In good health, Jefferson College has seen growth and change in the last five years.

By Christina Rogers, The Roanoke Times

When Carol Seavor, president of Jefferson College of Health Sciences, talks about the school, she outlines some ambitious goals.  

Sure, this small, privately owned college that trains nurses and other health care professionals has already increased its student numbers by 50 percent, added eight degree programs --including a master's in nursing -- and doubled its faculty in the past five years.

"When I came, it was mostly working adults. There wasn't a college atmosphere," she said.

One of the goals was to attract a younger student population, and that required "beefing up" the undergraduate programs, said Seavor, whose office overlooks Roanoke's Old Southwest neighborhood.

She envisions Jefferson College one day becoming more widely known as a nexus of health care education for the valley, the kind of place with such strong ties to Roanoke that its graduates might march through downtown on commencement day and stop traffic.

Jefferson College will commemorate 25 years on Saturday as a degree-granting institution with a lawn party and reunion at the Fralin House on Jefferson Street, but it's the past five years that have best chiseled out its future.

Next fall, the college will move to its new digs at Carilion Roanoke Community Hospital on Elm Avenue, where its classrooms, administrative offices and dormitories will occupy six floors.

It will leave behind the narrow hallways and linoleum flooring of its current location, a converted-apartment building that doesn't look like an academic facility.

Meanwhile, the college is hoping to reach its target student enrollment of about 1,500, said Nancy Agee, chief operating officer for Carilion, and is aggressively marketing itself locally and out of state.

Some of its students already come from as far away as Alaska, California and Texas. Enrollment this year is at 970, up from 635 in 2002. The nursing program, which accounts for about half of the student body, has doubled its numbers during the same period.

The college offers nursing degrees at the associate, bachelor's and master's levels. Come next year, it will also offer two new master's programs -- one in occupational therapy and another in physician assistance training.

When Seavor arrived at Jefferson College in 2003, she said the school was in need of a cosmetic overhaul. It didn't carry the brand recognition of Hollins University or Roanoke College, nor did it foster the kind of campus life those other colleges offer.

It also needed more student services and tutoring groups.

Even the building itself needed a makeover, and the administration worked to make the classrooms more pleasant by adding color and light, she said.

Carilion is largely behind the scenes pulling the financial levers and, as its parent and owner, sees a stake in boosting its own educational offerings, especially at a time when there is concern of a nursing shortage five to 10 years down the line.

About five years ago, the health care nonprofit began sinking resources into the college, Agee said.

Carilion aimed to double Jefferson's size to recruit more trained workers -- nurses, occupational therapists and other so-called allied-health workers -- and to create a pipeline between the two institutions.

Carilion subsidizes about one-third of the college's operating revenue, said Mark Lambert, a college spokesman.

In the past year, Carilion has also taken several steps to strengthen its educational bond with Jefferson College.

It began offering free tuition to nurses interested in pursuing bachelor's degrees at the college, Agee said.

Aspiring nurses must at least have an associate degree to take the licensing exam.

To keep pace with the school's expansion, however, tuition has increased, doubling to $12,000 annually in 2004 for the average full-time student.

The college now advertises full-time undergraduate tuition of $15,500 for fall and spring semesters on its Web site. But Seavor also said that its tuition is lower than other private health care colleges in the state, partly because of Carilion's financial backing.

As for scholarships, the college estimates that up to 95 percent of its students get some kind of assistance, with both Jefferson College and Carilion offering their own monetary award, Lambert said. The average financial aid package, which 90 percent of the students receive, is about $11,000, he added.

Amid its growth, Jefferson College is not without its obstacles. Nor is its nursing program the only one in the valley seeking to expand.

Virginia Western Community College also offers an associate degree in nursing, and in the past two years more than doubled its enrollment from 50 students to 110 and added new faculty with an infusion of money from Lewis-Gale Medical Center.

Anne Kornegay, dean of health technology at Virginia Western, said that this fall, the nursing program received about 400 applications.

Virginia Western's nursing program has shown consistently high pass rates on the profession's licensing exam, an indicator of a program's performance, educators say.

In the past five years, its pass rates have been 97 percent and higher, according to the Virginia Board of Nursing.

Comparatively, pass rates for students at Jefferson College have been lower, mostly in the 80 percent range for that same period. But those scores are improving.

In 2006, the pass rates hit the 90 percent mark.

Seavor acknowledges there is more work to be done on the educational front and said the college casts a wider net in the kind of students it admits.

Raising the school's profile with potential students and faculty is a work in progress.

Despite its move to Community Hospital next year, the college lacks at least two features that can help establish a marketable identity: There's no residence hall nor a traditional campus.