When scores of generous scholarship donors and veterinary students convened for the NC State College of Veterinary Medicine Annual Scholarship Dinner, applause put an exclamation point at the end of the news that 191 NC State veterinary students received $1.8 million in scholarships for the 2025-26 school year.

“Our college is coming off four years in a row of having 20% of our graduating class with zero debt, and I am aspirational,” Dr. Kathryn Meurs, Randall B. Terry Jr. dean of the college, told the attendees. “My dream is to see 100% of our students graduate with zero debt.”

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, the average debt across all DVM graduates — including those with no debt — in 2025 was $174,484, up from $153,972 in 2022. The average for those with at least some debt was even higher at $212,499, compared with $186,788 in 2022. 

The world needs veterinarians who will go into a wide range of jobs and careers, such as shelter medicine, food safety, rural practice, companion animal medicine, biomedical research, global health, Meurs said, and debt sometimes narrows those choices.

“There are so many places that we need veterinarians, and some are lesser paid careers,” Meurs said. “We need them there, and if that’s where their passion is, we want them to be able to go into those jobs not hindered by high student debt.”

‘A Dream Supported’

The AVMA reported that 40% of the 2025 graduates owed more than $200,000 and that 6% had debt of $400,000 or more, with 14% of those entering full-time employment having a debt-to-income ratio of 2.5 or higher.

Now, the federal government has limited the amount students can borrow, capping loans at $200,000, said Dr. Lysa Posner, associate dean of academic and student affairs, making the need for scholarships even greater.

“We may have the most amazing student who wants to do research, but because of financial reasons, might make a different decision,” Posner told the attendees. “To provide those students with more scholarship support allows them to make different decisions. We don’t want debt to keep them from being able to do the things that are most impactful for the world, for the state and for themselves.” 

Students Aaron Tang and Aniya Brown shared with donors and their peers how scholarships made the difference for them.

Tang, a third-year student from Massachusetts, is a first-generation college student whose mother immigrated to the United States at 19, working three jobs when Tang was young to support her four children.

Without receiving a general scholarship from NC State before he enrolled, Tang never could have become a veterinarian, he said. He now also has been the recipient of the 

George and Carolyn McEachern Scholarship and the William R. Kenan Jr. Memorial Scholarship.

“I am one of hundreds of students every year who have the privilege of veterinary school education, thanks to your generous donations,” he said. “A scholarship is like a sigh of relief. It is a dream supported, hope renewed and purpose rekindled. For me and many of my peers, it is proof that our dreams can go beyond our circumstances.”

Brown, a third-year student from Delaware, is the only child of a single mother, a teacher who put her through private school. She received a full-ride scholarship to the University of Delaware, where she majored in honors pre-veterinary medicine with a minor in Spanish for Healthcare. 

“Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to be a veterinarian, a dream that I’m sure many in this room share,” Brown said. “But when I was younger, I never really thought about how I would afford it. I just believed that if I wanted it enough and worked hard enough, it would be mine. Nothing could convince me otherwise.”

Her college professors, she said, kept talking about the “crippling debt” she would incur in veterinary school, and she had a moment of hesitation.

“I am so grateful to NC State for investing in its students, believing in us, and creating pathways for our success,” she said. “If you had told me back when my mom was struggling, and I was considering working throughout high school or taking a gap year to help support her, that I would one day have these amazing opportunities while pursuing the career I’ve always loved, I wouldn’t have believed you.”

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If you’re interested in learning more about how to support our students, please contact the Office of Philanthropy at [email protected].