Student Services

Student Housing

NC AHEC student housing is short-term lodging for health sciences students who are completing community-based rotations in North Carolina. Students are not required to use NC AHEC housing, and NC AHEC housing is not meant to serve or replace a student’s permanent residence. Our goal is to make community-based education at clinical sites more accessible.

We have provided student housing since the 1970s, now providing over 56,000 nights annually. The nine regional AHECs provide housing in 50 counties in approximately 70 towns and cities across the state. The majority of our housing is through rented apartments or AHEC-owned homes/condos, but we also utilize private homeowners, especially in rural areas.

As of June 1, 2024, for our primary academic partners or affiliated universities (see list below), the current rate is $14 night; for all others the rate is $50 per night.

AHEC Affiliated Universities & Colleges

  • Appalachian State University
  • Campbell University
  • Duke University
  • East Carolina University
  • Elon University
  • Gardner-Webb University
  • High Point University
  • Lenoir-Rhyne University
  • Meredith College
  • Methodist University
  • NC A&T University
  • Pfeiffer University
  • UNC-Chapel Hill
  • UNC-Charlotte
  • UNC-Greensboro
  • UNC-Wilmington
  • Wake Forest University
  • Western Carolina University
  • Wingate University
  • Winston Salem State University

Individual AHECs may also provide services or support to other universities (non-affiliated) at the local level.

In compliance with UNC General Administration Board of Governors directives, AHEC does not collect any fees from students of affiliated schools. The NC AHEC Program Office invoices affiliated universities twice yearly for their student’s use of housing. Local AHECs collect housing fees directly from students of non-affiliated schools.

Any health sciences student may apply for NC AHEC housing through our online portal at my.ncahec.net. Each AHEC reviews applications, taking into account a variety of factors (date of application, length of stay, co-ed status, school affiliation) and notifies the student as soon as possible. We also implemented an online evaluation process and welcome students’ feedback on their stays at NC AHEC housing.

While we are not able to meet every housing request and the demand for student housing continues to grow, NC AHEC student housing is among the largest (if not the largest) student housing system within the National AHEC Organization.

Impact

As the founding director of FirstHealth Dental Care Centers, Sharon Nicholson Harrell, DDS, is fulfilling a goal she set for herself in undergraduate school: to care for underserved populations. As an AHEC preceptor, she is encouraging future graduates to do the same.
Southern Regional AHEC Story

Sharon Nicholson Harrell, DDS

 

What We Do

We support students, preceptors, and health sciences schools.

As part of our mission to meet the state’s health and health workforce needs, NC AHEC supports health sciences students from North Carolina colleges and universities and helps schools secure community practitioners—preceptors—to teach the next generation of health professionals.

We help students prepare for medical practice.

We facilitate the teaching of medical, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, certified nurse midwifery, and pharmacy students at 1,429 community sites and with more than 2,234 individual preceptors across the state.

Find student housing near your North Carolina rotation.

We offer short-term lodging for health sciences students who are completing community-based rotations in North Carolina. The nine regional AHECs provide short-term housing in more than 50 counties and in approximately 70 towns and cities across the state-more than 56,000 nights of student housing annually!

 

Quality community-based education requires effective partnerships among students, schools, and community preceptors.

Community-based student rotations are important parts of any health science student’s education. NC AHEC supports a variety of learning experiences, particularly at locations in rural and underserved areas. Allied health, dentistry, medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy, and social work students receive part of their training away from academic centers—in community hospitals, physicians’ offices, rural health centers, public health departments, mental health centers, and other health-related settings. We arrange short-term housing so health sciences students can complete their community rotations. We also help facilitate community placement and problem-solve logistical issues.

Learn More about NC AHEC Student Housing

All health sciences schools depend on community preceptors to help train their students. NC AHEC helps secure community practitioners to precept students, and we assist schools in recruiting new community sites for learning. We provide financial, informational, and educational incentives to providers willing to precept, and we support preceptor development with approved training courses and by providing preceptors with full access to the AHEC Digital Library, which includes Medline and other evidence-based resources.

If you are a clinician who would like to learn more about precepting or if you would like precepting assistance, contact your AHEC.

Find Your AHEC

 

Student Services

We support students, preceptors, and health science schools.

Health science students from many North Carolina colleges and universities studying allied health, dentistry, medicine, nursing, public health, pharmacy, and social work receive part of their training under NC AHEC auspices in community hospitals, physician’s offices, rural health centers, public health departments, mental health centers, and other health-related settings.

The nine regional AHECs enable statewide community-based training for health professionals in an effort to reverse a trend toward shortages and uneven distribution of health care practitioners in the state’s rural areas.

We also facilitate quality, community-based, primary care education for health science students. Begun in 1993 under the name NC AHEC Office of Regional Primary Care Education (ORPCE) , we provided assistance in that first year to 595 individual students; this number has now reached more than 2,500.

Currently, NC AHEC Student Services facilitates the teaching of medical, nurse practitioner, physician assistant, certified nurse midwifery, and UNC-Chapel Hill PharmD students in 1,382 community sites and with more than 2,180 individual preceptors across the state.

NC AHEC Student Services offers short-term lodging for health science students who are completing community-based rotations in North Carolina. The nine regional AHECs provide housing in 54 counties in approximately 70 towns/cities across the state.

High quality community-based education depends on effective partnerships between the health science schools, regional AHECs, and practicing clinicians.

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