The National Institute of Food and Agriculture, an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has begun accepting applications for its Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program, which offers to repay qualified veterinarians’ federal and private student loans in exchange for service in underserved rural areas of the country (“NIFA Begins Accepting Applications for Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program,” NIFA press release, April 30, 2010).
Eligible applicants to the VMLR program commit to three years of service in a designated veterinary shortage area, and, in return, NIFA will repay up to $25,000 worth of student loan debt per year. Repayment is limited to the principal and interest on federal student loans and private student loans used to earn a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, or the equivalent, from an accredited college or university.
The government-sponsored loan repayment program seeks to address shortages of veterinarians in high-priority specialty areas in over 150 geographical locations across the country — areas, says NIFA, that are “critical to the national food safety and food security infrastructures, and to the health and well-being of both animals and humans.”
Student Loan Debt Cited as One Reason Vets Eschew Rural Practice
NIFA attributes one of the biggest causes of such shortages to the high cost of veterinary school, which can average between $130,000 and $140,000 for four years of veterinary medical training leading to a veterinary degree.
Upon graduation, many veterinarians decide to practice in cities and other urban areas, working with small animals, rather than in rural areas, working with large farm animals like cattle and pigs. Urban practice tends to pay better than rural practice, allowing new city veterinarians to be in a better position to pay off their student loans.
“Most of the veterinarians graduating now go to open practices, which are predominately either small-animal or equine only. They can charge higher prices in the city on small animals, and it’s easier work, and they have emergency clinics to handle after-hours calls,” said Dr. Hardy Stewardson, a veterinarian who owns a private rural practice in Red River County, Texas (“Short Supply: Large-Animal Veterinarians Needed,” Country World, January 25, 2010).
“There are not many people graduating now that will go to a rural town, where they have to work on everything — cattle, pigs, whatever, horses, cats, dogs. Most of your veterinarians in rural areas don’t charge as much for the same services as they do in cities,” Stewardson added.
Expanding Veterinarian Services by Easing the Burden of Student Loans
With its loan repayment program, NIFA hopes to make the repayment of college loans and graduate student loans less of a factor for veterinary school graduates trying to decide between urban and rural practice.
“The lack of adequate veterinary services, especially in the area of food animal medicine, creates hardships for producers and endangers livestock throughout rural America,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
“This program will help alleviate the shortage of trained professional veterinarians that serve our producers, improving the health of the livestock industry and helping ensure a safe food supply.”
Applying for the Veterinary Student Loan Repayment Program
For more information, or to apply for NIFA’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program, visit the VMLRP information page on the NIFA website at www.nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp.
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