Vet Tech Programs in Florida

Five of Florida's programs award an associate degree, each at an institution with college in its name: Eastern Florida State College in Cocoa, Hillsborough Community College in Plant City, Miami-Dade College in Miami, Pensacola State College in Pensacola and St. Petersburg College in Largo.

Florida A&M University in Quincy rounds out the list.

Eastern Florida State College still carries its former name, Brevard Community College, on AVMA's entry, which helps if an older transcript or reference uses it.

Two more details to notice: AVMA titles St. Petersburg College's entry a Veterinary Nursing Program rather than a veterinary technology program, and its entry prints no next-evaluation year.

Beyond cities, degrees, dates and status lines, the list tells you nothing — schedules, admissions and clinical placements are questions for the school.

AVMA lists Florida A&M University on probationary accreditation, with deficiencies in Standards 8a, 4e and 11, and a next evaluation in 2029.

AVMA's own definition says a probationary program is still officially accredited and its graduates count as graduates of an accredited program.

Standard 11 is CVTEA's outcomes-assessment standard — the one that asks a program to track and publish its first-time VTNE pass rate against the national average — so ask Florida A&M University for its published figure.

AVMA's list does not say what Standards 8a and 4e cover; put both to the program and to AVMA before you enroll.

Florida A&M University in Quincy awards a Bachelor of Science, and St. Petersburg College in Largo awards a Bachelor of Applied Science — the only 2 bachelor's degrees AVMA lists in Florida.

St. Petersburg College also awards an associate degree, so it feeds both the bachelor's and associate counts on this page.

Florida A&M University's initial accreditation dates to October 30, 2013, with a next evaluation in 2029; read it together with the probationary status above.

St. Petersburg College's initial accreditation dates to April 1978, the earliest date on the Florida list.

St. Petersburg College is the one Florida-based program on AVMA's distance-education list, and its status line reads full accreditation on both of AVMA's lists.

AVMA names 13 distance programs in all, each listed under the state where it is based, and they are listed lower on this page.

For any of them, a Florida resident needs two answers from the school: whether it admits students living in Florida, and how it arranges the supervised clinical hours every accredited program requires at a practice near the student.

Florida has no state credential: the state Board of Veterinary Medicine licenses veterinarians only, and the CVT on job ads is a Certified Veterinary Technician designation from the Florida Veterinary Medical Association (FVMA), a membership category rather than a license.

The FVMA's application form allows one education route — graduation from an AVMA-accredited veterinary technology program — with no experience-based alternative.

Every program on the list above qualifies, and so does any other AVMA-accredited program, including the distance programs listed lower on this page.

After graduating, you document a VTNE score with the FVMA: an AAVSB transfer from another state, a score from a Florida administration, or an application to take the exam with scores sent to the association; scores from before 2020 travel via AAVSB's VAULT service.

The designation is voluntary — an uncredentialed person may lawfully perform the same tasks under a veterinarian.