The Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Enhancement legislation has been reintroduced in Congress. South Dakota State Veterinarian Dr. Dustin Oedekoven says that’s a positive measure that helps get veterinarians out to areas where there’s a shortage of vets. He says it’s also an improvement over the present USDA program as it creates a tax free award.

He says having that award tax free is critical as most vet school graduates have significant loan payments to make.

Oedekoven says the present program which began 10 years ago has been successful in getting veterinarians out to serve in designated shortage areas.

Part of the reason for the shortage of large animal vets in rural areas is that many vets there don’t make the amount of money that other veterinarians make in urban settings.