If you're graduating from veterinary school in two years or less, you should apply for VCA’s Bright Futures program. It helps students secure future employment with VCA – and VCA pays up to $60,000 of their student loan debt. Below, recent graduate and new VCA veterinarian, Karli Morrill, DVM, describes her experience so far as a Bright Futures recipient.

I’ve wanted to be a veterinarian pretty much as long as I can remember.

I've always loved all animals and I enjoyed science the most in school, so it just seemed like a natural fit. I first heard of VCA when I was in veterinary school at Ohio State. They would sponsor different things and send promotional emails, which is how I heard about the Bright Futures program.

I was already interested in VCA after participating in their student program the summer in between semesters.

The Bright Futures program was sort of the icing on the cake. I thought, oh man, if I could get into that program, it would be amazing. The VCA recruiter I worked with encouraged me to apply. I have about $150,000 in student loan debt and the Bright Futures program can cover $60,000 of that. I receive payments monthly. The first year, it's a total of $10,000. The second year is $20,000 and the third year is $30,000. And it's nice too, because if I have to leave my position for whatever reason, I don’t have to pay it back.

I started my first full-time veterinarian role on June 30.

I’m a doctor at VCA Sheridan Animal Hospital in Buffalo, N.Y., which is my hometown. It was always my plan to come back to this area after school. I just bought a house that’s close to the practice. It's been going very well and I'm really enjoying it.

Sometimes I feel challenged, but it hasn't been overwhelming by any means yet. I'm very grateful that I work with a great team. The credentialed veterinary technicians, the assistants and the other doctors are all really great people and super supportive. They're always checking in on me, even when things are chaotic for them. Surgery is definitely something I'm interested in and I plan to grow my skills as I start to get exposed to it.

The Bright Futures program has honestly taken a lot of pressure off the back of my mind.

It’s especially helpful considering how often student loan programs are changing. There’s a lot of uncertainty about which programs might be available, so it's a huge relief to know that I don't have to worry about it all the time.

VCA’s contribution makes it so I’m able to afford my payments and think about other things too, like investing in my future and retirement.

I took this job at VCA Sheridan because I plan to stay here for a long time. I’m invested in the community. It’s my home. And our hospital is growing, so I plan to grow right along with it. I’m so grateful and thankful for the Bright Futures program, because it’s doing just that – making my future as a veterinarian look very bright.