When Maria Garcia was a senior at Eldorado High School, she wasn't sure if college was for her.

After being caught in the grip of the nation's economic struggles, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas has struggled for the past four years to recover from a plunge in student attendance.

Just east of this desert city's gleaming resort corridor, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas anchors a hardscrabble stretch of Clark County with early signs of college life.

Medical education in Nevada is growing and is poised for significant expansion. Collectively, the current and proposed changes will eventually go far in reversing the state’s shortages of medical students, physician residency programs, doctors and nurses.