New Mexico Register / Volume XXXVI,
Issue 13 / July 15, 2025
TITLE 5 POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION
CHAPTER 7 TUITION
AND FINANCIAL AID
PART 38 VETERINARY MEDICAL LOAN REPAYMENT
PROGRAM
5.7.38.1 ISSUING AGENCY:
State of New Mexico Higher Education Department.
[5.7.38.1
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.2 SCOPE: Provisions of
5.7.38 NMAC apply to all participants of the loan repayment program described
in this rule.
[5.7.38.1
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.3 STATUTORY AUTHORITY: Sections 9-25-8
NMSA 1978.
[5.7.38.3 NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.4 DURATION: Permanent.
[5.7.38.4 NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.5 EFFECTIVE DATE: July 15, 2025,
unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.
[5.7.38.5
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.6 OBJECTIVE: The objective and
purpose of 5.7.38 NMAC is to increase the number of veterinarians in rural
parts of the state through an educational loan repayment program. The program
provides for repayment of the principal and reasonable interest accrued on
federal and commercial loans obtained for a veterinary medical education.
[5.7.38.6
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.7 DEFINITIONS:
A. “Award” means the loan repayment award granted to
a recipient.
B. “Board” means the board of veterinary medicine.
C. “Committee” means the veterinarian selection
committee.
D. “Department” means the higher education department.
E. “Designated underserved area” means a
municipality or county designated by the committee that does not have a sufficient number of food-animal veterinarians for the
needs of the veterinary medical service area.
F. “Food animal veterinarian” means a veterinarian who
provides medical care for animals that are raised to provide agricultural
products.
G. “Loan” means a grant of money to defray the cost
of tuition and fees for a veterinary medical education under a contract between
the federal government or a commercial lender and a veterinary medical student
requiring repayment of principal and interest.
H. “Recipient” means a veterinarian selected to
participate in the veterinary medical loan repayment program.
I. “Veterinarian” means a person who graduated from an
accredited school of veterinary medicine and is licensed as a veterinarian in
New Mexico.
[5.7.38.7
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.8 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE
DEPARTMENT:
A. The
department may promulgate rules as necessary to carry out the provisions of the
program.
B. The department shall:
(1) coordinate a standard application
process including preparation of application forms and facilitation of the
application review by the committee;
(2) maintain contracts;
(3) verify location and time recipient is
employed as a food animal veterinarian;
(4) process disbursement of awards to the
lenders of recipients in annual or other periodic installments;
(5) submit required reports; and
(6) appoint an ongoing committee composed
of the following members who all serve ex officio:
(a) the state veterinarian;
(b) the New Mexico state university
extension veterinarian; and
(c) the chair of the board of veterinary
medicine.
C. The department may delegate to other agencies or contract
for the performance of services required by the program.
D. The department or its delegated
agency or contractor shall participate in any federal programs that support the
repayment of education loans incurred by veterinarians and agree to the
conditions of a federal program.
[5.7.38.8
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.9 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE BOARD: The board shall:
A. maintain
a database of employment opportunities for veterinarians in designated
underserved areas.
B. assist
the department with making a full and careful investigation of the training,
ability, character and other pertinent qualifications of each applicant and
determine fitness to be a recipient.
[5.7.38.9
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.10 RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE COMMITTEE:
The
committee shall:
A select up to ten
qualified applicants per year to participate in the program;
B. designate
food-animal veterinarian underserved areas of the state and rank them as to
need; and
C. assist
the department in determining eligibility and selection criteria for applicants
and recipients.
[5.7.38.10
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.11 RECIPIENT ELIGIBILITY: An applicant
shall be:
A. a
citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States;
B. a
resident of New Mexico;
C. licensed
as a veterinarian in New Mexico; and
D. employed
full time in a private practice providing food-animal veterinary medical
services in a designated underserved area.
[5.7.38.11
NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.12 AWARD CRITERIA; INELIGIBLE
EDUCATIONAL DEBT; AND CONTRACT TERMS:
A. Award criteria:
(1) amounts are dependent on the location
and characteristics of the medical practice and the applicant's total
veterinary medical school indebtedness;
(2) preference in making awards shall be
to persons who have graduated from a post-secondary educational institution
that gives preferential enrollment to New Mexico residents;
(3) award amounts may be modified based on
available funding or other special circumstances; and
(4) an award shall not exceed the total
veterinary medical education indebtedness of the recipient.
(5) The annual award shall be established
by the department but shall not exceed fifteen thousand dollars ($15,000) for
each of the first two years and twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) for each
of the second two years, for a total not to exceed eighty thousand dollars
($80,000).
B. Ineligible educational debt:
(1) amounts incurred as
a result of participation in state loan-for-service programs or other
state financial aid programs that require that service be provided in exchange
for financial assistance;
(2) scholarships;
(3) personal loans from friends or
relatives; and
(4) loans that exceed individual standard
school expense levels.
C. Contract:
(1) The award shall be evidenced by a
contract between the recipient and the department acting on behalf of the
state. The general form of the contract required shall be approved by the
attorney general and signed by the recipient and the department or the designated
representative of the department on behalf of the state.
(2) The contract shall provide for the
payment by the state of a stated sum to the recipient's debtors and shall state
the obligations of the recipient under the program, including a minimum
four-year period of service, quarterly reporting requirements and other rules
established by the department.
(3) Recipients shall serve a complete year
in order to receive credit for that year.
(4) If a recipient does not comply with
the terms of the contract, the department shall assess a penalty of up to three
times the amount of the award disbursed plus eighteen percent interest, unless
the department finds acceptable extenuating circumstances, including those that
require release of contract, as to why the recipient cannot serve or comply
with the terms of the contract. If the department does not find acceptable
extenuating circumstances for the recipient's failure to comply with the
contract, the department shall require immediate repayment plus the amount of
the penalty. A decision not to release a recipient from the contract without
penalty is a final department decision and may be appealed to the district
court as provided in Section 39-3-1.1 NMSA 1978.
(5) The department, with recommendation
from the committee, may cancel a contract made between the department and a
recipient for the recipient's failure to comply with provisions of the
contract, the Veterinary Medical Loan Repayment Act, rules promulgated in
accordance with that Act or any other reasonable cause deemed sufficient by the
department. The department shall release a recipient from the contract without
penalty if:
(a) the recipient has completed the service requirements of
the contract;
(b) the recipient is unable to complete
the service requirements of the contract due to serious illness or disability;
or
(c) the recipient demonstrates extreme
hardship or other good cause to the department justifying the release from
contract.
(6) The department is vested with full and
complete authority and power to sue in its own name for the balance due the
state from any recipient on a loan repayment contract.
[5.7.38.12 NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
5.7.38.13 REPORTS: The department
shall make annual reports to the governor and the legislature prior to
each regular legislative session of the department's activities,
including cohort data and annual and total program data that shows:
A. the number and amount of awards given;
B. the completion rate of recipients in the program, the
number of recipients who completed the program and stayed in New Mexico and the
number of those recipients who are practicing in a designated underserved area;
C. the amounts repaid and amounts
owed on educational loans and the total number and total amount of penalties
assessed against recipients who left the program;
D. the service locations of current and former recipients in
New Mexico;
E. for each designated underserved area in the state, the
number of recipients who are serving or have served in the area and whether
there are recipients who are not employed or not employed full time in the
area; and
F. other information determined by the department.
[5.7.38.13 NMAC - N, 7/15/2025]
History of 5.7.38 NMAC: [RESERVED]