Furloughed and Unpaid Federal Veterinarians
More than 3,000 veterinarians are Federal Government employees (USDA, FDA, EPA), and many work for agencies who are impacted when the government shuts down. Even though the longest shutdown in U.S. history as just come to a close, there is a chance this will happen again in the future and impacted folks may still not have received back pay.
This puts veterinary colleagues who work for the government and get furloughed, or otherwise do not receive income for working in an even tougher position if they have student loans. However, any reduction of your income (like when the government shuts down) provides a reason to re-evaluate your student debt repayment strategy and consider an income-driven student loan repayment plan (IBR, PAYE, REPAYE) to reduce your current monthly payment under IBR, PAYE or REPAYE.
