New tool compares cost of veterinary schools for students

The Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC)'s new Cost Comparison Tool is an interactive, web-based comparison tool to help veterinary college applicants and students make better decisions regarding the cost of their professional education.

Users can compare American veterinary schools in factors that contribute to the total cost of veterinary education such as in-state and out-of-state tuition as well as cost of attendance and average size of scholarship awards. The tool has three different comparison tabs-a map, in-state tuition comparison and out-of-state tuition-that users can toggle through and filter to narrow down to the colleges that meet their specified criteria, such as whether or not the school allows students to establish in-state residency or to filter a total cost of tuition that doesn't exceed a specified number.

A filtered view of the in-state tuition tab.

A view of the map function of the tool.

“Increased transparency and accountability is important,” says AAVMC CEO Andrew Maccabe, DVM, MPH, JD, in an association release. “We think providing clear, easy-to-access data regarding the various components of financing a professional education will help applicants make comparisons, analyze opportunities and ultimately make better financial decisions.”

The AAVMC developed the tool out of ideas from the “Fix-The-Debt Summit” in April at Michigan State University. The urgency came when conference members noted that debt-to-income ratio (DIR) for recent graduates in veterinary medicine is around 2:1, but experts believe the ratio should be about 1:4:1.

The data comes from several sources, including the last five years of the AAVMC's comparative data report, surveys of AAVMC member institutions and internal calculations, according to the release. The AAVMC also collaborated with the American Veterinary Medical Association and the Veterinary Information Network to create the final tool.

Visit http://aavmc.org/Students-Applicants-and-Advisors/Funding-Education.aspx to try the tool.