Higher Education in the Yakima Valley
Yakima County offers a complete range of educational resources. Options range from a private technical college, a major university, even a medical university. Parents can choose from a wide variety of public and private educational settings for their children.
YVCC is a public two-year institution with their main campus located at 16th Avenue and Nob Hill Blvd in Yakima and a Lower Valley campus located at 500 W. Main Street in Grandview. Their programs include lower division college arts and sciences, university transfer, and several vocation & technical programs ranging from informational technology to dental hygiene and from winery technology to criminal justice. YVCC offers students many options which are valuable in today’s competitive marketplace.
The Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences (PNWU) will train 75 new primary care physicians per year beginning in 2008. It is the first medical university to open in the entire Pacific Northwest in 60 years! PNWU is staffed by academic instructors and practicing physicians from both the osteopathic and allopathic professions with a student body soon to be near 280.
A four-year university located in Toppenish, Heritage is a private institution whose major fields of concentration are teacher education, business administration, and social sciences. Graduate level courses are also available in education and social sciences. Heritage University provides valuable programs to Yakima Valley residents and is generously supported by alumni and community donors.
Central Washington University (CWU)-Yakima is one of six of CWU’s University Centers that offer upper division and graduate coursework towards baccalaureate and graduate degrees to place bound students. Degree programs are: B.A. Ed. Elementary Education, B A. Law and Justice, B.S. Interdisciplinary Studies – Social Sciences. Coursework that can be applied toward B.S. Business Administration and B.S. Accounting, M. Ed Master and Reading Specialist. CWU-Yakima is in partnership with YVCC and located at the Deccio Higher Education Center with their main campus in Ellensburg, Washington 26 miles north of Yakima.
Perry Technical Institute has been recognized nationally for their state-of-the-art technical programs ranging from instrumentation to HVAC and informational technology to medical office administration. Ten programs are offered at Perry with several more in cooperation with Central Washington University in engineering, robotics, and other technology.
