How do you afford it?

Veterinary Science Graduate Certificate from UofI
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mckyle

Aspiring MD
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I would LOVE to go into Veterinary medicine - but how on earth can you afford to pay back student loans and such on a vet's salary? This is a question that worries me, and leads me more towards humane medicine, where there is a sufficient salary and job market
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mckyle said:
I would LOVE to go into Veterinary medicine - but how on earth can you afford to pay back student loans and such on a vet's salary? This is a question that worries me, and leads me more towards humane medicine, where there is a sufficient salary and job market
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Marry rich. Ok, I'm mostly joking. This is a very serious problem in our profession. There have been several threads in the last year discussing it. You should do a forum search and see what you come up with. I know at least one has debt in the title but I can't remember the whole title.
 
Honestly, if you can see yourself being perfectly happy in human med, don't have second thoughts about not going for vet med. Don't get me wrong, I know this is the profession I want to enter, but if I was sure I could be perfectly happy someplace else without having the bleak prospects after graduation, I would take it and run.
 
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wildcatj said:
Honestly, if you can see yourself being perfectly happy in human med, don't have second thoughts about not going for vet med. Don't get me wrong, I know this is the profession I want to enter, but if I was sure I could be perfectly happy someplace else without having the bleak prospects after graduation, I would take it and run.
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:thumbup: I'm trying to figure out if there is something else I'd be as happy with but haven't found anything yet..
 
PetPony said:
:thumbup: I'm trying to figure out if there is something else I'd be as happy with but haven't found anything yet..
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I've been contemplating a lot lately. Mostly so I have a back up. But anything else I think I would be interested in would put me in a lab all the time and I just don't think I could do that.
 
wildcatj said:
Honestly, if you can see yourself being perfectly happy in human med, don't have second thoughts about not going for vet med. Don't get me wrong, I know this is the profession I want to enter, but if I was sure I could be perfectly happy someplace else without having the bleak prospects after graduation, I would take it and run.
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:thumbup:
Don't go into vet med for the money. Period.
I know that I couldn't be as happy doing something else. I also know that this profession offers practically unlimited options if I decide I want to do something different.
And people... eeeeeewwww :shifty:


I'm randomly putting my favorite emoticon :prof:
 
wildcatj said:
I've been contemplating a lot lately. Mostly so I have a back up. But anything else I think I would be interested in would put me in a lab all the time and I just don't think I could do that.
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:thumbup: I'm trying to figure out how I feel about research by doing it every semester. I like it so far, but I'm not sure I could always do it.

There's some educational stuff I want to do as a vet that would also be possible as a vet tech if I found a vet clinic that would let me do it. I just don't know if I'd always be happy with a tech job though.
 
Emiloo4 said:
:thumbup:
Don't go into vet med for the money. Period.
I know that I couldn't be as happy doing something else. I also know that this profession offers practically unlimited options if I decide I want to do something different.
And people... eeeeeewwww :shifty:


I'm randomly putting my favorite emoticon :prof:
Click to expand...

Seriously. Why do people have to be so gross? Life would be so much easier if I just wanted to go into human med...
And I hope no one asks me on interviews why not human med. Literally my response will be "Humans are icky, why would I want to touch them?!"
 
wildcatj said:
Seriously. Why do people have to be so gross? Life would be so much easier if I just wanted to go into human med...
And I hope no one asks me on interviews why not human med. Literally my response will be "Humans are icky, why would I want to touch them?!"
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That was one of my answers lol :shrug:
 
StartingoverVet said:
Disease transmission...
good reason to avoid human med.

zoonosis much smaller problem.
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That's a good point. Let's just say I'm a little... clumsy when it comes to needles sometimes. I would get diseased so fast in human med.
 
I am fortunate to have very little undergrad debt as I worked for 4.5 years before starting school. I have a spouse who can pay my living expenses while I'm in school (a few benefits of waiting a few years to start, I guess). I chose an in-state school where my yearly tuition is about 23,000$ after all is said and done. I also will be applying for a research scholarship/stipend that would pay ~50% tuition (disclaimer: my background is in research and I love it. It's definitely not for everyone). I am working for high grades while in my first year to get an additional scholarship (our school gives over 50% of the students scholarships). If I can continue to get away without taking money for living and get the scholarship, I estimate the debt is around 60-80k. It's high, but definitely not unmanageable on a veterinarian's salary.

So those are the nuts an bolts to answer your questions. I am definitely not the average vet student but I was also very concerned about the debt and thought long and hard about how I would pay for my dream. Although I should mention that I only went into vet med because at the end of the day, it was the one job that I would honestly do happily without pay for my entire life. So I probably would have done it regardless of the debt I had to take on. And so far every experience I've had during vet school has made me feel like I'm cheating the universe- this is too amazing to be a real career! If you love it enough you make it work. If you don't absolutely love it, I'm sure the stress of the debt can destroy any love you did have for the profession.

The job market: is bad- I am personally networking my little bottom off in extracurriculars and conferences which take up time and energy. Also I am flexible about where I live after graduation eg. any state in the country is dandy so I have the flexibility to go to the jobs that exist. Hopefully all my hard work pays off.
 
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mckyle said:
I would LOVE to go into Veterinary medicine - but how on earth can you afford to pay back student loans and such on a vet's salary? This is a question that worries me, and leads me more towards humane medicine, where there is a sufficient salary and job market
Click to expand...

Honestly, if you're leaning at all toward human med and would be happy doing it, do that. For me, I really never even considered human med. It wasn't even on my radar as a possibility. I know, without a doubt, there is no other career in this world that I love as much as vet med. And there's nothing I could do with my life that would give me the same deep happiness and satisfaction that vet med does.

But yeah. If it's a toss up for you, pick human med 100%.
 
cc - what is that research scholarship that you mentioned? do you really get 50% of your tuition paid for the rest of vet school?
 
It's the Research Scholars program which gives a 2,500$ scholarship for 3 years + a stipend for summer research for 2nd and 3rd summer which I believe is around 7,000$ (It varies year to year). All together it's pretty good money and if you do research with someone in VCS (my intent) it's pretty good money to get some portion clinical experience with an awesome mentor!

Feel free to PM. If we both go to Wazzu I'm sure we know each other and we can chat about it!
 
This is something I am contemplating as well. The amount of debt needed to get through four years of vet school is disproportionate to the amount of income that can be expected by new graduates. When you add to this the new schools opening soon (and the current schools that are increasing their class size), vet med looks dim for the DVMs of the near future.

For a long time I was considering vet-med only... but recently I was doing some research on other possibilities and realized it would be cheaper to go to my in-state MD school than 27 of the 28 vet schools. Which does not even begin to mention the job security and income differences between MDs and DVMs.

So I don't know right now... :(

I will be taking the MCAT this Jan, so maybe my performance on it will help me decide which schools I want to apply to next October.
 
Woah this is a fun thread.

I'll go ahead and suggest this:
Don't do what I did!!

I decided I was too afraid to go into vet med even though it's been my dream since I was a child. So, I've tried lots of things in hopes of finding something that would at least compare to vet med including: medical school and working on a second degree in Nursing. Now I'm here, miserable, kicking myself for not going ahead and following my dream, and sitting on a whole mound of debt from medical school when I shouldn't have been there in the first place.

If vet med is your passion, who cares about the money. If it's not... then you'd definitely be better off going into another profession.

Bottom line, follow your dreams.. don't waste your time circumventing them because you're afraid of the challenge and/or the debt.
 
forks4spoons said:
Woah this is a fun thread.

I'll go ahead and suggest this:
Don't do what I did!!

I decided I was too afraid to go into vet med even though it's been my dream since I was a child. So, I've tried lots of things in hopes of finding something that would at least compare to vet med including: medical school and working on a second degree in Nursing. Now I'm here, miserable, kicking myself for not going ahead and following my dream, and sitting on a whole mound of debt from medical school when I shouldn't have been there in the first place.

If vet med is your passion, who cares about the money. If it's not... then you'd definitely be better off going into another profession.

Bottom line, follow your dreams.. don't waste your time circumventing them because you're afraid of the challenge and/or the debt.
Click to expand...

Agreed 100%! I like to think that no one enters vet med on a whim...it takes years of prep work and we ALL know the massive financial commitment well if we are taking out the loans. When I start to get overwhelmed I think this one line "thousands of people graduate from veterinary school everyday and repay their loans. You can as well." And thats it :)
 
There is a huge financial burden to veterinary students, and I think that is something you have to considering before deciding to peruse this field, but with that I also think it is manageable and money can be saved if you are careful. I was also fortunate enough to graduate undergrad with minimal debt, and then I was about to get a scholarship once in vet school that will cover my tuition cost for all 4 years. I will still be responsible for living and book expenses though.

With that said though, there are ways to minimize cost such as staying in state. Additionally, I know some schools provide scholarships once you are in classes. Our school has tons of scholarships we can apply for. So if this is something you really want to do, and you can't see yourself doing anything else, there are ways to make it less of a financial burden, you just have to be proactive.
 
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.
 
Papillons4me said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.
 
JoAnna423 said:
Agreed 100%! I like to think that no one enters vet med on a whim...it takes years of prep work and we ALL know the massive financial commitment well if we are taking out the loans. When I start to get overwhelmed I think this one line "thousands of people graduate from veterinary school everyday and repay their loans. You can as well." And thats it :)
Click to expand...

Not to be negative but vet student debt has continued to climb while salaries haven't really. Previous vets were not in the same predicament as the current new grads are. So while I get the sentiment behind the last line you wrote, it is a little misleading if you look at current numbers.
 
I'd like to say right, money doesn't matter. But man, it can make you miserable even if you're doing what you love.
 
dyachei said:
Not to be negative but vet student debt has continued to climb while salaries haven't really. Previous vets were not in the same predicament as the current new grads are. So while I get the sentiment behind the last line you wrote, it is a little misleading if you look at current numbers.
Click to expand...

I remember talking to my DVM mentor about the debt predicament. He was able to moonlight while his wife worked for the College in administration and left school with zero debt. :eek: He did say that if he had to do it over again with tuition the way it is, he probably wouldn't.

WhtsThFrequency, though I understand your frustration at such a cliche line, I'm sure that my situation is completely different from yours. I've spent the better part of the last decade trying to figure out where I belong with zero satisfaction. I've taken on a lot of debt along the way, too. Knowing that being a vet is the only thing I have found in my entire life that makes me happy means that I need to maintain that potentially cliche attitude. I know that there are others in the profession that agree with me as well on the importance of passion and happiness at all costs. :) To each his own.
 
In what ever field you choose to enter, including veterinary medicine, try to be smart about your finances. You need to plan out a way to repay debt and determine what your life might look like with that kind of loan re-payment each month. Thinking about it now (before or during vet school) will greatly ease stress post graduation. If you won't be happy with an OOS repayment program, then really try to focus on your instate school or move to a different state and apply for IS there. i can't emphasize enough how smart this can be! There are many ways to get around paying the maximum amount for vet school, though they don't all work for everyone. I have a friend paying OOS tuition as an IS student because the year she applied, it was the only spot available. However if she had re-applied the next year she almost certainly would have gotten an IS spot.
 
.
 
Last edited:
abc, swears are a no-no on here. Should probably take that down.
 
It's interesting to hear about other peoples' paths. I just thought I'd pop in here and share my story...

I am lucky enough to have parents who were able to pay for undergrad. Granted, I went to my dirt-cheap local & in-state public university for the first three years of undergrad. I did end transferring to an out of state university last year. I'm finishing this year. No loans taken out, but I've run my college money dry, so it'll be loans for vet school.

Whiiiiich is why I only applied in-state. I am also super luck to have a vet school in my home state, simply because I would certainly not have qualified for WICHE with my disgusting GPA. :thumbdown:

Just as an aside, the vet I shadow went to an OOS vet school, as well as a small liberal arts college for undergrad. She pays $1300 a month in loan payments. :wow:
 
So like many others in this thread, I can't afford it.

I have $30k in loans from undergrad already, and came close to matching that this semester alone in terms of tuition + costs of living.

Luckily my husband is a very talented IT technician, and while his current job underpays him outrageously, he does still have a job and for that we're both grateful.

We're hoping that by next year I'll be able to take out strictly what I need for tuition, because I am not going to be able to pay back all of my student loans altogether comfortably for a very, very, very long time.

That having been said - this is what I want to do. The flexibility of the industry and the capability to get into basically whatever the hell I want to is worth it to me. I'm paying for career satisfaction, and while it's a heavy burden it's debt I'm more than willing to take on for the only career I'll ever want in my life.
 
Does anyone on here receive grants/fellowships/scholarships/financial aid (or have you applied for them?)? I'm sure this varies by school, but I guess I am wondering:
a. how many are available and
b. what the application process is (ie. do you apply while you're applying to vet school or after you're admitted or after a year or two of vet school?)

I had always heard that the opportunities to fund vet school were really limited, but I was recently reading the information for incoming first-years for one of the schools I'm interested in, and it was talking a lot about scholarship and financial aid recipients as if they were very common, and I was surprised because it seemed contradictory to what I had heard previously.
 
If you are planning on attending a US vet school than most everyone receives financial aid (it is not need based) up to the cost of tuition and living expenses. It is in the form of loans.

So the receipt of financial aid should not be a deterrent to attending schools.
The issue for most is the cost of repaying the loans.
 
LSU has a bunch of scholarships listed here but the ones that aren't loans can't be applied for until you've already been accepted. They're for second, third, and fourth years. I'm not sure about other schools; I haven't found similar pages for any of the other ones I applied to.
 
hopefulinva said:
I have $30k in loans from undergrad already, and came close to matching that this semester alone in terms of tuition + costs of living.
Click to expand...

When we see all the studies citing vet school debt (avg $140,000 now? something like that?) does that include undergrad debt people bring with them, or is it just vet school?
 
LetItSnow said:
When we see all the studies citing vet school debt (avg $140,000 now? something like that?) does that include undergrad debt people bring with them, or is it just vet school?
Click to expand...

I had a little over $130,000 of vet school debt alone. My parents were kind enough to help with undergrad (while I worked 3 jobs).
 
dyachei said:
I had a little over $130,000 of vet school debt alone. My parents were kind enough to help with undergrad (while I worked 3 jobs).
Click to expand...

Were you IS, dyachei?

UTK's my IS school. I'm sitting on ~100k from the stupid idea that treating humans would make me just as happy (or happier) than animals. /facepalm. Just keep swimming, right?
 
Awendela said:
Does anyone on here receive grants/fellowships/scholarships/financial aid (or have you applied for them?)? I'm sure this varies by school, but I guess I am wondering:
a. how many are available and
b. what the application process is (ie. do you apply while you're applying to vet school or after you're admitted or after a year or two of vet school?)

I had always heard that the opportunities to fund vet school were really limited, but I was recently reading the information for incoming first-years for one of the schools I'm interested in, and it was talking a lot about scholarship and financial aid recipients as if they were very common, and I was surprised because it seemed contradictory to what I had heard previously.
Click to expand...

WSU claims that around 50% of vet students get scholarships. The application was in August (just before we started school) and the scholarships were awarded in late September after school started. This was the first year process- I think the other classes apply by Feb 1st. Scholarship application was pretty bulky (a lot like a hefty supplemental) and for some scholarships there is an additional essay requirement. We are told many more second/third/fourth years get scholarships than first years. I can't send you the link listing the scholarships as you need a vetmed ID to log in/view.
 
forks4spoons said:
Were you IS, dyachei?

UTK's my IS school. I'm sitting on ~100k from the stupid idea that treating humans would make me just as happy (or happier) than animals. /facepalm. Just keep swimming, right?
Click to expand...

UTK was my IS. Until this next year, they made you pay for the summer semester that you were forced labor (the summer between 3rd and 4th year). I probably would have been around $115k if not for that.

My number also takes into account that I had to use student loans for gallbladder removal during finals 3rd year.

But I was frugal - I chose cheap places to live (tried a roommate first year and it didn't work out), I tried not to spend a lot on food. I didn't go out drinking regularly.
 
dyachei said:
UTK was my IS. Until this next year, they made you pay for the summer semester that you were forced labor (the summer between 3rd and 4th year). I probably would have been around $115k if not for that.

My number also takes into account that I had to use student loans for gallbladder removal during finals 3rd year.

But I was frugal - I chose cheap places to live (tried a roommate first year and it didn't work out), I tried not to spend a lot on food. I didn't go out drinking regularly.
Click to expand...

Hope you don't mind if I hit you up for advice once the time comes. :)

Sorry to hear about your surgery. Nay bueno. :(
 
forks4spoons said:
Hope you don't mind if I hit you up for advice once the time comes. :)

Sorry to hear about your surgery. Nay bueno. :(
Click to expand...


Anytime. I'm always available either on site or by PM.

Yeah, the sx sucked. But it was a few years ago now and I've been healthy-ish since. I really think it was in large part due to the crap I was eating studying for finals....:laugh:
 
dyachei said:
UTK was my IS. Until this next year, they made you pay for the summer semester that you were forced labor (the summer between 3rd and 4th year). I probably would have been around $115k if not for that.

My number also takes into account that I had to use student loans for gallbladder removal during finals 3rd year.

But I was frugal - I chose cheap places to live (tried a roommate first year and it didn't work out), I tried not to spend a lot on food. I didn't go out drinking regularly.
Click to expand...


My great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother all had to have their gallbladders removed. There's a part of me wondering..."There's like a 90% chance I will have to have it taken out at some point in my life...can I maybe get it done next summer before vet school (hopefully) when I'm not busy and still on my parents' insurance?" :D
 
tropictuco said:
can I maybe get it done next summer before vet school (hopefully) when I'm not busy and still on my parents' insurance?" :D
Click to expand...

Oh, to be that young again. :p

Take advantage of it while you can!!
 
LetItSnow said:
When we see all the studies citing vet school debt (avg $140,000 now? something like that?) does that include undergrad debt people bring with them, or is it just vet school?
Click to expand...

I think that's just vet school. The amount of debt people bring from undergrad is probably so varied that it would skew the data. So my guess is just vet school debt.


Personally, I graduated with about $35K in undergrad debt and yes, I'm using loans to cover vet school as well. It sucks. Period. But this is want I want to do, no question about it. Could I have gone to med school/was I thinking about it at one time? Yes. Is there one literally in my hometown where I could live at home and not pay rent or utilities? Oh yeah. But, would I have been happy with human med? Absolutely not. The freedom vet med gives me and the happiness I feel when I think about what I can do is just too much to give up. I'm also working part time right now to help give me something to start repaying my undergrad loans while I can. As much as it sucks, there's really nothing I can do about it and this is my dream so if it takes loans (and years of paying it back :scared:) to achieve it, then I'll do it.

Also, (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong) there aren't too many scholarships available for first years. There are WAY more available for 2nd-4th years though. I'm also lucky to attend a school that's IS for me, where pretty much everyone gets a small scholarship and the cost of living is relatively inexpensive. It helps. Anyway, that's my story...
 
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