SPRINGFIELD, Mass. - Students in the Springfield Tech Community College health care programs will soon have better opportunities to take their studies to the next level, at a new location on campus.

The community college received a $30 million state grant this month to move their health care programs out of an aging building.

According to Springfield Tech president John Cook, the building where they are now was built in 1941 and hosts 18 degree and certificate Allied health programs, as well as the SIMS Medical Center.

Cook said it’s no longer possible to support the programs in the building, and this grant will support hundreds of students from around the region.

“There’s a lot of technology, real high fidelity patient simulation, that is part and parceled of these kind of programs,” Cook said. “So you want to make sure your students are working, preparing for these clinical environments on that current technology. So all of that moves, all that moves as part of a project like this.”

Cook said the next step in the relocation process will design the architectural structure of the new facility with the goal of a full transition to be by fall of 2024.