Texas Tech is moving forward with the vet school

136,597 Views | 712 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by DifferenceMaker Ag
Flexbone
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Andy Farmer said:

It is coming. Deny it all you want.

The new chancellor wouldn't put his ass on the line if he couldn't get it done. Plus, after the Rick Francis fiasco....it is coming. Regardless of whether TAMU puts a 500 mill facility in Canyon or not. I know A&M wants to have the lone program in the state just because it is A&M but obviously there is a market for both programs to thrive. A&M just hates when someone steps in their territory.


I was on the Tech Law Foundation Board for several years. Tech did everything they could to try to block A&M from getting a law school.

The fact is that A&M already has the resources in place to meet whatever need there might be for this, if any. Tech doesn't. You say that A&M is only trying to protect their "territory" - of course that's true. Just like it's true with every school. But if you cared about what's actually BEST here, I think you'd likely conclude that A&M is better positioned. You just want what's best for Tech, which makes your post even more ironic.
AggieBaseball06
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AG
Andy Farmer said:

CanyonAg77 said:

Andy Far said:

Yup. Tech is just making stats up. We are doing this to spite AM
Not to spite, just more of your inferiority complex.

And again, why is a Vet degree from Amarillo a guarantee that a vet will stay there? Are all the Aggie vets working within a 100 mile radius of College Station?


It isn't a guarantee. But 60% of Texas vets come from out of state which tells me there is opportunity to keep some grads in state with another vet school to support those that possibly didn't get in to A&M. Nothing is a guarantee but increases the odds.


I'm glad that you recognize that if Tech manages to get its own school, it will, much like Tech itself, be for the rejects who weren't qualified to get into A&M.
Bucketrunner
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Second rate vet from a second rate school. Not someone I'd let even pet my horses.
Aggie1
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https://www.amarillo.com/news/20190203/mitchell-failure-on-texas-tech-vet-school-is-not-option/1

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Texas Tech University Systems Chancellor Tedd Mitchell is confident in the university's quest for a vet school in Amarillo.
"Failing for us is not an option," Mitchell told A-J Media. "This train has left the station...

The $17 million the university is asking for is for operating capital in the next two years. Mitchell said the communities have already come forward with a significant amount of money, covering much of the structural and other costs. "The community has skin in the game," Mitchell said. "We're doing everything we can to lower the bar of the commitment from the state of Texas, because we need this. For the vet school, the Amarillo community has ponied up $90 million that's by far the largest amount of money that anybody has ever poured into a project we've had at Tech... the community has come through in spades for this."

The Lubbock Chamber Political Action Committee donated $15,000 for vet school efforts last month, and Mitchell said donations are also coming from people in Midland/Odessa, and areas all over West Texas.

Funding for veterinary medicine in the Tech system was included in both the House and the Senate's proposed budgets this session, although the amounts varied significantly between the two chambers.

The House proposed a total of $17.32 million over the course of two years. The budget proposal grants Tech $7.5 million for the fiscal year ending in August 2020, and $9.85 million the following year. The House's proposal goes on to say Tech is authorized to use the veterinary funds, "to initiate curriculum design and development, basic science faculty recruitment, and commencement of organization and other processes necessary to attain accreditation of the four-year veterinary medicine program."

The Senate's budget draft shows only $4.17 million over the course of two years for veterinary medicine at Tech. The proposed budget grants Tech a little over $2 million per year the next two years.

Mitchell said the state first recognized the need as early as 1971 when the Texas College and University System Coordinating Board voted to approve Tech's proposal to establish a school of veterinary medicine. Mitchell said the state in 1915 had one veterinary school and one medical school now the state has 11 medical schools (going on 14), and still only one vet school.

"The state is blessed," Mitchell said. "We have one of the world's best vet schools in College Station ... the state has just long-since outgrown the capacity of one system to do it. This has never been, for us, Tech vs. A&M. Clearly there's a need."

"We're asking for a small amount of money," Mitchell said. "We're not asking for this among a list of a million other things. Our communities have stepped up superbly to help, and we're here to let them know we're serious about success."

The Tech System was appropriated a little over $4 million this past session for veterinary medicine. Securing state dollars is expected to be a contentious issue this session as opposition comes from Texas A&M University System, the home of the only veterinary school in the state.

Mitchell will be in Austin on Feb. 13 to testify in front of state lawmakers.
Andy Farmer
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We are coming...*****es.
Andy Farmer
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www.dallasnews.com/opinion/editorials/2019/01/30/rural-texas-needs-veterinarians-texas-tech-good-plan
goodAg80
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AG
Great. I can't wait until everyone calls you guys sheep humpers.
cottonpatchag
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AG
Are sheep considered large animals? That's all the tards want to take care of, so they say.
Bucketrunner
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Again I say: Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake (that they can't afford long run)
Flexbone
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Quote:

This has never been, for us, Tech vs. A&M.

Uhh, this guy hasn't talked to Andy. For Andy, that is absolutely ALL it's about.

Hey Andy, do you think Tech's vet school, if they get one, will pass A&M's in the rankings at some point? It only took A&M 3 years to start a law school and blow by Tech in the rankings.
Sniffing Accountant
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Flexbone said:

Quote:

This has never been, for us, Tech vs. A&M.

Uhh, this guy hasn't talked to Andy. For Andy, that is absolutely ALL it's about.

Hey Andy, do you think Tech's vet school, if they get one, will pass A&M's in the rankings at some point? It only took A&M 3 years to start a law school and blow by Tech in the rankings.
Reminder:

A&M Law #80
TBAT: #113
Andy Farmer
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A$M Law is bad-****ing-ass
The Collective
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AG
They should close both law schools.
Flexbone
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CJS4715 said:

They should close both law schools.


Why?
Aggie1
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https://www.amarillo.com/news/20190209/guest-commentary-aampm-official-says-state-doesnt-need-another-vet-school
tamc91
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The A&M vet school Dean laid out a pretty strong argument. I'm not sure what information Tech can come up with to counter that, but I'm sure they'll come up with something convincing (at least to themselves)....
Andy Farmer
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tamc91 said:

The A&M vet school Dean laid out a pretty strong argument. I'm not sure what information Tech can come up with to counter that, but I'm sure they'll come up with something convincing (at least to themselves)....


We will. Cause **** you guys.
ABCDE
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This is not about money but about politics. Tech will persue it every session from here to eternity until it gets done.
The Collective
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AG
Damn.
Aggie1
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Tech buddying up with a community college to try to replicate the A&M concept??

https://www.mrt.com/news/article/Texas-Tech-president-wants-more-involvement-in-13612305.php

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Veterinary school collaboration
The proposed small animal facility in Midland will be part of the Tech veterinary school's distributed model. The model is one of the best examples in the United States as well as Canada, Schovanec said.
Students will be a part of the veterinary school in Amarillo and will rotate their clinical experience at practices across the state.
"Many, many have expressed an interest to be part of that rotation experience," Schovanec said. "Not just in West Texas even in East Texas and Central Texas."
Schovanec said there is a demonstrated deficiency in the number of veterinarians who are practicing large animal care in rural areas.
There were nearly 600 applicants in 2017 for the Texas A&M's veterinary program.
"In spite of having one of the best veterinary schools in the world at College Station, they only admit around 140 students, and they're growing that to 160," Schovanec said. "But it still doesn't address the demand every year. Around 500 get their license 22 to 23 percent will get their education from A&M. Around 20 to 22 percent will get their education at private institutions in the Caribbean, and the other 45 percent will go to places like Colorado State, Oklahoma State and Kansas State."
Students who go out of state have more debt than what they would have had they attended the A&M vet school, Schovanec said. And students who go to the Caribbean have between $75,000 to $125,000 debt each.
With the distributed model, there will not be hospitals because hospitals are expensive, he said.
"Instead, you enlist practices to provide certain aspects of the clinical experiences to just go to those practices," Schovanec said. "One good thing about that is, if you had a hospital, you're competing against those local veterinary practices because you're providing that service. This way, they're providing the service, and we're also paying them to be part of this educational program. So, that provides a lot of economic efficiency that enables us to deliver the education at the lower costs."
He said the estimated cost is about $21,000 a year, which is 50 percent less expensive than the average public institutions in the state and even more so than private institutions.
Aggie1
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AG
Politics of the Border Wall is similar to TT logic:

http://time.com/5528673/donald-trump-congress-border-security-compromise-republicans/?utm_source=time.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=politics&utm_content=2019021321pm&xid=newsletter-politics&eminfo=%7b%22EMAIL%22%3a%22uWk22IfnOuCMl3fBZTmZmw2P7iiL2b3e%22%2c%22BRAND%22%3a%22TD%22%2c%22CONTENT%22%3a%22Newsletter%22%2c%22UID%22%3a%22TD_POL_1DA93DF6-981D-463D-A6B0-F8C9D7EB33F1%22%2c%22SUBID%22%3a%22113750276%22%2c%22JOBID%22%3a%22939900%22%2c%22NEWSLETTER%22%3a%22POLITICS%22%2c%22ZIP%22%3a%22%22%2c%22COUNTRY%22%3a%22USA%22%7d

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Republicans were more candid in acknowledging they came up short. "Is it enough for the wall we requested? No," House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy said Wednesday. "But is it a down payment? Yes." Multiple other congressional Republicans have also referred to the funding as a "down payment" on the wall to placate the president.

"You cannot get everything you request," McCarthy said. "You're going to have to find some common ground."
Andy Farmer
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So much butthurt.
cottonpatchag
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AG
Schovanec needs to go to College Station, where there is a vet on every corner competing against that mean old teaching hospital
Tom Doniphon
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Quote:

Tech buddying up with a community college

Tech is a community college.
SchizoAg
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cottonpatchag said:

Schovanec needs to go to College Station, where there is a vet on every corner competing against that mean old teaching hospital
Good to know.

I was just quoted an estimate of almost $3000 for knee surgery for my dog, by my local vet (here in Austin). Sorry, but that is ****ing absurd. I've looked up the procedure, and it's something I could probably do myself with the tools in my garage, with the aid of an anasthesiologist.

I'll drive to College Station and stay there for a day if it gets me a reasonable price. If not, then I am forced to conclude that vets are getting way too big for their britches, and we need to churn out more of them. If not at A&M, then elsewhere, as many places as possible.
test sig
goodAg80
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Andy Farmer said:

So much butthurt.
Nice one, sheep humper
Artimus Gordon
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Go ahead and build it and we will buy it at repo auction when you can't run it. Add it to our program at canyon
Aggie1
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AG
Texas Tech officials making its case in Austin for veterinary school

https://www.amarillo.com/news/20190213/texas-tech-officials-make-case-in-austin-for-veterinary-school-other-priorities/1?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GHM_Daily_Newsletter&utm_content=GMPG_AGN&utm_term=021419


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Texas Tech University System Chancellor Tedd Mitchell and Tech President Lawrence Schovanec appeared before the Texas Senate Finance Committee Wednesday morning to discuss the senate's proposed budget.

The House's proposed budget fully funds Tech's ask for the vet school, at $17.32 million over the course of two years. The House budget proposal grants Tech $7.5 million for the fiscal year ending in August 2020, and $9.85 million the following year.
The Senate's budget draft shows only $4.17 million over the course of two years for veterinary medicine at Tech. The proposed budget grants Tech a little over $2 million per year the next two years.


Mitchell several weeks ago said Tech just needs to do a better job of explaining the need to Senators. He said there are specific facts the university hopes legislators hear: that there's a need, that Tech's vet school will provide more access to education, that it'll be affordable and that it won't be duplicating services.
Mitchell and Schovanec hit on all these points Wednesday.
Mitchell said the state first recognized the need as early as 1971 when the Texas College and University System Coordinating Board voted to approve Tech's proposal to establish a school of veterinary medicine. Mitchell said the state in 1915 had one veterinary school and one medical school now the state has 11 medical schools (going on 14), and still only one vet school.

cottonpatchag
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AG
The real kicker will be when the distributed student vet student hears his teaching vet tell the animal owner that he does not have the facilities to treat and he needs make an appointment at the hospital in College Station.
McInnis80
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If Tech is going to build their vet school, they need to do it soon. When the state Legislature districts are redrawn after the 2020 Census, there will be even fewer districts west of I 35 and more in DFW, Houston and Austin. Currently Amarillo shares a state Senate seat with Midland/Odessa. They may have to combine Amarillo and Lubbock in the same district.
Aggie1
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AG
Looks like A&M beat TT to Midland College too...

https://www.mrt.com/news/education/article/Midland-College-begins-engineering-partnership-13618101.php

Midland College begins engineering partnership with Texas A&M

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Students can begin enrolling in Texas A&M-Concho Engineering Academy at Midland College in August. The Texas A&M-Concho Engineering Academy at Midland College becomes the seventh outside College Station. Currently, there are 1,100 to 1,200 students at A&M academies in Brenham, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Brownsville, according to Katherine Banks, vice chancellor and dean of A&M engineering.
Aggie1
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https://www.amarillo.com/news/20190213/texas-tech-officials-make-case-in-austin-for-veterinary-school-other-priorities/1?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GHM_Daily_Newsletter&utm_content=GMPG_AGN&utm_term=021719

Texas Tech officials make case in Austin for veterinary school

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"We wanted to make sure we could tell our story about why we feel those exceptional items are important," Mitchell said. "We also wanted to make sure that they understood how appreciative we are of them taking care of a lot of the base-line budget things, which they've done... And then lay the groundwork for why it is we need our other initiatives."
The $17.3 million ask for the vet school was the most discussed at the hearing, and the politics at play were alluded to several times by committee members.
"You'd have to have been living under a rock for us to have made the headlines and not recognize the political pressures behind this initiative," State Sen. Charles Perry, who's on the Senate Committee on Finance, said near the end of the hearing. "I have all the confidence in this body... Politics won't be the final decision on this, I think. We always recognize the needs in the state. There's a lot of misnomers and bad information out there, but I think you heard the story today, and I welcome any conversation with any members that have questions on this particular issue."
The House's proposed budget fully funds Tech's ask for the vet school, at $17.32 million over the course of two years. The House budget proposal grants Tech $7.5 million for the fiscal year ending in August 2020, and $9.85 million the following year.
The Senate's budget draft shows only $4.17 million over the course of two years for veterinary medicine at Tech. The proposed budget grants Tech a little over $2 million per year the next two years.


Mitchell several weeks ago said Tech just needs to do a better job of explaining the need to Senators. He said there are specific facts the university hopes legislators hear: that there's a need, that Tech's vet school will provide more access to education, that it'll be affordable and that it won't be duplicating services.
Mitchell and Schovanec hit on all these points Wednesday.
Mitchell said the state first recognized the need as early as 1971 when the Texas College and University System Coordinating Board voted to approve Tech's proposal to establish a school of veterinary medicine. Mitchell said the state in 1915 had one veterinary school and one medical school now the state has 11 medical schools (going on 14), and still only one vet school.
He compared Tech's pursuit for a veterinary school to the previous pursuit over 50 years ago for a health sciences center describing the impact on the region and the state.
Perry and Mitchell also talked about the financial support already coming from the communities. The Amarillo community has pledged about $90 million for the vet school
Aggie1
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AG
https://www.amarillo.com/news/20190219/panhandle-leaders-push-for-vet-school-funding?utm_source=SFMC&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GHM_Daily_Newsletter&utm_content=GMPG_AGN&utm_term=022019

Panhandle leaders push for vet school funding


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AUSTIN City officials and business leaders from Amarillo and the Panhandle journeyed to the Capitol for the biennial Panhandle Days this week to meet their state representatives and to promote their priorities for the legislative session, including securing operational funding for the planned Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine in Amarillo.

The contingent of 70 people from eight Panhandle counties met with state Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, and state Reps. John Smithee, R-Amarillo; Four Price, R-Amarillo, among other lawmakers, Monday during a dinner reception.

Mayor Ginger Nelson said securing funding for the new veterinary school, slated for construction later this year, is her top priority and should also be a statewide priority.

Only 180 veterinarians serve livestock in rural areas, according to a 2016 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board report. Veterinary programs outside of Texas supply more than 75 percent of Texas' veterinary workforce.

"What we're seeing right now is regrettable, and that is that Texas kids whose parents have paid taxes for all these years are being forced to go out of state, and sometimes out of the country, to obtain an education in veterinary medicine at a much greater expense," Smithee said.

The city and private donors already have raised $90 million for construction of the veterinary school. The university is asking for $17 million over the next two years to offset operation costs, and that number would decrease in coming years.

The veterinary school will be located on the same campus as Texas Tech's medical school and pharmaceutical school in Amarillo.

"This will be the only school in the nation that has both animal health, human health and pharmaceutical health all on the same campus," said Jason Herrick, chairman of the Texas Tech University School of Veterinary Medicine Fundraising Committee. "A lot of disease prevention vaccine development takes place first in animals with a pharmaceutical school. Now with a vet school there, those oftentimes get rolled over into human health."
Aggie1
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AG
TT going all out - advert from Texas Monthly

http://www.ttuvetmed.com/

https://www.texasmonthly.com/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=State%20of%20Texas%2003-04-19%20final&utm_content=State%20of%20Texas%2003-04-19%20final+CID_d9e763fb048cc5aaf57a2ecb04fab08b&utm_source=Campaign%20Monitor&utm_term=Texas%20Monthly

Aggie1
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https://www.mrt.com/opinion/article/Texas-does-not-need-another-veterinary-school-13661305.php

Texas does not need another veterinary school
Eleanor Green Texas A&M University
Updated 10:54 am CST, Monday, March 4, 2019

Quote:

A Texas Tech veterinary school is not needed and would be a duplication of effort and a waste of money all at the expense of the quality.
Let's look at the facts. The Texas A&M University System has invested $90 million in the Panhandle, with more to come, all in support of veterinary medicine, the livestock industries, local youth pursuing veterinary careers, and the region's economic development.

A&M just broke ground on a $22 million, Veterinary Education, Research, and Outreach Facility (VERO) on the West Texas A&M campus, just 17 miles south of where Tech wants to locate its school.
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    M Chancellor Sharp said Tech vet school is not needed
And in 2016, A&M opened a $125 million teaching facility in College Station with enough capacity to increase enrollment by at least the equivalent of Texas Tech's proposed school.

To justify its cause, TTU cites a 48-year-old report of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). Perhaps they don't want to be reminded of what THECB's 2016 report concluded:
"The high cost of establishing a new veterinary school would outweigh the potential benefits to the state, given the small to moderate workforce demand and the issue that building a new school would not guarantee that any of the graduates would practice on livestock, which is the state's principal area of need "
Maybe that conclusion is why TTU chose to bypass the THECB and go straight to the Legislature.
TTU also chooses to overlook the 2016 report's finding that A&M graduates "make up about 60 percent of the state's veterinary workforce" not the 25 percent cited by TTU.

Once Texas A&M's new teaching facility opened in 2016, Aggies began increasing class size. Today, A&M has the largest entering class in the nation with 162 students.
A&M boasts the largest number of food animal, rural, and mixed animal veterinarians in the nation, with 33 percent of the 2017 class and 40 percent of the 2018 class choosing these paths.
Simply increasing class size does not guarantee more rural and food animal veterinarians. That's why A&M and WTAMU began a targeted pipeline program that already has doubled the number of Panhandle-area students entering A&M's veterinary college. Their numbers will increase with the A&M System's ongoing investment in the Panhandle.
The pipeline program is a model for statewide implementation. It can be ramped up and down, as needed. Agreements with three other A&M System schools will expand that pipeline into other rural areas.
TTU's proposed veterinary school is neither innovative, nor cost efficient, and duplicates A&M's efforts. It proposes a distributed model of veterinary education, a model created by off-shore, for-profit universities without access to clinical training.
TTU uses a Canadian veterinary school, Calgary, as its "affordable" model. This comparison is flawed. Calgary is heavily government subsidized. Distributed models are the most expensive models resulting in the highest student debt.
Conversely, A&M, which is ranked fourth in the nation, is one of the most affordable veterinary colleges with student debt that is the second-lowest in the nation.
TTU claims a teaching hospital is not needed. In fact, teaching hospitals provide students opportunities to work alongside some of the best veterinarians. They learn not only what is practical, but also what is possible with the latest, state-of-the-art diagnostic and treatment methods.
TTU's estimated costs for a veterinary school are misrepresented. A&M has invested nearly $400 million for veterinary facilities and infrastructure since 2009. The costs are ongoing. TTU's request for state funds is a fraction of the support they will request over time.
Based on Texas A&M's quality, wouldn't it more effective and more cost efficient to invest more in A&M than to build an new veterinary school?
A&M can clearly meet all of the veterinary needs in Texas.
 
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