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New Jersey is on track to open its first veterinary school after accreditors green-lit the program ahead of a planned opening next year. Georgia, meanwhile, will continue to have a single veterinary school for the foreseeable future after plans to build a second one there fell apart.
Shreiber Veterinary Medical School at New Jersey's Rowan University received a letter of reasonable assurance — an official vote of confidence in its plans — last month and soon after opened its application window for fall 2025.
There are currently 34 accredited veterinary schools in 27 states and one territory, including four that have opened since 2019.
Reasonable assurance is conferred by the Council on Education, the only federally backed accrediting body for veterinary education and part of the American Veterinary Medical Association. It follows two site visits and is issued if evaluators believe a program has a feasible plan for achieving full accreditation once its inaugural class graduates.
While a school may operate without accreditation, approval by an accreditor authorized by the U.S. Department of Education is needed for its students to access federal financial aid, including loans.
A public research institution, Rowan is planning to enroll 70 students in the first veterinary school class (half of them state residents). Tuition is $37,500 for state residents and $58,000 for out-of-state residents. The program estimates yearly expenses including housing, board, transportation, books and supplies, personal expenses and loan fees at $28,497 for a total annual cost of attendance of nearly $66,000 for in-state students and $86,500 for out-of-state students.
Construction of a new teaching facility and hospital, located in Harrison Township, passed the halfway mark this fall, according to the school's dean, Dr. Matthew Edson.
Meanwhile, in a reversal of fortunes, Chamberlain University's proposed school in Stockbridge, Georgia, has taken itself out of the running.
In response to an email from the VIN News Service asking about the program, a spokesperson wrote: "After careful consideration, Chamberlain University will no longer pursue the development of a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree program." No additional information was provided.
Chamberlain is owned by Adtalem Global Education, a company that operates Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine, a for-profit school on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts.
The school had been scheduled for an initial site visit in August, according to a notice of accreditation actions posted on the AVMA's website.
Of the nine other proposed programs, two aim to open in 2025, six have set their sights on 2026 and one on 2027. (See the chart below for school accreditation status.)
In addition, Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee added a second cohort of around 100 students in January 2023.
The proposed schools chart has been corrected to show that Utah State University completed its second accreditation site visit in 2024, not its first, as originally reported.