Chamberlain University, a Chicago-based for-profit nursing school that bills itself as the largest in the country, will open its first Utah campus in Sandy on October 26, with an accelerated three-year bachelor's degree aimed at students who need night, weekend, and online classes to fit school around work and family.
The campus will occupy the third floor of an existing office building at 9490 S. 300 West, near Colonial Flag and Salt Lake Community College's Miller campus. Applications opened July 21, according to the university's announcement.
The opening arrives as Utah holds the worst nurse-to-resident ratio in the nation for the second straight year. The state has just 1,399 nurses per 100,000 residents, according to National Council of State Boards of Nursing data cited by the Salt Lake Tribune. Alaska, the highest-ranked state, has 3,139.
Chamberlain President Amelia Manning said in a statement the school aims to train nurses who will stay and practice in Utah. Trevor Scott, the Sandy campus's executive director, will oversee day-to-day operations.
Students will train in an on-site simulation center before completing clinical rotations with local partners DaVita, which provides dialysis care, and Odyssey House of Utah, a residential treatment program for substance use disorder. That local clinical pipeline matters: a shortage of clinical partners is one of the key constraints limiting how many nursing degrees Utah's public universities can offer, the Tribune reported.
Cost and competition
The three-year program runs about $100,000 at full cost, according to Chamberlain's published pricing. A comparable four-year degree at the University of Utah costs about $44,000 at sticker price before scholarships or financial aid, the Tribune reported.
Chamberlain joins a growing field of private nursing schools in Utah, including Joyce University of Nursing & Health Sciences, Nightingale College, Western Governors University, and Galen College of Nursing, which recently announced a bachelor's program at its Draper campus.
A 2024 state audit found that between 2007 and 2014, 35% of qualified applicants for public bachelor's nursing programs in Utah were turned away. Between 2016 and 2022, the Utah System of Higher Education lost 14% of its nursing-student market share while nontraditional schools gained 24%.
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said in September 2025, when lawmakers declined Utah State University's proposal to expand nursing enrollment, "I think there's other institutions that can pick that up."
What's ahead
Chamberlain serves roughly 40,000 students across what will be 26 campuses in 17 states after the Sandy opening. The school says more than 200 of its alumni already work in nursing jobs in Utah. Chamberlain has not announced how many students the first Sandy cohort will accept. Prospective students can apply at chamberlain.edu/saltlakecity.
