WESTERN STATES EXCHANGE HELPS EDUCATE ARIZONA VETERINARIANS
By STEPHANIE SANCHEZ
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX (Tuesday, Nov. 6) _ With no veterinary school in Arizona, Carolyn Kenski traveled from Tucson to Washington State University to pursue her career. And she’s paying in-state tuition, along with 58 other Arizonans studying veterinary medicine out of state.
That’s thanks to a decades-old exchange program among states in the West. The Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) helps Arizonans study veterinary medicine, dentistry and other subjects not offered at public institutions here. Meanwhile, students from other states can use WICHE to study medicine, pharmacy and other subjects in Arizona.
“It’s a wonderful program because it allowed me to get in-state tuition, and that saved me a lot of money and reduced my debt load,” Kenski said.
With Arizona facing a shortage of veterinarians, especially in rural areas, officials say the program is one way to help. Meanwhile, other states can gain doctors.
“It’s a way to build a partnership with other states and work with students to address the national shortage of physicians,” said Tanisha Price-Johnson, director of admissions at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.
Under WICHE, which began in the 1950s with the Western Regional Education Compact, 15 Western states share resources among their higher education systems. WICHE offers undergraduate, graduate and professional programs.
Veterinary and dental students from Arizona study under WICHE’s Professional Student Exchange Program, which allows students to enroll in selected out-of-state professional programs because those fields aren’t offered at public institutions in their states.
The Arizona State Legislature appropriated $3.9 million to have 205 Arizona residents participate in the program this year.
Fifty-nine Arizona students are studying veterinary medicine this school year, 40 of them at Colorado State University, 18 at Washington State and one at Oregon State University. Forty Arizonans are studying dentistry at eight out-of-state institutions, and 16 are studying at the private Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health.
The program also has Arizonans studying optometry, occupational therapy and osteopathic medicine and receiving training as physician assistants.
Meanwhile, three students from other Western states are studying medicine and one is studying pharmacy at UA. Ninety-four others are studying various subjects at three private schools in Arizona: Midwestern University, the Arizona School of Health Sciences and the Arizona School of Dentistry & Oral Health.
Arizona students are required to pay back the state’s investment by completing at least four years of service in Arizona or working the number of years for which they received support.
“If they practice in underserved areas then they can cut back their required service only to two years,” Louise Lynch, Arizona’s WICHE certifying officer. “Also, since they will see they are needed there the most, this may entice them to practice in the rural areas.”
According to the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association, the state has 1,700 licensed veterinarians and needs about 300 more to keep pace with demand.
At Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, out-of-state tuition runs nearly $40,000 a year. Under WICHE, Arizona students pay in-state tuition of about $16,000.
“Basically it reduced my tuition costs by half or even more, and with that I’m not taking out many loans as I would have needed,” said Kamryn Doorman of Laveen, who is studying at Washington State.
Travis Wodiske of Phoenix, also attending Washington State, said he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of his goal of becoming a veterinarian.
“But financially to me it’s a big relief, and it’s better than graduating with more than $80,000 in debt,” Wodiske said.
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Web Links:
_ WICHE: www.wiche.edu