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WASHINGTON, Nov. 3, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) today awarded more
than $4.3 million to 48 American veterinarians to help repay a portion of their
veterinary school loans in return for serving in areas lacking sufficient
veterinary resources critical to America’s food safety, food security, and to
the health and well-being of animals and humans. The awards, made through
NIFA’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), will fill shortage
needs in 27 states.
“Veterinarians
play a critical role in keeping our nation’s food supply safe and animals
healthy,” said NIFA director Sonny Ramaswamy. “The need for veterinarians in
designated shortage areas is urgent. This loan repayment assistance program provides
incentives for students to take up rural veterinary practices and help take
care of American livestock.”
Studies
indicate there are significant shortages of food animal veterinarians in
certain areas of the nation and in high-priority specialty sectors that require
advanced training, such as food safety, epidemiology, diagnostic medicine and
public health. A leading cause for this shortage is the high cost of
professional veterinary medical training that leaves current graduates of
veterinary colleges with, on average, student loan debt of more than $135,000.
New award recipients
commit to practice at least three years in a designated veterinary shortage
area. Loan repayment benefits are limited to payments of the principal and
interest on government and commercial educational loans received for attendance
at an American Veterinary Medical Association-accredited college of veterinary
medicine resulting in a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree or the equivalent.
This is the fourth year NIFA has made renewal
awards through VMLRP. Previous awardees that still owe at least $15,000 in
educational loans are eligible to apply again, though renewal is not automatic
and applications are subject to the same competitive review process as new
applications.
In 2016, NIFA received 187 applications and made
48 awards totaling $4,391,144 in benefits. These include 38 new awards totaling
$3,563,989 and 10 renewal awards totaling $827,155. New veterinarians who
received degrees within the last three years account for 47.4 percent of new
loan recipients.
Participants
are required to serve in one of three types of shortage situations. Type 1 shortage areas are private practices dedicated
to food animal medicine at least 80 percent of the award recipient’s
time. Type 2 shortages are private practices in rural areas
dedicated to food animal veterinary services at least 30 percent of the time.
Type 3 shortage areas are dedicated to public practice and awardees must commit
at least 49 percent of their time. The new VMLRP awards include 11 Type 1
awards, 32 Type 2 awards and five Type 3 awards.
A map of veterinary service shortage areas by state is
available online.
Since the
program was implemented in 2010, more than 300 veterinarians have helped fill
shortage situations in 46 states. Two recent participants, Idaho-based
veterinarian Annie Bowes
and Kentucky-based veterinarian Tim VanDerPloeg, talk about the program’s impact
online at Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment
Program Pays Dividends.
USDA has invested $19 billion in research and development since
2009, touching the lives of all Americans from farms to the kitchen table and
from the air we breathe to the energy that powers our country. Learn more about
the many ways USDA scientists are on the cutting edge, helping to protect,
secure and improve our food, agricultural and natural resources systems in
USDA’s Medium Chapter 11: Food and Ag Science Will Shape Our Future.
Since 2009, NIFA has invested in and advanced
innovative and transformative initiatives to solve societal challenges and ensure
the long-term viability of agriculture. NIFA's integrated research, education
and extension programs support the best and brightest scientists and extension
personnel whose work results in user-inspired, groundbreaking discoveries that
combat childhood obesity, improve and sustain rural economic growth, address
water availability issues, increase food production, find new sources of
energy, mitigate climate variability, and ensure food safety.
To learn more about NIFA’s impact on agricultural
science, visit www.nifa.usda.gov/impacts, sign up for email updates, or follow us on Twitter @usda_NIFA, #NIFAimpacts.
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USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer and lender.
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