Rowan’s veterinary school starts year two under pressure
Bottom line
Rowan University’s Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine is starting its second academic year with less state support than it sought, while also navigating legal and budget pressures. New Jersey lawmakers approved $6.2 million for the school in the fiscal 2026 budget after Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s original proposal would have cut the line item to zero; that final appropriation was down from $8 million the prior year and well below the school’s $20 million request. The school, which welcomed its inaugural class in August 2025, remains provisionally accredited by the AVMA Council on Education, a standard status for new programs at this stage. Separate employment-related lawsuits filed in New Jersey state court this summer have added to the scrutiny around the launch. (publicnews.vin.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, Rowan’s early growing pains are bigger than one campus story. New Jersey’s first veterinary school was launched to expand in-state training capacity in a profession still focused on workforce shortages, access to care, and the cost of veterinary education. But the school’s funding volatility, startup expenses, and legal disputes are a reminder that opening new DVM programs is operationally and politically complex, even when there’s clear demand and philanthropic backing, including a $30 million gift that helped launch the school. (today.rowan.edu)
What to watch: Watch for whether Rowan can secure steadier state operating support in the next budget cycle, manage the pending litigation, and stay on track in the multiyear path from provisional to full accreditation. (svm.rowan.edu)
Rowan University’s Shreiber School of Veterinary Medicine has entered its second year with the kind of attention no new veterinary program wants: shrinking state support, internal budget pressure, and multiple employment lawsuits. The New Jersey Legislature ultimately approved $6.2 million for the school in fiscal 2026, rescuing the program from a proposed zeroing out in Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s budget, but still leaving Rowan far short of the $20 million it had requested. (publicnews.vin.com)
The backdrop is ambitious. Rowan opened the state’s first veterinary school with its inaugural class in August 2025, after years of planning, more than $100 million in state-backed capital support, and a $30 million gift from Gerald B. Shreiber that gave the school its name and helped fund scholarships. The program’s launch was pitched as a way to build local veterinary training capacity in a state that had long lacked its own DVM program. As of September 2, 2025, the school holds provisional accreditation from the AVMA Council on Education, which is the expected status for a new veterinary college after students matriculate. (today.rowan.edu)
What changed this year is the level of financial strain around that launch. Rowan’s founding dean, Matthew Edson, had warned state lawmakers in budget testimony that the governor’s proposal eliminated the school’s annual operating appropriation entirely and asked that funding be restored at $16.5 million for fiscal 2026. Instead, lawmakers landed at $6.2 million. VIN reported that the appropriation marks a second straight annual decline, and Rowan’s broader fiscal 2026 operating budget also showed a projected $16.5 million gap between revenue and expenditures, with university budget officials attributing part of that deficit to startup costs, including the veterinary school. (pub.njleg.gov)
The school is also dealing with legal headwinds. Public court and legal reporting indicate that three separate state-court employment suits were filed in August 2026 by a professor, a technician, and an ophthalmologist tied to the veterinary school or teaching hospital launch. The claims, as described in court indexing and legal coverage, include allegations involving retaliation, discrimination, and disability-related concerns. Those allegations have not been adjudicated, but they add another layer of scrutiny for a program still establishing its culture, systems, and reputation. (trellis.law)
Industry reaction has been mixed, at least from the public record. Supportive lawmakers framed the final appropriation as a political save after the governor’s initial cut, with State Sen. Troy Singleton saying legislative advocacy turned “$0 into $6.2 million,” according to VIN. Rowan, for its part, has emphasized the school’s public mission, scholarship support, and role as New Jersey’s only veterinary college. What’s missing so far is much visible third-party expert commentary on whether the program’s challenges are unusual for a startup veterinary school or a warning sign about the economics of opening new DVM programs. Still, the available record suggests both things can be true: the school represents a major capacity expansion, and it’s proving expensive and complicated to stand up. (publicnews.vin.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, Rowan’s second-year turbulence lands at the intersection of workforce policy, educational access, and institutional risk. New veterinary schools are often discussed as one answer to clinician shortages and regional training gaps, but Rowan shows how dependent those plans can be on recurring public dollars, not just ribbon-cuttings and philanthropy. For referring veterinarians, employers, and future graduates, the key issue isn’t whether provisional accreditation is normal, it is, but whether the school can maintain stable operations, clinical training quality, and faculty recruitment while under financial and legal pressure. (svm.rowan.edu)
There’s also a student and pet parent dimension. Rowan has promoted the school as a more accessible in-state option, and its inaugural class included 75 students, 40 of them from New Jersey. If public funding remains uncertain, pressure can shift to tuition, institutional subsidies, or both, at a time when veterinary education affordability is already a major concern across the profession. That makes Rowan a closely watched test case for whether state-backed expansion can truly lower barriers without introducing new instability. (today.rowan.edu)
What to watch: The next markers will be the fiscal 2027 budget cycle, any movement in the pending lawsuits, and Rowan’s progress through the AVMA accreditation pathway over the next several years as the inaugural class advances toward graduation. (svm.rowan.edu)