A veterinary medicine school could be coming to Great Falls.

The Great Falls Economic Development Alliance developed a strategy to build on the medical and educational assets in the community and one of the recommendations to look at attracting a veterinary medicine school.

Last summer, GFDA commissioned a feasibility study on brining such a school to Great Falls.

The consultant and officials discussed the findings at Benefis Health System on Dec. 5.

Paul Umbach, the consultant with Tripp Umbach, had a relationship with Roseman University of Health Sciences, which was interested in evaluating the need for a veterinary school.

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Renee Coffman, of Roseman University, said that the school is relatively young and will turn 25 next year,

She said it was started due to a need for pharmacists in Nevada.

They’ve since expanded to nursing and dentistry in Nevada and have a campus in Utah.

Coffman said a veterinary school in Montana would be a good geographical fit.

It’s a “unique opportunity for the university and Great Falls,” she said.

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Umbach said that after their study, they’re recommending that Roseman move ahead and finalize a business model to make a formal announcement in early 2024 and begin searching for a founding deal and the accreditation process.

After the presentation, Coffman told The Electric that the chair of the university’s board attended the presentation and he was impressed with the community and liked the outcome of the report.

She said Roseman officials are looking at how to advance to the next steps to bring a veterinary school to Great Falls, which would be their first Montana location and first vet program.

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Umbach said during the presentation that there are about 540 veterinarians employed in Montana but the average age is 60 and there’s work to be done to keep that population strong. He said that more Montanans could go to vet school if there was a program in the state.

He said that their study found “that there’s so much interest in this kind of educational program.”

But starting such a school is expensive. He said it’s an estimated $75 million to build a facility and $16.7 million in startup funding for a total of $91.7 million. Start up costs include hiring faculty before students arrive, but the program starts to break even in the third or fourth year and the investment could be recouped in about eight years, he said.

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Umbach said the program wouldn’t have a large animal hospital facility because it would put students in the field practicing with existing veterinarians in their fourth year. He said it’s high quality education and strengthens existing practices.

He said the economic impact of a veterinary medicine school could be “amazing” on Great Falls and the region.

Umbach said most don’t consider Great Falls a college or healthcare town, but with Great Falls College MSU, University of Providence, McLaughlin Research Institute, Touro University and the new MSU nursing school being built, plus Benefis and the Great Falls Clinic, the vet school would put an exclamation point on that.

He said the school would have about a $131.7 million construction impact with 892 jobs and $3.2 million in state and local taxes.

Once fully operational, it would have an estimated $90.2 million economic impact with 532 jobs and $3.5 million in state and local taxes.

With the agriculture industry in Montana, plus pets, the care of animals has a big impact on the state’s economy, Umbach said.

He said it takes about three years to start a veterinary medicine program but “of course there is a need.”