Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas
In 2006, the Kansas Legislature initially passed the Veterinary Training Program for Rural Kansas (VTPRK), which provides financial incentive for veterinary students to practice in rural Kansas upon their graduation from the four-year professional DVM program. Through this program, underserved counties throughout Kansas are provided with passionate, knowledgeable and dedicated veterinarians eager to help serve unique communities across the Sunflower State. Upgraded by HB 2605 in 2022, the program provides for up to seven students selected each year during their first year in the DVM program to receive a loan of $25,000 per year for four years to help cover tuition and other school-related expenses.
After graduating from the DVM program, for each year that the graduate works full-time in a veterinary practice in a Kansas county with fewer than 40,000 residents, or in a full-time veterinary practice if food animal patients make up at least 50% of the practice, a year of loans is forgiven. In addition to completing the four-year DVM curriculum, students selected in their first year for the VTPRK spend additional time during the summer months learning about public health, rural sociology, natural disaster preparedness, and foreign animal diseases.
Application for the VTPRK is open only to Kansas State College of Veterinary Medicine students and the application cycle opens by announcement in the first year of the DVM program.