LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has begun an accreditation process that officials say could have students in classrooms by the fall of 2017.

Barbara Atkinson, a medical doctor and chairwoman of a campus panel working to start the UNLV School of Medicine, issued a statement Monday calling the application to the Liaison Committee on Medical Education a long-term process that will continue after students arrive.

The liaison committee is the accrediting and standards body for degree-granting medical schools in the U.S. and Canada.

UNLV President Donald Snyder called creating a second medical school in the state a top priority.

The University of Nevada, Reno, already has one.

University regents last month asked state lawmakers to allocate almost $27 million to the push for a UNLV medical school.

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UNLV aiming to begin medical school in 2017