Medical Technologist Education (Phoenix, Tucson, Pima: for sale, how much, landscaping)

[Oldandcold]

My wife and I are looking to relocate to the Tucson area from West MI. Yes, I read about the other MI person who was horrified that Tucson was a desert. However, my wife and I did not miss that day in Geography class. We have 2 basic concerns. First our youngest daughter is a single parent and taking classes to be a Radiological Technologist (RT). She might also consider Physical or Occupational Therapy Assistant (PTA or OTA). What programs are available in the area, waiting lists, and residency requirements.

My other concern is water. Coming from the Great Lakes Area we have plenty of water and AZ doesn't. Is it still possible to buy land and drill your own well and how deep do you have to go? We DO NOT want to put in grass and plants that don't belong there. We want to have desert landscaping. However, I don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg for water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and etc.

We are familiar with desert environments in NM, AZ, CA (our other daughter lives in San Diego, CA). However, we are tired of 100" of snow, on average per winter, freezing temps, and 200 plus days of overcast skies and ready for sunshine and warmth.

[Kevin J]

My brother wanted to do a radiology tech program in Tucson, but has run into enough problems that he is now looking to to a physical therapy program instead. I don't have all of the specifics, but I do know that the primary options for radiology tech programs in Tucson are Pima Community College, which is the two-year college in the area, and a private vocational school whose name I don't know. I also assume that private in this case means for-profit. The disadvantages of the Pima program, as my brother told it, are the long waiting list (1-2 years) and more prerequesites courses required than the private option. So he focused his attention on the private program. The problem there was lack of responsiveness by the school administration to his application.

My brother did everything he was asked to do, including placement tests, and was left hanging on an admission decision for almost a year. He even took the initiative of contacting a sister location of the school in the Phoenix area and visiting them in person to see if he could get more action out of them and got the same treatment. I should add that my brother is no slouch as a candidate: he's been a medic in the Arizona Air National Guard for 7 years and has worked as an orderly at the University of Arizona hospital for 5 years.

Apparently part of the problem is high demand for admission. Given the scarcity of other options, this private school seems to think it can treat applicants like they're doing them a favor by even considering them and leave them in limbo as long as they feel like it.

I don't have specifics on average water bills in Tucson either (I don't live there anymore), but you might be exaggerating how much water will cost you there. The difference between paying a little more than you're used to for water versus the cost of installing and maintaining a well would probably be negligible. A person on another thread on this board who lives just outside of Tucson said that they pay under $500 a year for water in their 2100 sq. ft.home, which includes water for a lawn, trees, bushes, and a vegetable garden. If that's what you consider "paying an arm and a leg" for water, then I guess you should look into well costs.

[RickTucsonHomes]

Originally Posted by Oldandcold

My wife and I are looking to relocate to the Tucson area from West MI. Yes, I read about the other MI person who was horrified that Tucson was a desert. However, my wife and I did not miss that day in Geography class. We have 2 basic concerns. First our youngest daughter is a single parent and taking classes to be a Radiological Technologist (RT). She might also consider Physical or Occupational Therapy Assistant (PTA or OTA). What programs are available in the area, waiting lists, and residency requirements.

My other concern is water. Coming from the Great Lakes Area we have plenty of water and AZ doesn't. Is it still possible to buy land and drill your own well and how deep do you have to go? We DO NOT want to put in grass and plants that don't belong there. We want to have desert landscaping. However, I don't want to have to pay an arm and a leg for water for drinking, cooking, bathing, and etc.

We are familiar with desert environments in NM, AZ, CA (our other daughter lives in San Diego, CA). However, we are tired of 100" of snow, on average per winter, freezing temps, and 200 plus days of overcast skies and ready for sunshine and warmth.

Yes there is still LOTS of land for sale and drilling wells here is very common outside the Tucson city limits. In fact I just returned from walking a 10 acre parcel in Pinal county! Some will drill a private well just for their own use, and many are on a "well share agreement" with other land owners in the area in which the cost is shared among the owners. For information on wells and water table etc. go to Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) , a very cool site! There is a map where you can actually look up information on every well drilled in the state of Arizona. Shows you the depth of well, depth of water level, type of casing used, well owner, well driller etc. Most of the wells I have researched here in the Northwest Tucson area, most hit water in the "roughly" 350 to 450 ft range. depending on location. That is the the ADWR website is very helpful. If you find a piece of land you like, you can research the well closest to your property and see what depth their well is and what depth they hit water at. Good info to have when evaluating a purchase.

[michael krotchie]

Check out these recent article from the AZ Daily Star. A word of warning to all of us, perhaps?

Tucson's source of water runs low

Decision on water could hit here hard

Contrasting views on what to do about dwindling water

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by michael krotchie

A word of warning to all of us, perhaps?

They just go about their daily business of instilling fear and paranoia.