Vet Tech Students At Midland College Upset By Potential Cuts
By: Monica Tassoni
Updated: March 22, 2011
Students of the Vet Tech program gathered in the lab before walking to board meeting as a tight knit class. Their goal was to convince the members that the Vet Tech program at Midland College is essential to not only them, but also the community.
"We are here for the community, said one student in the program. "We are helping out the community with the animal shelters. In all honesty, I think we are helping Midland -- its bringing more students from far away.”
The Vet Tech program is one of the only programs of its kind in the region and closing it could close a lot of doors for the students.
"The hands-on experience is by far the best thing this program offers," said Vet Tech student Tammy Reyes. "We get to everything from vaccination to assistant surgeries, we get to take care of animals and learn all the basics of what we will be doing in clinical setting."
But the program also has some of the lowest enrollment on campus, with a little over 30 students total. Making things worse, vet supplies can be expensive. The cost to run the program is close to $200,000 a year. That's why it's come under scrutiny.
"We looked at enrollment trends," said Midland College President Dr. Steve Thomas. "Job placement rates, we looked at salaries for those jobs, cost of the program and took all those things into consideration."
Students have already started fighting back -- setting up a facebook page and handing out fliers. And their strategy is grabbing attention.
"I think its good to see the passion these students have and how much they care about the programs." said Dr. Thomas. "I think the board was impressed with their presentation."
