The U.S. Department of Agriculture has launched a loan repayment program for veterinary school graduates that could help many rural Wisconsin towns facing shortages in animal care.
The average veterinary school graduate racks up more than $135,000 in student loans, leading most graduates to seek out higher salaries in big cities. In Wisconsin, the trend is partly why more than one-third of all counties are facing a shortage of veterinarians.
The USDA’s new program places recent veterinary school graduates in underserved communities, awarding them nearly $100,000 over three years.
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State Veterinarian Paul McGraw said veterinarians play a major role in Wisconsin’s farming industry by “working with the producers — the dairy producers, the beef producers, swine, poultry — so we have healthy animals going into the food chain as they’re harvested.”
The selected veterinarians will serve 28 Wisconsin counties, predominantly in the southern part of the state.
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