With Nevada spread out into mostly desert areas, centered around two main cities--Reno and Las Vegas--it still has educational opportunities to offer.
If you choose to study in northern Nevada, you are a short drive to beautiful mountains and the crystal blue Lake Tahoe. If you have a long weekend to spare, Los Angeles is a four-hour drive from Las Vegas, located in southern Nevada.
The College of Southern Nevada (CSN) is the largest college in Nevada, with three campus locations in Las Vegas and Henderson. Enrollment at the college is over 21,800 students, with the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) a close second, enrolling over 20,500 students.
While CSN features multiple associate degrees in careers ranging from accounting to business management, to creative writing or theater studies, it also offers a bachelor's degree in dental hygiene.
CSN offers many trade school degrees as well, such as: culinary arts management, air conditioning technology, automotive technology, pastry arts, and of course, casino management.
UNLV offers a larger range of degrees, up to the doctoral level, including being part of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, which shares campuses in Reno and Las Vegas. They also offer an MFA program in creative writing, and several master's and doctor degrees in other science and arts fields.
The University of Nevada, which enrolls close to 14,000 students, has the medical school on campus, but boasts many degrees from associate level through doctoral level as well, including agricultural science, Basque studies, biomedical engineering, wildlife ecology and conservation, and social psychology.
While CSN offers many certificates in trade careers, there are also other institutes available for career training and online education, including Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts and ITT Technical Institute.
Several art institutes and technology schools, as well as the Academy of Court Reporting offer online degrees and programs available to residents of the state.
The price of education in the state of Nevada is slightly lower than the national average, with a four year degree running about $12,000 (which includes room and board), and a two year degree running about $2,000.
Almost 84 percent of the population has a high school degree, and 21 percent of the population has a bachelor's degree or higher.
Since the primary employment in Nevada is leisure and hospitality, which includes the gaming industry, the universities offer several degrees to help you get your foot in the door in these fields. Trade, transportation, and utilities are the second largest employers of workers in the state.
Though the number of schools may be fewer, the selection of degrees offered is still plentiful in Nevada. And there are several colleges and universities to chose from, whether for technical schools or career education, Nevada colleges offer multiple career paths for their patrons.