Veterinary Loan Repayment Program Implemented

August 24, 2007 — 

USDA's Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) and Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) have jointly announced the implementation of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program authorized in 2003 by the passage of the National Veterinary Medical Services Act (NVMSA).

This program provides for the repayment of veterinary medicine educational loans for veterinarians willing to work in areas designated as underserved by the Secretary of Agriculture. Currently, this program is only available for federal employees employed by FSIS as Public Health Veterinarians or Veterinary Medical Officers. FSIS intends to use these funds to offer 25 veterinarians payments of $10,000 per year over 3 years to repay their educational debt in exchange for practicing in areas of veterinarian shortage or need.

CSREES indicates that they plan to extend this program in the future to non-federal positions as additional funds become available. The agency will seek stakeholder input into how to best define veterinarian shortage situations within the limits of the authorizing legislation and cost-effectively administer a large-scale loan repayment program for non-Federal veterinarians who serve in these situations.

FSIS is currently accepting applications for positions eligible to receive NVMSA loan repayments. A current listing of shortage or need areas and other timely information about NVMSA loan repayments to Federal veterinarians are available on the careers page of the FSIS Web site. For additional information about FSIS NVMSA loan repayment opportunities contact Ronald K. Jones, Phone: 202?720?9521 or Ronald.Jones@fsis.usda.gov.

Source:
Federal Register Notice, August 24, 2007