UPMC opens new Altoona nursing school | News, Sports, Jobs

Altoona used to have two schools of nursing, one associated with Altoona Hospital and one with Mercy Hospital — but both closed decades ago.

As of Wednesday, the city has a nursing school again: a branch campus of the UPMC Mercy School of Nursing in Pittsburgh, to be housed at the UPMC Altoona complex on Howard Avenue.

The school will begin instructions for its first group of approximately 100 students in fall 2026 for a 16-month diploma course, with a new crop of students each year thereafter, in expectation of replacing the approximately 100 “travel” nurses who currently work at UPMC Altoona — out of 500 total RNs — with staff nurses within 2.5 years.

“We hope the students feel comfortable and stay there post-graduation,” said Angela Balistrieri, director of UPMC Mercy School of Nursing in Pittsburgh. The intention is to create “a pipeline” for registered nurses for UPMC Altoona, said Kitty Zelnosky, the hospital’s chief nursing officer.

The local hospital’s problems connected with a nationwide nursing shortage have eased somewhat since the pandemic, but the hospital would prefer to eliminate its continued reliance on travel nurses in favor of staffers who would be caring for “their own community members,” Zelnosky said.

Staff nurses are significantly less expensive for hospitals to employ, according to online sources.

The basic tuition for the diploma course will be $33,000.

Students who pay for and pass the first of its four semesters can then take out a loan for the remainder of the tuition and pay it back merely by working for three years at the hospital, Balistrieri said.

To qualify for admission, students must be high school graduates, must have taken two science courses, one of which must be biology, along with an algebra course, and must have earned at least a C for all three of those courses, according to Balistrieri.

The targeted demographic is not only new high school graduates, but also older individuals, according to Zelnosky.

“Adult learners looking for a second career,” she said. “This is an easy pathway.”

The course will require 900 hours of clinical rotations at UPMC Altoona and 21 credits in science and humanities at Saint Francis University, according to a hospital news release.

Basic instruction will take place in the G Building, the green structure within the hospital complex at the corner of Howard Avenue and Fourth Street, Zelnosky said.

No renovations will be required there, she said.

After graduating with a registered nursing diploma and beginning work as nurses, students can easily go to Saint Francis for

higher-level degrees: bachelor of science in nursing, master of science in nursing or doctorate in nursing practice, according to Zelnosky.

“Students have options which work for them and their life,” Zelnosky said. “(But) this is a great foundation.”

Officials announced the formation of the school within the hospital about noon Wednesday and, by late afternoon, had received inquiries from interested workers, Balistrieri said.

UPMC itself will be funding the school, with help from the tuition that students will pay, according to Balistrieri.

“It’s a very large commitment” for the organization, she said.

Teachers will be recruited locally, with current employees expected to supply some of the faculty of approximately 10, Balistrieri said.

Graduates of UPMC Mercy School of Nursing in Pittsburgh pass their National Council Licensure Examinations at a rate of 95%, Balistrieri said.

The Pittsburgh school was founded in 1893 by the Sisters of Mercy.

It admits 100 to 200 students a year and graduates about 120.

The Altoona Hospital School of Nursing opened in 1904 and closed in 1996, while the original Mercy Hospital School of Nursing in Altoona opened in 1910 and closed in 1985, according to online sources.

The last day to apply for the inaugural fall 2026 class for the new UPMC Mercy School of Nursing at UPMC Altoona is June 1, 2026.

For more information, visit UPMC.com/SON.

While it will be only the second UPMC Mercy School of Nursing campus, it will be one of eight nursing school campuses in the UPMC hospital system, Balistrieri said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.