LAFAYETTE, La (KLFY) – It’s out with the old and in with the new, South Louisiana Community College (SLCC) students are heading back to school in the spring to a new Health and Sciences building–equipped with all sorts of new technology.

The state of the art facility has been under construction for about a year, and now crews are finally putting the finishing touches on it.

“It’s a $17 million building,” said Christine Payton, Communications & Marketing Director for SLCC. “The college raised $2.1 million in private funds to match the state funds.”

Payton says the new building will serve about 3500 students.

“Our RN program will be housed here along with our LPN program,” said Payton.

Payton says the upgraded building will also come with a better learning experience for students.

“We have a virtual hospital upstairs where the students will learn an ICU situation, a scenario,” said Payton.

Not to mention more classroom space and additional lab areas.

“It’s going to be a better facilitation,” said RN program coordinator, Dr. Nellie Prudhomme. “No one is going to be running over each other, two students may never meet up if they’re from one level to the next. They may never meet up because it is so designed that one group may be in one lab and another group is in an advanced lab.”

Dr. Prudhomme says they’re looking forward to a fresh start in their much needed new home.

“We’re really going to be exposed to a whole lot of different things such as the nursing program is concerned,” Dr. Prudhomme.

“It’s a win-win really for our students, but also for our healthcare partners,” said Payton. “Healthcare is a driver of the economy in Acadiana and the more RN and LPN graduates we can produce, the more they can go to work and meet the workforce demands here in Acadiana.”

Students will start utilizing the new building beginning January 9.