WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2021 – The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) today announced it is investing $42.3 million to help rural residents gain access to health care and educational opportunities (PDF, 255 KB). Rural areas are seeing higher infection and death rates related to COVID-19 due to several factors, including a much higher percentage of underlying conditions, difficulty accessing medical care, and lack of health insurance. The $42.3 million in awards includes $24 million provided through the CARES Act. In total, these investments will benefit 5 million rural residents.

As part of this program, UA Cossatot has been awarded $400,587. This Rural Development investment will be used to implement a distance learning system with virtual reality welding simulators at five rural sites in Sevier, Little River and Howard counties. The system will allow Cossatot Community College to offer distance learning skilled sciences courses to additional rural students at multiple locations. The grant will fund network fiber upgrades at Cossatot’s Lockesburg campus . The college expects to train 30 students in welding technology at five end-user sites annually. The equipment also will be available for special training sessions in evenings and on weekends for workers and industry partners.

UAC Chancellor Steve Cole said, "We will be receiving $400,000 to pilot, beginning next school year, a virtual welding program that will link our four campuses and Dierks High School. We are excited to see the success we can have if we keep being progressive and proactive when it comes to technical education. This will allow students to access a welding learning environment from a distance, ensuring we can continue to teach students even if they are quarantined or live in extremely remote areas. We look forward to putting this in motion."