UNM Valencia Accepting Nursing Program Applications for Fall 2026 Cohort

New Mexico is trying to fill 8,800 open nursing positions, and Valencia County Hospital: A Lovelace Operation in Los Lunas is on track to complete construction by August, with no locally trained nursing staff yet in place to work there. Starting tomorrow, April 1, UNM-Valencia's nursing program begins accepting applications for its Fall 2026 Associate Degree in Nursing cohort, opening the most direct local path to an RN license that Valencia County has had in at least two years.

The program did not accept applications for the fall 2025 semester, making this the first cohort window since 2024. Seats are competitive and the deadline is firm: June 1, 2026. Applicants who miss that window face another multi-year wait.

The ADN program is housed in the Student Community Center, Building J, second floor, on the northwest side of the Tomé campus. Its stated mission is to train nurses for rural communities, precisely the population and geography that Valencia County's new hospital will serve. The state has committed $50 million to the Los Lunas facility, which was formally named Valencia County Hospital: A Lovelace Operation following a unanimous commission vote last year.

The single most time-sensitive step for interested applicants is scheduling the HESI A2 entrance exam, required as part of the application. Contact the nursing office directly: Gloria Landavazo can be reached at vcnursing@unm.edu or 505-925-8870. The office is open 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Thursday.

Anyone uncertain about prerequisites or transcript standing should schedule an advising session with UNM-Valencia's academic success coach at 505-925-8907. Full program information, including course sequences and approximate program costs, is available through the campus advising office at valencia.unm.edu/students/advisement/index.html.

Working CNAs and LPNs already employed at clinics, home health agencies, or assisted living facilities across Valencia County are the most natural candidates for this cohort. The Tomé campus eliminates the Albuquerque commute that has historically pushed local healthcare workers away from advancing their credentials, and the ADN is the threshold license for registered nurse practice. New Mexico's health care workforce projections show a shortfall of more than 5,140 nurses by 2035, a gap that programs like UNM-Valencia's are specifically built to close, one rural community at a time.

The nursing office opens at 8 a.m. Monday. For those who have been watching for this window to reopen, the wait ends tomorrow.