JRMC, University of Mary launch full-tuition respiratory therapy scholarship

One Jamestown student will be able to train as a respiratory therapist at the University of Mary without paying tuition, as Jamestown Regional Medical Center puts money behind a new pipeline meant to ease a regional staffing shortage.

JRMC has committed funding for a full-tuition scholarship in the University of Mary’s respiratory therapy program in Bismarck. The selected student will receive 100% tuition support, giving one local candidate a direct path into a health care field that hospitals across the region need more of.

The scholarship is being framed as more than financial aid. It is a workforce investment in a specialty that is becoming harder to staff, with JRMC and the university presenting the award as part of a broader effort to keep trained health professionals in North Dakota. The University of Mary describes its respiratory therapy program as nationally recognized, which gives the scholarship a path into a program with strong credentials and direct job relevance for hospitals like JRMC.

For Jamestown and Stutsman County, the stakes are practical. Respiratory therapists play a key role in patient care, especially in hospitals that manage lung disease, breathing problems and other acute needs. A scholarship that covers the full cost of training can make the difference for a student deciding whether to stay in the field, and for a local hospital trying to build its own future workforce instead of competing for already scarce talent.

JRMC Foundation says it already offers scholarship opportunities to support students pursuing health care careers, and the new respiratory therapy award extends that commitment into one of the region’s harder-to-fill jobs. The move also fits a local pattern of institutions working together to build pipelines. The Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce past presidents have maintained a longtime scholarship partnership with the University of Jamestown and JRMC to support incoming students.

Taken together, the partnerships show a familiar Jamestown strategy: invest early in students, then hope those students come home to work. For Stutsman County families, the value of the scholarship will be measured later, when a trained respiratory therapist is available to care for patients who need one.