Applications open for veterinary student loans through Illinois Farm Bureau

The Illinois Farm Bureau is accepting applications for its Illinois Veterinary Education and Training loan program. Loans are available to second-year veterinary students attending an accredited college of veterinary medicine in the U.S. and who are focusing on Illinois food animal medicine.

The IVET Program helps offset the high cost of veterinary education, according to a news release from the Illinois Farm Bureau. The program loans up to $40,000 to as many as three veterinary students each year. Loans are made over a period of two to three years.

IVET award recipients are given a $1,500 stipend during their fourth year in school to help pay expenses associated with clinical rotations. Loans are repaid over five years, during which graduates must commit to working in a food animal practice that services Illinois livestock producers.

“Illinois Farm Bureau encourages veterinary students to pursue a career in caring for food animals,” Tasha Bunting, IFB associate director of commodity and livestock programs, said in a news release. “To succeed, farmers need the services of a food-animal veterinarian to help them care for their beef cattle, swine, sheep and poultry. It’s an incredibly rewarding career field that has seen an increase in demand in recent years.”

Applications are due Sunday, May 15, and can be found online at www.ilfb.org/IVET. The selection committee will interview eligible applicants in spring 2022. Successful applicants will be notified by mail. Loan disbursements begin in August.

Since the Illinois Farm Bureau established the IVET program in 2005, the organization has awarded more than $550,000 to 27 veterinary students who focus on caring for food animals in Illinois. For more information about the program, contact Tasha Bunting at 309-557-2993 or tbunting@ilfb.org.