No. 12 Big College Town
El Paso Ranked No. 12 Big College Town
TTUHSC El Paso celebrates ranking and 10 years of enhancing the city with education and health care
El Paso was recently ranked the No. 12 big college town in the U.S., thanks in part to the culture and people in the Sun City and institutions like Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso.
For the past 10 years, TTUHSC El Paso has served El Paso as the only health sciences center on the U.S.-Mexico border and a designated Title V Hispanic-Serving Institution.
Online newswire Stacker identified the 50 best big-city college towns using WalletHub’s 2023 “Best College Towns & Cities in America” study, which compared 415 U.S. cities using 32 key indicators of academic, social and economic opportunities for students. These included cost of living, quality of higher education and crime rate. Stacker, in turn, filtered WalletHub’s rankings to include only the top 50 big cities – those with at least 300,000 residents and a university or college population of at least 7,500 students.
Using WalletHub’s methodology, El Paso received a weighted total score of 54.4, placing it in 12th place among the 50 best big-city college towns, according to Stacker. This included a WalletHub ranking of 195 out of 415 in academic and economic opportunities; 98 out of 415 in “wallet friendliness;” and 57 out of 415 in “social environment.”
El Paso is located at the western tip of Texas, where Texas, New Mexico and Mexico meet. As the largest international metroplex in the world, the vibrancy of culture, art and growth blend seamlessly in the Sun City, appropriately named because the sun shines over 300 days a year on average, making it an ideal place for year-round outdoor activities. The uniqueness of the city isn’t the only highlight that makes it remarkable. As a city supported by a growing community of leaders and changemakers, the area is at the forefront of transformational change, including TTUHSC El Paso – a campus created and expanded by the community.
TTUHSC El Paso’s Decade of Impact
TTUHSC El Paso is proud to help elevate the city as a destination for world-class health education and research. This year, TTUHSC El Paso celebrates its 10th anniversary as an independent university within the Texas Tech University System. TTUHSC El Paso is home to the Foster School of Medicine, Hunt School of Nursing, Francis Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Hunt School of Dental Medicine.
Having graduated over 2,000 doctors, nurses and researchers to date, and soon adding dentists to its alumni, TTUHSC El Paso is a significant contributor to the economy, with an economic impact of $634.4 million annually, up from a previous $227 million, according to a Texas Tech University Rawls College of Business report.
TTUHSC El Paso’s success in the community is built on its ability to provide advanced educational opportunities for underrepresented students, a unique curriculum that offers students early clinical training and community service opportunities, and, ultimately, the impact graduates have on increasing access to quality health care.
“As we provide health care to the underserved and grow our own successful and compassionate health care leaders, we continue our commitment to the El Paso community and its growth,” said TTUHSC El Paso President Richard Lange, M.D., M.B.A. “We’re providing world-class education on the U.S.-Mexico border and life-changing health care for our Borderplex residents.”
Health Care for Underserved Communities
TTUHSC El Paso’s mission is to meet the needs of the most underserved. The university and its clinical practice, Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso, serve 108 counties in West Texas that have been historically underserved.
As a health sciences center along the U.S.-Mexico border, TTUHSC El Paso is educating a large population of Hispanic students to meet the needs of the region and beyond. In the U.S., Hispanics are expected to account for 25% of the population in just over a decade.
However, there remains a shortage of Hispanic physicians in the U.S. Nationwide, about 6% of active physicians identified as Hispanic as of July 1, 2019, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges. TTUHSC El Paso is in a unique position to help reverse these kinds of disparities in the physician and nursing professions: 48% of the student body at TTUHSC El Paso is Hispanic.
Representation of underrepresented in the health care field empowers patients to ask questions about their health, strengthens patient-provider trust, reduces language barriers and encourages follow-up appointments for ongoing conditions.
Facilities like the Foster School of Medicine’s Student Run Clinic in Sparks, Texas, provide an avenue for representation as students offer bilingual care through routine checks and life-saving screenings, including mammograms for breast cancer and blood pressure and glucose checks.
A new “Power of Promotores” project at TTUHSC El Paso will assist students in bringing much-needed bilingual diabetes care information and education to the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, the Hunt School of Dental Medicine’s Texas Tech Dental Oral Health Clinic offers students, under supervision of faculty, opportunities to deliver high-quality oral health care to Borderplex residents.
As TTUHSC El Paso students help meet the needs of the community through clinics and community outreach, the expectation is many will stay in the West Texas community, choosing to work locally as health care providers. It’s a critical need because El Paso County is designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area.
“Opportunities are radiating from TTUHSC El Paso, adding to the accolades the city receives,” Dr. Lange said. “As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we’ll continue transforming the health of the region into the next decade.”
About Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso
TTUHSC El Paso is the only health sciences center on the U.S.-Mexico border and serves 108 counties in West Texas that have been historically underserved. It’s a designated Title V Hispanic-Serving Institution, preparing the next generation of health care heroes, 48% of whom identify as Hispanic and are often first-generation students.
Established as an independent university in the Texas Tech University System in 2013, TTUHSC El Paso is celebrating 10 years as a proudly diverse and uniquely innovative destination for education and research. According to a 2022 analysis, TTUHSC El Paso contributes $634.4 million annually to our Borderplex region’s economy.
With a mission of eliminating health care barriers and creating life-changing educational opportunities for Borderplex residents, TTUHSC El Paso has graduated over 2,000 doctors, nurses and researchers over the past decade, and will add dentists to its alumni beginning in 2025. For more information, visit www.ttuhscepimpact.com.