Penn Vet Struggling To Stay Afloat After Losing State Funding
It disheartens me to see my alma mater struggle during the recession, especially when a portion of its economic strife is not under the school’s control. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has slashed its funding to the veterinary school so severely the school has been forced to eliminate numerous faculty positions as well as entire departments. It is evident these cuts affect the public and veterinary students as the repercussions funnel down to them. I have great concern for the future of Penn Veterinary Medicine, especially when the future is partly controlled by bureaucratic decisions.
Veterinary student debt is a common topic and I certainly don’t want to harp on something most veterinarians know about. With budgetary issues at the forefront, it only flows that student tuition will continue to rise. At Penn Vet, the current cost of tuition for PA residents is $32,902. The current tuition for non-residents is $40,058. That doesn’t even cover cost of living during those four years. With debt soaring, students shouldn’t have to deal with another tuition hike. They shouldn’t be sitting on top of one another in class either. Class sizes are always increasing but have significantly risen in the past few years.
The public will ultimately be hurt by these cutbacks. The Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital has eliminated its neurology and special species departments and rumors swirl about the elimination of more departments. Pet owners will need to go elsewhere for some types of specialized care, sometimes miles away from home.
Perhaps most concerning is the elimination of the Center for Infectious Disease Research, highlighted in the CNBC article. “Established to study diseases with the potential to move from animals to people (or vice versa), the center’s loss is “stunningly myopic” in the era of swine flu, [Dean] Hendricks said.” Veterinarians do not merely care for sick pets. They play a critical role in protecting public health by researching and preventing zoonotic disease and inspecting the US food supply though the USDA. A slash to infectious disease control measures will put the public at greater risk for zoonotic disease and could affect our food supply.
