Vet school collaboration enters second phase

Lincoln, Neb.

-- Students in the inaugural class of the professional program in veterinary medicine, a collaboration between the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Iowa State University, have completed the first two years of study at Nebraska and will move on to Iowa in the fall.

For years, Nebraska students who wanted to study veterinary medicine went to Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine for four years, paying in-state tuition rates with the state of Nebraska picking up the difference.

After budgetary cuts, the university needed an alternative and ended up working with Iowa State, where students can continue paying in-state tuition. Nebraska would pay the difference.

In this model, however, students take basic science classes at UN-L and take distance learning classes from Iowa State for two years, then transfer to ISU the remaining two years for clinical studies.

Twenty-four students participated in the inaugural class -- dubbed the 2+2 program.

The program is being monitored as a possible way for all veterinary colleges to increase the number of graduates without making costly renovations, according to Dr. Marguerite Pappaioanou, executive director of the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges.