Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection: Veterinarians sought to submit applications for loan repayment program grants for service in 6 shortage areas of Wisconsin

Contacts: Raechelle Cline, 608-224-5005 or Bill Cosh, Communications Director, 608-224-5020

MADISON, Wisconsin – New veterinarians who commit to practicing in one of six shortage areas in Wisconsin can now apply for financial support under the USDA’s Veterinary Medical Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP), the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection announced today. Applications are due May 20 for consideration during the 2016 grant period.

The VMLRP 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 critical and high-priority veterinary shortage areas. Applicants must commit to providing veterinary services in a designated area for at least three years. In exchange, they can receive up to $25,000 per year toward repayment of principal and interest on government and commercial loans received for the attendance at an accredited college of veterinary medicine resulting in a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine or the equivalent.

“We identified five different areas in the state and the USDA identified a sixth with a variety of service needs that will provide a new veterinarian with broad experience, while at the same time bringing veterinary expertise to an area that needs it. This is a win-win situation for all of us,” said Dr. Paul McGraw, Wisconsin’s state veterinarian.

In each area, the veterinarian must serve the needs of beef and dairy cattle and may also require expertise working with swine, poultry and other small ruminants. The six areas identified for 2016 include:

-Clark and Marathon counties (City of Abbotsford) (Type 3, Critical priority)
-Ashland, Bayfield, Burnette, Douglas, Sawyer, Washburn counties (Type 2, High Priority)
-Marathon, Portage, Taylor counties (Type 1, High Priority)
-Crawford, Grant, Vernon counties (Type 1, High Priority)
-Florence, Forest, Langlade, Lincoln, Marinette, Vilas counties (Type 2, High Priority)
-Adams, Columbia, Dane, Green Lake, Juneau, Marquette, Sauk counties (Type 1, High Priority)

New veterinarians interested in applying for this opportunity will find background information, requirements and application materials at http://tinyurl.com/j3sacba. The application deadline is May 20. Offers will be made to selected individual veterinarian applicants in September 2016.