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Clemson University photo
Clemson University, a public institution in South Carolina, will open the state’s first veterinary school next fall.
South Carolina is accepting applications to the state's first veterinary school, following a nod from the accreditor of veterinary education.
Clemson University, a public university, received the letter of reasonable assurance on Oct. 8 from the American Veterinary Medical Association Council on Education, which had determined that the developing program has a realistic plan to meet accreditation standards and can enroll students for fall 2026.
"The hope is to attract South Carolina residents to our program and that they will remain in the state, especially in underserved and rural areas," Dr. Steven Marks, dean of the program, said in an email to the VIN News Service. "Clemson is a land-grant institution and has always desired to add this college and complement the well-established pre-vet, science and animal sciences undergraduate degrees here."
The program will accept 80 students per year — 60 from within the state and 20 from outside the state.
South Carolina previously had agreements with Mississippi State University, Tuskegee University in Alabama and the University of Georgia through which 46 South Carolina residents could attend veterinary school at in-state or otherwise discounted tuition rates. With the advent of Clemson's program, the so-called Veterinary Medicine Regional Contract, is being phased out; applications closed permanently on Dec. 1, 2024. Students already enrolled will continue to receive state-subsidized tuition through their graduation, according to the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education, which administers the program.
Clemson's posted tuition is $27,000 for state residents and $50,000 for students from outside the state in the first year. Fees and estimated living expenses are listed as $23,452 for that same period. The estimated total cost of attendance for four years is $220,432 for state residents and $332,932 for students from outside the state.
Clinical training will follow a distributed model, whereby students do clinical rotations at off-site practices rather than at an on-campus teaching hospital.
Students can apply via the school's website until Nov. 17 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time.
Nearly all established veterinary schools in the United States accept applications through the Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS), but its application window for fall 2026 enrollment closed on Sept. 15. Like Clemson's, several new programs recently haven't received accreditation letters of reasonable assurance in time to use VMCAS and have instead accepted applications through their respective school's websites.
Lincoln Memorial University's second veterinary school location in Florida, OK'd by the accreditor in September, is accepting applications through Oct. 31. The tightest application-to-attendance turnaround in recent history was at Utah State University, which began accepting applications in late March for the program that opened on Aug. 11.
The Utah State program is the first to grant veterinary degrees in its state. Similarly, Rowan University in New Jersey opened that state's first veterinary school this fall.
Arkansas, another state with no veterinary school, has two bids in the pipeline — at Arkansas State University and at Lyon College, a private institution.
Provisional accreditation is granted on the date the initial class matriculates. Schools become eligible for full accreditation after the first class graduates.
Clemson's program — named the Harvey S. Peeler Jr. College of Veterinary Medicine after a state senator and cattle farmer who was a major booster — will bring the total number of veterinary schools in the country to 38 next fall. Eight other institutions, including the the two programs in Arkansas, are working to open veterinary schools.