graduate more nurses and technicians faster without cutting corners on training quality.

Why it's happening now

Pasco County has grown about 15 percent over the past five years and now sits near 650,000 residents, with local business leaders projecting growth toward a million. Every new resident is another person who needs a doctor's office, a hospital bed or an ambulance crew staffed with someone who trained somewhere. PHSC's pitch to lawmakers has been that keeping that training local keeps the graduates local too.

The Institute was created in 2024 with a $1.5 million appropriation secured by state Representative Randy Maggard and state Senator Danny Burgess. A second appropriation of $750,000 followed in 2025. This year's $850,000 brings the running total to about $3.1 million in three years. Orlando Health also gave the Institute a $500,000 gift in August 2025 to support its work, on top of the state funding.

The Institute functions as a standing partnership between PHSC and regional health care employers rather than a college program working alone. Its executive council, which includes PHSC leadership, faculty, trustees and foundation members, met at the Porter Campus last week. Sally Seymour, CEO of HCA Florida's Bayonet Point Hospital, said the partnership is helping build the pipeline of talent the region needs to keep providing care as it grows. PHSC President Eric Hall said the continued state investment lets the college respond directly to the workforce need, giving students more paths into health care careers while giving local providers the trained staff they need.

What's next

PHSC has not set a public date for when the expanded simulation center or the new nursing seats will be open to students, and the dental hygiene cohort tied to the 12 new seats has not started yet. The career camp scholarships are aimed at middle and high schoolers, meaning some of the students benefiting this year could be entering PHSC's own nursing or allied health programs within a few years.

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