Veterinarian Loan Repayment Programs

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ND STATE VETERINARIAN LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM

The Veterinarian Loan Repayment Program is a state financed and administered loan repayment program designed to attract food animal veterinarians to North Dakota to practice in areas of need. The focus of the program is to attract new graduates of veterinary schools although any veterinarian may apply if he or she has an outstanding educational loan and is licensed to practice in North Dakota. Each veterinarian selected may receive up to $80,000 to repay educational loans. The amount of the loan repayment award may not exceed the amount of the educational loan(s). Three veterinarians may be selected per year. Each veterinarian that receives an award must enter a contract with the North Dakota Department of Health. The contract states the amount of time the veterinarian must serve in a community or communities and the amount of the award.

USDA VETERINARY MEDICINE LOAN REPAYMENT PROGRAM (VMLRP)

USDA’s Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), authorized by the National Veterinary Medical Services Act (NVMSA) helps qualified veterinarians offset a significant portion of the debt incurred in pursuit of their veterinary medicine degrees in return for their service in certain high-priority veterinary shortage situations. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) will carry out NVMSA by entering into educational loan repayment agreements with veterinarians who agree to provide veterinary services in veterinarian shortage situations for a determined period of time.

If you commit to at least three years to providing veterinary services in a designated veterinary shortage area, NIFA may repay up to $25,000 of your student loan debt per year. Loan repayment benefits are limited to payments of the principal and interest on government and commercial loans you received for the attendance at an accredited college of veterinary medicine resulting in a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or the equivalent.

Be sure to review the eligibility requirements to determine if you and your loans are eligible for the VMLRP