Rice Hospital to discontinue School of Radiologic Technology

WILLMAR -- A long-standing program at Rice Memorial Hospital to train radiologic technologists is being discontinued.

The hospital made the announcement today.

The last class will graduate in 2012, said Michael Schramm, chief executive at Rice Hospital. "We're going to finish out the students that have signed on to the program," he said.

But the application process for the two-year education program has ended, he said. The program admits six students per year.

Hospital officials cited the cost of the program, around $300,000 per graduating class, as the reason for eliminating the School of Radiologic Technology.

"We just couldn't afford to do it anymore... We just didn't believe it was sustainable," Schramm said.