Vet Tech Programs in New Mexico

All 4 programs on AVMA's New Mexico list award an Associate of Applied Science, and none awards a bachelor's.

Two are in Albuquerque: Central New Mexico Community College and Pima Medical Institute-Albuquerque.

Navajo Technical University is listed in Crownpoint, and San Juan College in Farmington.

By name, the list mixes a community college, a technical university, a college and a medical institute, so read each entry for what it is rather than assuming the four are interchangeable.

San Juan College's entry is the one to note: its program is named the Veterinary Technology Distance Learning Program, and it is the only New Mexico entry AVMA also carries on the separate distance-education list.

AVMA prints no former names on this list.

Beyond city, degree, accreditation dates and status line, the list is silent — schedules, admissions and clinical arrangements are questions for each school.

Navajo Technical University is listed on probationary accreditation, with deficiencies in Standards 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9 and 10 printed after its status.

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

The list does not explain what each named standard covers, so put that question to the program: what its deficiencies concern, and what has changed since AVMA drew up this list.

Pima Medical Institute-Albuquerque is listed as voluntary terminal accreditation, which AVMA defines as a program with plans for voluntary closure that is still officially accredited.

Its initial accreditation is dated March 2, 2023 — the most recent initial-accreditation date on the state's list — so ask the school directly how its plans affect someone enrolling now.

Central New Mexico Community College and San Juan College carry plain FULL ACCREDITATION lines.

San Juan College in Farmington is New Mexico's program on AVMA's distance-education list — one of 13 such programs AVMA names in all, each listed under the state where it is based and shown lower on this page.

Its status line reads FULL ACCREDITATION on both AVMA's by-state list and its distance list.

For any program on that list, a New Mexico student needs two answers before enrolling: whether the school admits students living in New Mexico, and how it arranges the supervised clinical hours every accredited program requires.

The state's credential asks for graduation from an AVMA-accredited program — accreditation, not location — so the distance programs listed lower on this page meet the same requirement as the four based here.

The New Mexico Board of Veterinary Medicine issues the registered veterinary technician credential, and its process document states it is unlawful to provide veterinary technician services in the state without a Board-issued license — the credential gates the work itself.

The education route is graduation from a veterinary technology program accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association; the rule's wording is a program of two years or longer.

Every program on the list above holds CVTEA accreditation, whatever its status line says, and because the requirement is accreditation rather than location, the distance programs listed lower on this page meet it too.

No on-the-job route appears in the sources read.

A final-year student may sit the examinations on a dean's letter, and a current license from another state or country with similar requirements can qualify with Board approval.

An applicant passes the VTNE through the AAVSB and New Mexico's own examination with a minimum score of 75%.