LEBANON - Development of the College of Osteopathic Medicine of the Pacific Northwest on 53 acres west of Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital is expected to pump more than $100 million into the area economy over seven years, its sponsoring organization predicts.

William Bryan, spokesman for the college's parent organization, Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., said some $20 million will be spent on site development, including construction of a two-story, 54,000-square-foot classroom, lab and research building. Bids for that project are to be opened Nov. 24, with construction expected to start in early January.

"We will spend $2.5 to

$4 million equipping the new building with state-of-the-art electronics," Bryan said. "Students will have electronic textbooks. The information instructors write on a white board will automatically go to student laptops."

The medical school will have an annual operating budget of about $15 million.

Tuition is $40,000 per year and students are expected to receive about $20 million in financial aid once enrollment ramps up to 400 students - 100 students in each year of training.

There will be about 50 new jobs created by the school, Bryan said.

Bryan said the decision to site a medical school in Lebanon was based on the answers to four key questions:

• Is there a need for medical doctors?

Bryan said that was a definite yes. Although the population of the United States has increased by 70 million people over the last 20 years, the number of medical schools has remained static.

Oregon ranks 43rd out of 45 states with medical schools in terms of medical students per 100,000 population. In 2008, only 427 Oregon students applied to medical school, with 67 enrolling in-state and 98 enrolled out-of-state. Some 61 percent did not enroll at all.

• Is it the right environment for a medical school?

Bryan said Samaritan Health Services President and CEO Larry Mullins and his staff "are excellent partners." The fact that Samaritan operates five hospitals in primarily rural areas means students will have the opportunity to learn and work in small towns. That's important because 60 percent of Oregon's physicians currently practice in metropolitan areas. Many rural areas are medically underserved.

• Is there a willing partner?

Samaritan Health Services plans to develop the entire campus into a learning center including a hotel, retail shops and convention center. Samaritan is covering construction costs for the new building and will then lease it to the university. There are opportunities for partnerships with Linn-Benton Community College and the state's universities.

• Will we be welcome?

The city of Lebanon has opened its arms to this project.

Statistics show that the majority of medical school graduates end up practicing relatively near their alma mater, Bryan said. COMP Northwest plans to build a network of some 200 residencies over the next seven years, 60 of those with Samaritan Health Services hospitals.