[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 76 (Thursday, April 19, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23461-23462]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-9376]


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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

National Institute of Food and Agriculture


Notice of Request for Applications for the Veterinary Medicine 
Loan Repayment Program

AGENCY: National Institute of Food and Agriculture, USDA.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) is 
announcing the release of the Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment 
Program (VMLRP) Request for Applications (RFA) at www.nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp.

DATES: The FY 2012 Veterinary Medicine Loan Repayment Program (VMLRP) 
application package will be available at www.nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp on 
Monday, April 16, 2012 and applications are due by Friday, June 15, 
2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gary Sherman; National Program Leader, 
Veterinary Science; National Institute of Food and Agriculture; U.S. 
Department of Agriculture; STOP 2240; 1400 Independence Avenue SW.; 
Washington, DC 20250-2240; Voice: 202-401-4952; Fax: 202-401-6156; 
Email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On October 1, 2009, the Cooperative State 
Research, Education, and Extension Service (CSREES) became the National 
Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) as mandated by the Food, 
Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, section 7511(f) [Pub. L. 110-
246]. Accordingly, the authority to administer the VMLRP transferred 
from CSREES to NIFA.

Background and Purpose

    In January 2003, the National Veterinary Medical Service Act 
(NVMSA) was passed into law adding section 1415A to the National 
Agricultural Research, Extension, and Teaching Policy Act of 1997 
(NARETPA). This law established a new Veterinary Medicine Loan 
Repayment Program (7 U.S.C. 3151a) authorizing the Secretary of 
Agriculture to carry out a program of entering into agreements with 
veterinarians under which they agree to provide veterinary services in 
veterinarian shortage situations. In November 2005, the Agriculture, 
Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act, 2006 (Pub. L. 109-97) appropriated $495,000 for 
CSREES to implement the VMLRP and represented the first time funds had 
been appropriated for this program.
    In February 2007, the Revised Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 
2007 (Pub. L. 110-5) appropriated an additional $495,000 to CSREES for 
support of the program, in December 2007, the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act, 2008 appropriated an additional $868,875 to CSREES 
for support of this program, in March 2009, the Omnibus Appropriations 
Act, 2009 (Pub. L. 111-8) was enacted, providing an additional 
$2,950,000 for the VMLRP, in October 2009, the Agriculture, Rural 
Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 
Appropriations Act of 2010 (Pub. L. 111-80) appropriated an additional 
$4,800,000 for the VMLRP, and in April 2011, the President signed into 
law, Public Law 112-10, Department of Defense and Full-Year Continuing 
Appropriations Act, 2011, which, after the .2% rescission, appropriated 
an additional $4,790,400 for the VMLRP. On November 18, 2011, the 
President signed into law the Consolidated and Further Continuing 
Appropriations Act, 2012 (Pub. L. 112-55), which appropriated 
$4,790,000 for the VMLRP.
    Section 7105 of the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, 
Public Law 110-246, (FCEA) amended section 1415A to revise the 
determination of veterinarian shortage situations to consider (1) 
geographical areas that the Secretary determines have a shortage of 
veterinarians; and (2) areas of veterinary practice that the Secretary 
determines have a shortage of veterinarians, such as food animal 
medicine, public health, epidemiology, and food safety. This section 
also added that priority should be given to agreements with 
veterinarians for the practice of food animal medicine in veterinarian 
shortage situations.
    NARETPA section 1415A requires the Secretary, when determining the 
amount of repayment for a year of service by a veterinarian to consider 
the ability of USDA to maximize the number of agreements from the 
amounts appropriated and to provide an incentive to serve in veterinary 
service shortage areas with the greatest need. This section also 
provides that loan repayments may consist of payments of the principal 
and interest on government and commercial loans received by the 
individual for the attendance of the individual at an accredited 
college of veterinary medicine resulting in a degree of Doctor of 
Veterinary Medicine or the equivalent. This program is not authorized 
to provide repayments for any government or commercial loans incurred 
during the pursuit of another degree, such as an associate or bachelor 
degree. Loans eligible for repayment include educational loans made for 
one or more of the following: Loans for tuition expenses; other 
reasonable educational expenses, including fees, books, and laboratory 
expenses, incurred by the individual; and reasonable living expenses as 
determined by the Secretary. In addition, the Secretary is directed to

[[Page 23462]]

make such additional payments to participants as the Secretary 
determines appropriate for the purpose of providing reimbursements to 
participants for individual tax liability resulting from participation 
in this program. Finally, this section requires USDA to promulgate 
regulations within 270 days of the enactment of FCEA (i.e., June 18, 
2008). The Secretary delegated the authority to carry out this program 
to NIFA.
    The final rule was published in the Federal Register on April 19, 
2010 [75 FR 20239-20248]. Based on comments received during the 60-day 
comment period upon publication of the interim rule [74 FR 32788-32798, 
July 9, 2009], NIFA reconsidered the policy regarding individuals who 
consolidated their veterinary school loans with other educational loans 
(e.g. undergraduate) and their eligibility to apply for the VMLRP. NIFA 
will allow these individuals to apply for and receive a VMLRP award; 
however, only the eligible portion of the consolidation will be repaid 
by the VMLRP. Furthermore, applicants with consolidated loans will be 
asked to provide a complete history of their student loans from the 
National Student Loan Database System (NSLDS), a central database for 
student aid operated by the U.S. Department of Education. The NSLDS Web 
site can be found at www.nslds.ed.gov. Individuals who consolidated 
their DVM loans with non-educational loans or loans belonging to an 
individual other than the applicant, such as a spouse or child, will 
continue to be ineligible for the VMLRP.
    In FY 2010, VMLRP announced its first funding opportunity and 
received 260 applications from which NIFA issued 53 VMLRP awards 
totaling $5,186,000. In FY 2011, VMLRP announced its second funding 
opportunity and received 159 applications from which NIFA issued 78 
VMLRP awards totaling $7,506,000. Consequently, up to $4,300,000 is 
available to support this program in FY 2012. Funding for future years 
will be based on annual appropriations and balances, if any, remaining 
from prior years.
    The eligibility criteria for applicants and the application forms 
and associated instructions needed to apply for a VMLRP award can be 
viewed and downloaded from the VMLRP Web site at http://www.nifa.usda.gov/vmlrp.

    Done in Washington, DC, this 7th day of March, 2012.
Chavonda Jacobs-Young,
Acting Director, National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
[FR Doc. 2012-9376 Filed 4-18-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3410-22-P