Veterinary Loan Forgiveness Program Repays Your Student Loans

A veterinary loan forgiveness program may offer new career options for those graduating with a veterinary medicine degree. Many people don’t realize what a critical role veterinarians play in keeping both animals and humans healthy. Veterinarians play a part in keeping our food safe. They also work to prevent animal diseases which can make humans sick. In areas of many states around the US, the public’s health is at risk due to a severe shortage of veterinarians.

Like doctors treating human patients, veterinarians face similar challenges in paying the rising costs for medical school tuition. Student loans frequently offer the only option for students to study to become a veterinarian. Just as the United States faces a critical shortage of doctors working in the lower paying field of primary care medicine, the nation also needs more veterinarians to work in public positions and rural locations where the pay can be lower as well. Federal and state governments hope to address this shortage with veterinary loan forgiveness programs.

A page on the US Department of Agriculture’s website contains a map that details veterinarian shortages and needs in each state. These areas of need can vary.

· The state of Florida needs more private veterinarians to care for dairy and beef cattle in rural areas.

· The need for private veterinarians is similar in Arizona’s rural areas, but public practice veterinarians are also needed in the areas of epidemiology, public health and food safety.

· An area of rural Minnesota hopes to retain a food animal veterinarian to treat animals and teach producers ways to prevent disease.

States submit applications to the USDA if they need to recruit and retain veterinarians in specific locations, which can include several counties. These forms often indicate the serious health risks that might occur without enough veterinarians serving the needs of animal owners in the area.

Requests from state agencies to recruit public veterinarians, for instance, may include specific jobs that need to be filled in order to protect the health of the public. For instance, a veterinarian working in epidemiology studies diseases, injuries and health events happening in a certain area. They might use the information they gather to develop public programs to keep people and animals healthy.

Veterinarians must obtain a bachelor’s degree before going on to a veterinary medicine degree. A typical veterinary medicine program takes 4 years and can cost between $120,000 and $250,000 (including tuition, living expenses and other costs). Most students rely on loans to finance their education. This comes at a time when a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates the need for veterinarians will rise by 30% by 2018.

Graduates often need to earn a large salary to repay their undergraduate and veterinary school loans. This causes shortages when veterinarians can’t afford to take public veterinarian jobs or jobs in rural areas, which often pay less. The federal government's veterinary loan forgiveness program repays as much as $25,000 each year toward qualifying educational loans. The program aims to bridge the gap between a lower salary and expensive monthly student loan payments.

Veterinarians may be able to qualify for a veterinary loan forgiveness program if they meet certain requirements.

· Veterinarians must possess a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from an accredited college for veterinary medicine.

· Participants must provide veterinary services in a designated shortage area for three years.

· The program is available to US citizens, nationals or permanent residents.

· Loans to be repaid must be those used for reasonable education and living expenses to earn a degree in Veterinary Medicine.

Many areas of the country need more veterinarians to protect the health of both animals and humans. The need for veterinarians continues to grow. A veterinary loan forgiveness program created by the federal government provides repayment assistance. Through this program, veterinarians can afford to work in rural areas with a critical need for veterinarians, and in positions where veterinarians help safeguard public health and ensure food safety. State loan forgiveness programs for veterinarians may also offer repayment assistance. Consider the many career options available when taking advantage of a veterinary loan forgiveness program to repay student loans.