AU College of Veterinary Medicine Takes Notice

"One of the challenges is counties across the country are lacking in food animal vets," said Dr. Donna Angarano, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the AU veterinary school.

The school is trying to find those rural counties lacking in veterinarians for their large food animals. These animals range from cattle, horses, goats, sheep and pigs. Despite assumptions, that most veterinarian school students want to go into small animal medicine, Angarano and the school know they have students interested in large animals. At the college's lab coat ceremony this past week students cited their interest and the results were 50/50.

Areas lacking a veterinarian for their animals often don't have the economic base to support a vet. This issue compiled with veterinarian students often graduating with around $100,000 in student loans seems to push those students to look into the urban areas that can support a vet. So while there is an interest in the area of large animals the problem is becoming an economic one.

Critics have been fast to say that AU's College of Veterinary Medicine is letting in more students from larger cities as opposed to students from smaller towns. Some say this is why graduates are not going to smaller populated areas. The incoming freshman class of 2011 shows this is not the case. Almost half of the 2011 class are from small communities.

Another compounding factor in the issue is the profession of veterinary medicine has been progressively changing over the past 20 years. A town used to rely on one veterinarian who was always call. These days students don't want to be the only vet called on and search out a balanced life after graduation. This desire links back to the economic issue of having to support more than one veterinarian in the area.

And while the profession used to be known as a male-dominated occupation, those numbers are also changing. Women's numbers in the profession have increased over the years and the stereotype of women following men to where they could find work is not the case anymore. Now there tend to be two professionals in marriage that have to be where there is work.

"We're trying to get a handle on the numbers," said Angarano, "We know we don't need as many large animal vets as small animal, but how many more do we need?"

There may be some light at the end of the tunnel for students whose loans are a deciding factor for where they go to practice. The United States Department of Agriculture is trying to do their part to ease the problem of the lack of veterinarians in rural areas. The USDA has had funds approved and appropriated for graduates going into under-served areas that will assist in the graduates loan repayment.

Plans to improve the situation are in place and the College of Veterinary Medicine is trying to do its part. With the incoming freshman class of 2011 there are 95 students with 45 of those students citing food or large animal as their area of interest - almost half of the class. The hope is with future graduating classes enough graduates will decide to practice in rural areas needing their expertise.

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