The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now accepting Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) applications for the eight areas in Texas designated as having veterinary shortages.

Applications may be submitted through April 15 by 5 p.m. (ET).

“Food animal veterinarians are critical to maintaining a healthy, secure and safe food supply,” VMLRP program staff said. “Today, there is a critical shortage of food animal veterinarians in both private and public practice, particularly in rural communities, in the United States and insular areas. One cause for this shortage is the high cost of professional veterinary medical education.”

The VMLRP is authorized by the National Veterinary Medical Services Act and helps qualified veterinarians offset a significant portion of debt incurred while pursuing their veterinary medicine degree in return for at least three years of service in a designated veterinary shortage area.

Counties included in the eight Texas areas are:

  • Armstrong
  • Bailey
  • Bastrop
  • Brazos
  • Briscoe
  • Castro
  • Caldwell
  • Cochran
  • Dallam
  • Deaf Smith
  • Freestone
  • Gonzales
  • Guadalupe
  • Hale
  • Hartley
  • Lamb
  • Oldham
  • Parmer
  • Potter
  • Randall

To be eligible to apply to the VMLRP, an applicant must:

  • have a degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM), or the equivalent, from a college of veterinary medicine accredited by the AVMA Council on Education;
  • have qualifying educational loan debt as defined in 7 CFR 3431 Section 3;
  • secure an offer of employment or establish and/or maintain a practice in a veterinary shortage situation, as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture, within the time period specified in the VMLRP service agreement offer; and
  • provide certifications and verifications in accordance with 7 CFR 3431 Section 16.

For more information about the VMLRP, visit the following webpages:

While TAHC does not administer this program, the commission is designated to nominate and certify veterinary shortage situations allocated by USDA.

Questions can be emailed to the VMLRP team at vmlrp@usda.gov.