Hopes were low as the five bills in the Kentucky House and Senate created to allow Murray State University to offer veterinary medicine did not move forward. That all changed with Senate Bill 77. 

The bill was introduced in a Post-Secondary Education committee to get rid of the statutes stopping Murray State from offering veterinary medicine, as well as the statutes stopping two other Kentucky universities from offering different doctoral programs. However, the bill passed, with guidelines for criteria added that universities will need to meet before offering the programs.   

Hutson School of Agriculture Dean Dr. Brian Parr said the bill put them ahead a year. 

“I’m extremely happy about it,” Parr said. “I think that it gives us a good clear path forward with very few obstacles.”

The Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association has pushed back against the bill saying it could put a strain on existing veterinarians. In a Facebook post  shared over 400 times by Kentucky veterinarians and residents, the association outlined their key concerns, including the quality of education. Currently only three of the 30 fully accredited colleges of veterinary medicine in the U.S. use the proposed model for Murray State University. The model is a three year program that relies on outside help from local veterinarians versus having a teaching hospital on campus. 

“I really believe this is going to be a good model and really this model is different from what a lot of people have seen. I don’t think it is inferior, I think in many ways it is superior,” Parr said. 

The goal of the model is to give students hands-on experience and internships. Parr also said that many veterinarians have already said they will accept students and help educate them.  

Joanna Freeman, a veterinarian and owner of Little River Veterinary in Cadiz, KY, has supported the school from the beginning. She believes it should “greatly relieve” the veterinarian shortage in Kentucky.  A recent study from Deloitte, a consulting firm contracted by the state, found that 80 out of 120 Kentucky counties currently have a veterinary shortage or were identified as underserved rural areas for veterinarians.

“Giving the students hands-on experience with local vets is a good way for them to get real-life experience outside the confines of a classroom,” Freeman said. 

Dallas Ahart is a current Murray State University student studying pre-veterinary medicine. He graduates in December 2025 and plans to attend Auburn University to earn his doctorate in veterinary medicine.

 Ahart plans to come back to Kentucky and work with large animals. He says if a vet school at Murray would have been available to him, it would have been hard to choose. Murray State University students currently receive in-state tuition at Auburn. The addition of a veterinarian school may threaten that cost break. With some minor adjustments to the model, Ahart believes it would strengthen the support for the school.

 “The best way to get more vets is to build more vet schools, so having one at Murray makes sense,” Ahart said, “Everyone at Murray has been great, the professors and students are great. I have no doubt that the atmosphere would translate into the vet school.” 

The university received the funding for the building last year, and the target is to open the school is in the fall of 2028 for enrollment.