
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 9, 1995                   TAG: 9506090079
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Short

TECH VET SCHOOL EXPANDS ADMISSIONS

The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine is about to lose its status as the country's only college that doesn't admit out-of-state students.

Ten students from states other than Virginia or Maryland will be admitted in the fall of 1996.

The unusual prohibition has stemmed from the regional agreement inked by former Virginia Gov. John Dalton and former Maryland Gov. Harry Hughes that set up the college in the first place.

"I've been trying to loosen that up for years, and I've always been referred to the original agreement," said Peter Eyre, dean of the school.

Under the agreement, 50 Virginians and 30 Marylanders have been admitted to each class. The additions would bring the totals for each class to about the national average for vet schools, Eyre said.

Vets are expensive to train: upwards of $27,000 each. The out-of-state students will likely pay about that.

But Eyre said the influx of students, although small, will add to college coffers and help avoid dependence on increasingly undependable state funds.

The college, based at Virginia Tech, also has a campus at the University of Maryland at College Park.

by CNB