The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program

<p>Does anyone have any personal experiences/information with this program? It seems like a good idea, but it is little confusing. Does this mean $25,000 per year, or one time $25,000 payment? With the costs of DVM programs one has to look at everything.</p>

<p>[url=<a href="http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/animals/in_focus/an_health_if_vmlrp.html%5DVMLRP%5B/url"&gt;http://www.csrees.usda.gov/nea/animals/in_focus/an_health_if_vmlrp.html]VMLRP[/url&lt;/a&gt;]&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks in advance</p>

<p>I assume it works similiarly to the federal med school loan repayment program–which means participants get up to $25,000 per year on their FEDERAL direct loan forgiven for each year of service. (Minimum required length of service is 3 years. Participants who do not complete their 3 year commitment will have all loan payments revoked/voided and interest will be reinstated retroactively.)</p>

<p>Students must work full-time in a federally designated underserved area.</p>

<p>Please note that any private or Grad Plus loans a students take out are not included in the deal.</p>

<p>Off topic but with the extreme shortage of vets, why can’t the colleges work with the feds to increase the number of slots? I read parts of a GAO report a few years ago that talked about the shortage of Government vets in underserved areas.
Loan forgiveness is a good way to deal with this issue - my D is a public health worker and has worked at the local and federal level, all the while receiving a partial loan forgiveness subsidy for her MPH loans.</p>

<p>Probably for the same reason why there aren’t enough doctors to go around.</p>

<p>(It’s way more complicated than simply increasing the number of slots. Federal budgeteering and federal educational reimbursement levels, state autonomy, state funding support levels–and the case of doctors the shortage of available residency slots even if the number of med school grads increases.)</p>

<p>There’s also a whole lots of vets who can’t find jobs in urban/suburban areas but who don’t have large animal expertise so they would be able to work in underserved areas. I personally know of 3 or 4 new vet grads who can’t find full-time permanent employment in the small animal care.</p>

<p>Ok, will definitely tell him he has to take that into consideration. This is so complicated. That an the fact it’s hard enough to get into a DVM program. Thanks for the info</p>