As a non-traditional aged student who intends to apply next cycle, this has been on my mind a lot. I am fortunate to have no debt from undergrad and we are able to pay for my pre-reqs in full as I take them one by one. It is our hope that we will be able to pay vet school tuition in full each year *IF* I am accepted to our in-state school. This will require quite a lot of sacrifice and we will not be able to contribute to our 401K and build our savings as we have been. I think it is possible, however.
The larger issue is that of job prospects. It is concerning because my husband is pretty much employable only in certain areas of the country, and his will always be the primary salary. I will not be able to freely relocate for a job opportunity. We are hoping, however, that with a DVM degree I will be able to happily "fill in the cracks" so to speak with whatever work I can pick up in the area we do live.
It is arguably not the best financial decision for us, and there is no way we would even consider it if we did not think we could pay most if not all tuition in full each year. However, we do think that I should at least take a shot at the career that I know I will be happy doing the rest of my life. If it does not work out I have a couple other thoughts.... but vet med is my primary target and I am focused on that for the time being.
Very nice post.
Unfortunately, many looking into vet school (myself included) are not in such a beneficial position.
Using rounded numbers, I have 30K student debt from my BS degree. I am currently in a MS program, which will add another 30K or so... So you can see where I stand before even starting vet school. -_-
Now... Vet school. OOS schools average 60K/yr. (I am using the numbers in the back of the VMSAR book from last year, which include estimations for room and board in the total cost.) Some are cheaper (Wisconsin... Texas... Oklahoma...), but most are right around 60K. So what about IS, you ask. Well, my IS school is about 35K/yr (55K if I was an OOS student). Definitely better, but they have a small class size and a list of prereqs as long as your arm.
Let me summarize:
Pre-vet debt:.....60K
4 years OOS:...240K
4 years IS:.......140K
So I'm looking at 200K or 300K by the time I get my DVM. Now, I know there are options like scholarships and research positions and working for the government and so on and so on. However, at this time I am not counting on receiving any such assistance. Begging any more off my family is also not an option.
Wow. 200-300K for a job whose future prospects are uncertain. (I could go on for a while about why I am not completely satisfied with the future of vet med, but that would be better saved for another topic.)
Now, let's look at MD programs. My IS is within commuting distance from where I live right now. Their tuition is also around 40K/yr which is more expensive than my IS vet school (negligibly), but LESS expensive than every OOS vet school. We're looking at 220K IS. (I haven't priced OOS MD schools yet because there are so many of them. I will take a day out sometime soon and do it.)
So...
The question that I am forced to ask is: What would be the better choice for my own future? Do I want to go 200K in debt for an occupation with questionable prospects? Or 220K in debt for a job that will always be in demand and pay 2x more (at least)?
Sorry for the wall of text, but I hope that talking through my reasoning has been helpful to someone.