The lack of large-animal veterinarians – particularly in rural areas of the United States — is rapidly reaching a crisis point. Currently, 46 states have veterinary shortages. While many strategies are being employed to help encourage graduating veterinarians to consider jobs in a large-animal practice, few are having resounding success.
One strategy working well in Missouri is the alleviation of student loans for those veterinary students who plan to focus on large animals. In 2007, the Missouri General Assembly created the Large Animal Veterinary Student Loan Program which forgives up to $20,000 a year in loan payments for a maximum of four years if the graduate works with large animals in Missouri. Thus far, the Missouri Department of Agriculture has awarded nearly $1.5 million in loan forgiveness to 46 students.
Student debt is one of the biggest barriers for students considering veterinary school; large animal veterinarians often make significantly less money than their small-animal counterparts, making it even harder to recruit and retain large-animal vets.
Two Missouri-based female recipients of the Missouri loan alleviation program explained how the debt-repayment program has assisted them:
Sonja Perry of the Bowling Green (Missouri) Vet Clinic, was able to make a down payment to become a co-owner in the clinic she works for, something that would have been impossible if she were still paying down her student loans.
Katelyn Bischof received the grant in her fourth year of veterinary school, when she was uncertain if she would remain in state to work. Since graduating in 2020, she has worked at the Hermann Veterinary Clinic, where at least 50 percent of her work is with large animals. The loan repayment program allowed her to accept the lower salary of a large-animal veterinarian and still pay back her student loans. Bischof's one year of loan forgiveness covered over 15 percent of her debt.
Though loan repayment is only one piece of the rural veterinarian crisis puzzle, it's an important one to address. Additional issues include work-life balance, client expectations, and workload.
Read more at the Columbia Missourian.
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