How long will you be paying student loans?

[chihuahuamama]

How much debt did you graduate with?
What is your average salary?
How long have you been making payments?
How much are you paying monthly?
How long until you expect to pay it off?

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[itsrocky]

There’s a lot of info on this if you search, btw

I haven’t graduated yet, start work this fall

333,000 (don’t do it kids)
80,000
None yet
I’m going to use PAYE. My payment will be ~500/month, plus savings for the tax on forgiveness. and I plan to save a LOT of my check, like I think when I did my budget I was going to try to save at least 2,000/month my first few years out.

Sidebar: You may wonder, why not just do a standard plan if I’ll stick that much in savings monthly? Why not just slam it all on the loan? I’m utilizing income driven repayment for a number of reasons. I’d like to have savings in case I get hurt, sick, fired, etc. but I also want to buy a house and maybe a practice someday. Nothing extravagant, mind you, but a mortgage that will be cheaper than renting. Not to mention, when you put it in the simulator, you end up paying more in the long run trying to pay off these mammoth debt loads in 10 years vs IDR. Yes, my balance will rise instead of fall because of the interest, yes it will be stressful.

When will I pay it off? I won’t hahah. I’ll just hope that forgiveness will still be a thing 25 years from now, and they haven’t yanked up the % of what is taxed to more than what I have saved away. I’ll hope that I don’t become disabled or unable to work in any way, or won’t lose my license for some reason.

It’s really more sombering when you lay it all out.

 

[Minnerbelle]

How much debt did you graduate with?

I took out $138k in principal. At time of graduation that was about $150k with interest due to circumstances below.
I actually took out $158k total in principal, but my last year of vet school $35k if that was taken out in excess because it was at a lower interest rate (4.51%), and I used it to pay off $15k of accrued interest and $20k of Principal on a higher interest loan (6.8%). So essentially just swapped it out with lower interest.

What is your average salary?

First 6 months out, I earned 70k/yr salary
In the next year, I earned 140k
AFter that, I earned 110-120k/yr

How long have you been making payments?
I graduated May 2014, and paid off my loans Nov 2018

How much are you paying monthly?
I paid as much as I could. Anywhere from $1000 minimum to many months that I paid $4000/month. My total payment in those 4.5 yrs (4 yrs technically in repayment, though I started paying before my grace period was up) was ~$160k. I got away with paying minimal interest by first paying off the interest on my biggest loan with the highest interest loan while in school, and making sure to manually pay my monthly payments such that I made the minimal payments on each of my loans and put all of the extra payment on the principal of my highest interest loan. I aggressively paid my first two years out when my PAYE payment was lowest. Even with the intent to pay off quickly, I made sure to do PAYE for the following reason. The general rule is that all of your payments go towards interest first, BUT if you make your minimal payment, then any additional could be strategically used to pay the principal.

Your minimal monthly payment is a percentage of your income on PAYE. When my documented income during the last year as a student was 0, and the first year out I had a piss poor income, my minimal monthly payment was very low. My 160k in fed student loans was broken up into 8 different loans, each accruing interest. Each one has a minimal monthly payment. So if my PAYE minimal monthly payment was $400, that $400 would be broken up to pay a portion of each of my 8 loans. For simplicity, let’s say they’re all evenly distributed so that for each loan I owe $50 minimal payment per month. I would pay that $50 per account, each of which had accrued at least $1000 in interest. That payment would all be essentially just a little piss in the puddle, nowhere close to touching the principal. But if I made a $3000 payment that month, I had to pay that initial $400 for the interest across all 8 loans, but I could choose to apply the rest of the $2400 towards just one of the 8 loans (my highest interest rate one), and I could pay a substantial amount of the principal even if I still owed way more in interest across the rest of my loans. In essence I was able to decrease my principal by thousands of dollars a month while only minimally paying off interest. To make it work though, I had to have a low enough student loan burden that my monthly accrued interest wasn’t that high, and I had to put in a very high monthly payment (which I could only do because we lived on my husbands salary). If I had a higher loan amount, and I couldn’t commit to paying thousands per month, this would have dragged on for many more years and this strategy wouldn’t have been worth it. I would have instead only paid minimally and saved for the tax at the end At forgiveness after 20 yrs. Aggressively paying off this way was only going to take a short enough period of time that it was worth it for me and my husband to continue to live like students and just get it done. The stars aligned for us and I got away with paying minimal interest (only ~$18k in interest total was paid after graduation).

 

[Quigly]

Graduated in 2014 with $50,000 in Debt
Paid off in 3 years
Salary during that time was $65,000-$80,000
Feel sorry for the $300,000 people, but not exactly sure how they thought that was going to work out for them

 

[KCgophervet]

Graduated in 2014 with $50,000 in Debt
Paid off in 3 years
Salary during that time was $65,000-$80,000
Feel sorry for the $300,000 people, but not exactly sure how they thought that was going to work out for them

And how did you manage to graduate with such little debt? Rich parents? Lucky enough to be in state for a cheap school?

I went to my in state school, worked two jobs, got multiple scholarships, and lived with roommates all through vet school and still came out with $160K debt from just vet school.

Your post is rude and I'm not sure exactly how you thought that was going to work out for you.

Sent from my phone using the mobile app because I bought it and I'm stubborn

 

[itsrocky]

Yeah. I mean, smarter decisions could have been made on my part. Like trying for my in state again. Even attending there i would still be a projected 250k in the hole. Like kcough is saying even some in state tuition is not cheap. Cost of attendance is unsustainably high pretty much everywhere.

 

[battie]

Feel sorry for the $300,000 people, but not exactly sure how they thought that was going to work out for them

About 35-40٪ of students will fall within this demographic because that's the amount of out of state students who dont get significant monetary help. Many of them legitimately dont seem to understand what 300k means as a pre-vet (as demonstrated on the APVMA facebook page). Financial literacy doesnt seem to extend that far for a lot of people.

More over, there are people like me who try to get into our in state multiple years in a row and simply dont make it. There are more qualified applicants than seats. And, honestly, very few schools are going to accept only in state students, and there are plenty of states with no school, or limited contact seats. For those students, that's the hand that they got dealt.

 

[Trilt]

And how did you manage to graduate with such little debt? Rich parents? Lucky enough to be in state for a cheap school?

I went to my in state school, worked two jobs, got multiple scholarships, and lived with roommates all through vet school and still came out with $160K debt from just vet school.

Your post is rude and I'm not sure exactly how you thought that was going to work out for you.

Sent from my phone using the mobile app because I bought it and I'm stubborn

Also from a cheap school, had the GI bill covering 3 out of 4 years of tuition and a notable amount of my living expenses, and still ended up about 75K in the hole after undergrad, vet school and interest/capitalization. As far as I know there's no in-state school where even just tuition ends up sub 50k for four years, nevermind living expenses. Only way to get out cheap is to have external help/savings/etc.

 

[Quigly]

I had a cheap in-state school. It was the only school I applied too, had I not been accepted into that program I would of pursued a career in a different field. I was also able to get very cheap housing and found a decent paying job while at school.

Regardless of all that, it is understandable to see people with $150,000 in debt coming out of school. However, if you are looking at going to vet school and think it is likely you are going to have $300,000 in debt at graduation and come out making less than $100,000, that is an imprudent financial situation that you are going to be stuck living with for decades. If that is the best option you have, I think you need to strongly consider doing something else with you life. Incredibly unfortunate for those individuals that happen to be from the wrong state or weren't able to make the cut in a contract program, etc and I feel sorry for them. I wish most students had a better idea of what it means to have $300,000 in loans before they started taking them on.

 

[deleted676737]

My situation is different as I didn’t actually finish vet school, which is unfortunately always a risk you take. Just want to illustrate what that looks like.

- Dismissed halfway through the DVM program, currently at ~$127k in debt. All federal; $40k from undergrad, the rest is from vet school. I went IS for both but came from a lower-middle class family and didn’t have any financial help, which meant loans for the whole thing.

- At my current job, I make just under $30k/year with all of the crazy overtime I do. I’m starting a new government job this coming week where I’ll be making $40k, which certainly isn’t a huge jump but it’s regular hours and holidays so work-life balance should be much better, at least.

- Have been making regular payments since June/July 2018.

- I’m on PAYE, so my minimum monthly payments are very low with what I make (around $100), though I throw more at it when I can, which is most months.

- Again, since I’m on PAYE and probably will be for the foreseeable future, I’ve got about 18 years before it gets forgiven. No idea how in the world I’m going to handle the tax bomb at the end. I’m attempting to save but when I don’t earn much to begin with, it’s pretty minimal. Slightly good news is that I have consulted with some people and my new job should qualify for PSLF...? I need to dig a little deeper into that, but if that is an option for me, then that’d be great. Given all of the issues others who have pursued and tried for it have had, though, I’m not getting my hopes up too much for this.

I mean, given everything... I’m actually doing somewhat okay? If income-based repayment plans didn’t exist, then things would be far more dire. Most of the stress revolving around my debt at this point is psychological rather than financial. It sucks knowing that I have this albatross around my neck that I can only do so much about with my single measly income.

Don’t be me. If you have mental health issues going into vet school, seriously, get them addressed prior to attending. I’d been doing well but the stress of school triggered another, stronger depressive episode, causing my grades to slip past the point of no return. I fully admit I should have sought help sooner and, maybe, I’d still be there and graduating this year if I’d had. At least then I’d actually have something to show for the six figures of debt.

 

[deleted676737]

Graduated in 2014 with $50,000 in Debt
Paid off in 3 years
Salary during that time was $65,000-$80,000
Feel sorry for the $300,000 people, but not exactly sure how they thought that was going to work out for them

I had a cheap in-state school. It was the only school I applied too, had I not been accepted into that program I would of pursued a career in a different field. I was also able to get very cheap housing and found a decent paying job while at school.

Regardless of all that, it is understandable to see people with $150,000 in debt coming out of school. However, if you are looking at going to vet school and think it is likely you are going to have $300,000 in debt at graduation and come out making less than $100,000, that is an imprudent financial situation that you are going to be stuck living with for decades. If that is the best option you have, I think you need to strongly consider doing something else with you life. Incredibly unfortunate for those individuals that happen to be from the wrong state or weren't able to make the cut in a contract program, etc and I feel sorry for them. I wish most students had a better idea of what it means to have $300,000 in loans before they started taking them on.

Hey, so I see from your post history that you went to ISU. I did, too, and I was considered IS at the time.

With all due respect, it is literally not possible to attend ISU, even IS, having to take loans out for everything... and still come out with only $50k of debt. The only way that’s doable is to have a working SO who can cover living costs so that you only need to take out what is needed for tuition, have a GI bill (as @Trilt mentioned), have substantial savings, and/or have family help. Basically, you would have to have some significant external source of funds, which is something most of us don’t or didn’t have. Just wanted to point this out.

I’m glad you had what sounds like a very manageable debtload—really, that’s awesome—but not everyone has the life circumstances that allows for that. Yes, going IS is usually the biggest way for a vet student to reduce the amount of debt they will take on, but everything beyond that depends on many, many factors, some of which simply aren't easily controllable, that may or may not align in just the correct fashion for them.

 

[JaynaAli]

I’m almost hesitant to post this after the above discussion, but please just know that I am aware I am very lucky. I wish everyone could be as lucky as I was and I wish those with more debt nothing but the best. It can be managed with planning, which I think Rocky’s post shows. DVMDream posted a breakdown of hers somewhere recently you can search for and she’s in the 300+ camp as well.


I had no undergrad debt, and borrowed just under 60,000 for vet school. I went to a cheap in-state school (which has now increased tuition like 40% at least and is not Iowa), my parents paid my living expenses, and I had scholarships left over from my 3 years of undergrad that I could apply to my first year of vet school...so that 60,000 is tuition/fees only for 3 years.

I specialized after graduation. During my internship I made 28,000/yr. In residency I averaged $34,000/yr. During this time I was officially on an income based repayment plan (IBR 2009) and my required payment was $50-125ish, but since I knew I would pay them off some day I chose to pay approximately $200 a month, since that is about the amount of interest that accrued. So my loans didn’t grow but I didn’t really make any progress paying them aside from some money a family member gave me as a gift.

Now I’m boarded and make low 6 figures. I no longer qualify for income based repayment so I am on the standard plan. My payments are about $500/month but I typically pay at least $1,000. I make my regular $500 payment on it’s due date and then any “extra” money I have at the end of the month after bills and saving for specific goals gets applied to my loan with the highest interest rate. This month I paid $2500. I am hoping to pay them off within the next 18 months.

 

[Quigly]

everything beyond that depends on many, many factors, some of which simply aren't easily controllable, that may or may not align in just the correct fashion for them.

This is the mindset that I disagree with. People act like $300,000 in debt is an unpredictable outcome over which people have no control. Yes, a few people have something come up that greatly inflates their student debt beyond what they expected. But for the majority of senior undergrads, you can sit down with them and fairly quickly figure out if they are likely to be in the $150,000 debt pool or $300,000 debt pool. For many people, $300,000 is the expected outcome if they run the numbers. We as a profession need to make it known that it is not acceptable to expect veterinary graduates to live that way and since the vet schools, organized vet med, and governmental bodies are not making any progress in preventing this further, I think the focus needs to be on informing students that this is what is likely going to happen to you at a lot of schools and it probably isn't worth it. But, as soon as you try to say people need to think this through more and see the likely futility in this level of debt, you end up being vilified over it. People can complain that I'm not compassionate enough to graduates with high student debt, and I'm sure I can come across that way, but I do feel sorry for the situation these people are in now. But in most cases that debt load is a predicable outcome based on the choices they made. We need to get people to stop making those choices, students often don't understand what they have gotten into until it's too late.

 

[deleted676737]

This is the mindset that I disagree with. People act like $300,000 in debt is an unpredictable outcome over which people have no control. Yes, a few people have something come up that greatly inflates their student debt beyond what they expected. But for the majority of senior undergrads, you can sit down with them and fairly quickly figure out if they are likely to be in the $150,000 debt pool or $300,000 debt pool. For many people, $300,000 is the expected outcome if they run the numbers. We as a profession need to make it known that it is not acceptable to expect veterinary graduates to live that way and since the vet schools, organized vet med, and governmental bodies are not making any progress in preventing this further, I think the focus needs to be on informing students that this is what is likely going to happen to you at a lot of schools and it probably isn't worth it. But, as soon as you try to say people need to think this through more and see the likely futility in this level of debt, you end up being vilified over it. People can complain that I'm not compassionate enough to graduates with high student debt, and I'm sure I can come across that way, but I do feel sorry for the situation these people are in now. But in most cases that debt load is a predicable outcome based on the choices they made. We need to get people to stop making those choices, students often don't understand what they have gotten into until it's too late.

If you're going to quote me, can you please actually quote the full sentence so that the context isn't lost?

This is what I said:

Yes, going IS is usually the biggest way for a vet student to reduce the amount of debt they will take on, but everything beyond that depends on many, many factors, some of which simply aren't easily controllable, that may or may not align in just the correct fashion for them.

I was typing on my phone, so it's possible that I worded it badly, but the bolded is not referring to a situation where an applicant is picking between an school that will cost ~$150k versus one that will cost ~$300k; I'm talking about additional sources of funding that a student may or may not have, completely regardless of where they are going or went to school or if they're attending IS or OOS. Some vet students have families that are well enough off to help with funding their children's education if they are willing to do so; some don't. Some vet students have SOs who work and can cover living expenses; some don't. Some vet students come from a previous career or job that enabled them to build up enough in savings to make a dent in their COA; some don't. These are life circumstances that do not apply to everyone and are not necessarily controllable. That's what I was talking about. Obviously, going IS is almost always the most sensible, most affordable option if it is available (I say almost always because even IS COA at a number of schools is pretty darn pricey and there are schools that allow students to switch residency status partway through, like Mizzou or Ohio State, that may end up being cheaper in the long run even if starting out OOS). There are scholarships, too, but they're paltry in vet school and most don't offer more than a few thousand, which is hardly enough to make any sort of dent in total COA unless it is recurring.

I also was wanting to point out that your example of being able to come out of ISU with only $50k of debt simply by living somewhere less expensive and working while in school is not feasible without outside financial help. ISU still has one of the cheapest IS tuition rates in the country, but even it is over $100k with accrued interest according to the VIN COE map. I suspected that you weren’t painting the full picture with your earlier post and that you likely had some help to bring your debtload down, which is great and I’m glad that you had that, but you need to realize that most of us just aren’t that fortunate. A vet school loan burden of “only” $50k is unrealistic for the overwhelming majority of students, even at cheap IS schools.

I'm not vilifying you because I actually agree with the core of your post. Literally everyone here does; the stock advice to pre-vets from pretty much all of the active vet students and vets is to go to the cheapest school, to the point where SDN is often bashed on other pre-vet forums like APVMA because the people there don't want to hear it and would seemingly rather pretend that the debt will work itself out or isn't a big deal when it very much is. Yes, incoming students should absolutely attend the cheapest available option they have, barring some extreme reasons; unfortunately, though, it is ultimately the decision of the applicant alone and life doesn't always work out so nicely. Maybe they don't have a less expensive IS option. Or maybe they'd tried for a seat at one for many years and never were able to get in (@batsenecal had this problem); on the whole, pre-vets aren't a stupid bunch and nobody chooses where to attend lightly. I'd suspect that's the reason people are taking issue with your initial post: you're almost talking down to those who have higher debtloads and/or made the decision that they did when I can nearly guarantee that not only were they aware of the COA, but that they had put a large amount of prior thought and consideration into whether it would be worth it. It probably already causes them enough due heartache and stress to know they will struggle financially for a good while after school, even without an internet stranger jumping down their throats and berating them for it. Nobody goes into vet school wanting to spend $200k+ on their education. I try to give people the benefit of the doubt when it comes to things like this, even if I personally wouldn't have made the same choice.

I mean, are you really going to tell these people to not go because they aren’t already independently wealthy and can’t afford to pay for at least some of it upfront because of their circumstances? Vet med already has a massive lack of diversity in many areas, including socioeconomic.

Edited to reword a couple of points for clarification.

 

[battie]

But in most cases that debt load is a predicable outcome based on the choices they made. We need to get people to stop making those choices, students often don't understand what they have gotten into until it's too late.

We do this pretty regularly on this site, and several of us do it on the the APVMA Facebook page. If you haven't seen the general attitude of a standard pre-vet student, take an hour to just scroll through it. Then keep in mind that it has, in fact, actually gotten better. Trying to convince people to refuse to take on more than 200k in debt is not realistic. There was a discussion about veterinarians actively discouraging shadows just today. The conversation inevitably ends up at, "My life, my choice," regardless of what any vet student or veterinarian says.

 

[DVMDream]

I had a cheap in-state school. It was the only school I applied too, had I not been accepted into that program I would of pursued a career in a different field. I was also able to get very cheap housing and found a decent paying job while at school.

Regardless of all that, it is understandable to see people with $150,000 in debt coming out of school. However, if you are looking at going to vet school and think it is likely you are going to have $300,000 in debt at graduation and come out making less than $100,000, that is an imprudent financial situation that you are going to be stuck living with for decades. If that is the best option you have, I think you need to strongly consider doing something else with you life. Incredibly unfortunate for those individuals that happen to be from the wrong state or weren't able to make the cut in a contract program, etc and I feel sorry for them. I wish most students had a better idea of what it means to have $300,000 in loans before they started taking them on.

There's no way it was only $50k for 4 years at ISU even with a 2014 graduation year and in state tuition. Tuition alone would've been more than that. There had to have been outside financial input to make that possible. Which is great, but not what most people have access to heading into vet school.

I don't disagree with you that those getting large debt loads really need to take a hard look at what they're getting into for life, but saying anyone who needs to take a high debt load just shouldn't go is going to limit this profession to only rich people.

Vet med already lacks diversity. Blaming students for taking on the high debt to get this career when there really is no other option to get a veterinary degree is missing the point. It isn't the students' fault that society won't fix the issue. And limiting a degree for only the rich seems like a bad idea in my opinion.

I did some research on this as well for the comment of "not sure how they thought that'd work out for them."

While I was in school tuition rates increased 63% and interest rates tripled to quadrupled... those things aren't in any promissory notes I signed. I didn't anticipate that large of an increase to occur, that's the problem and the cost keeps rising. It isn't like you can stop 100k in and go "wait hold up this cost is too much, bye." I mean, you're then $100k in the hole already and what job are you going to find now to pay that off, you're still stuck.

 

[Minnerbelle]

While I was in school [...] interest rates tripled to quadrupled...

wait what? How?
Between 2006 and 2016, the lowest interest rate for federal unsubsidized loans for graduate/professional school was 5.4% (2013-2014) and the highest was 6.8% (2006-2013)

And for Direct plus loans it was 6.41 (2013-2014) and 7.9% (2006-2013).

So if you started school prior to 2013, then if anything, the interest rate either stayed the same or was lowered at some point during vet school. I mean, these are the loans most pertinent to vet students for a vast majority of student loans accumulated through vet school.

If we’re talking variable interest rates for private loans... I mean... that’s what variable interest rates mean right? If so, I totally get the point you’re making (As in there are changes in costs over the 4 years you have no control over), but I’m not sure what happened with private loans is necessarily the best example to make your argument as for the vast majority of students it’s possible to take out up to cost of attendance with federal loans. And in recent hx it hasn’t changed that drastically in any 4 year period I don’t think. I mean don’t get me wrong, 6-8% interest rate on government educational loans that cannot be discharged even with bankruptcy that you can only pay with AFTER TAX dollars is ****ing INSANE. But that’s a totally different story.

(if you ask me, a logical reform would be if you could pay student loans pre-tax through payroll deduction)

 

[DVMDream]

wait what? How?
Between 2006 and 2016, the lowest interest rate for federal unsubsidized loans for graduate/professional school was 5.4% (2013-2014) and the highest was 6.8% (2006-2013)

And for Direct plus loans it was 6.41 (2013-2014) and 7.9% (2006-2013).

So if you started school prior to 2013, then if anything, the interest rate either stayed the same or was lowered at some point during vet school. I mean, these are the loans most pertinent to vet students for a vast majority of student loans accumulated through vet school.

If we’re talking variable interest rates for private loans... I mean... that’s what variable interest rates mean right? If so, I totally get the point you’re making (As in there are changes in costs over the 4 years you have no control over), but I’m not sure what happened with private loans is necessarily the best example to make your argument as for the vast majority of students it’s possible to take out up to cost of attendance with federal loans. And in recent hx it hasn’t changed that drastically in any 4 year period I don’t think. I mean don’t get me wrong, 6-8% interest rate on government educational loans that cannot be discharged even with bankruptcy that you can only pay with AFTER TAX dollars is ****ing INSANE. But that’s a totally different story.

(if you ask me, a logical reform would be if you could pay student loans pre-tax through payroll deduction)

I'm talking over a 10 year period 2006-2016... undergrad through vet school. At the end of undergrad 2006-2010, I was already $80k in the hole. You have to go to undergrad to go to vet school, so I do include that. My lowest government interest rate is around 2.5-3%... my highest is almost 8%.

During undergrad they eliminated subsidized loans as well, another unpredictable issue.

Considering many people are thinking of vet school at the start of undergrad (I was) I had evaluated costs for both undergrad and vet school at that time... 2006. It skyrocketed in a way no one could've predicted.

 

[DVMDream]

I do have private loans from undergrad as well, but I'm not including those. Those are an entirely different conversation.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Considering many people are thinking of vet school at the start of undergrad (I was) I had evaluated costs for both undergrad and vet school at that time... 2006. It skyrocketed in a way no one could've predicted.

I mean it’s a moot point because I totally am with you with the overall message, but im not sure I agree with your assessment here. The interest rate for grad school hasn’t changed much since 2006. The interest rate for undergrad loans is different from the interest rate for grad schools. And that has always been the case. If anything, between 2006 and 2016 the interest rate went down as I said above for federal graduate student loans, so it wasn’t a surprise even in 2006. You had just made the assumption that the interest rates for undergrad and grad school was the same. But the information was out there. And I feel like you’re cherry picking by comparing the lowest interest rate of all of your loans to the highest. Those are different loans. You can’t say interest rates tripled when the interest rates of the same loan type didn’t change.
That’s like saying the cost of eggs tripled over 5 years by comparing the cost of the store brand eggs from a discount supermarket 5 years ago to the Whole Foods hipster organic “our chicken each get an acre of land (but not really)” eggs of today. Maybe the discount eggs did go up in price a little too, but not by three times.

 

[DVMDream]

I mean it’s a moot point because I totally am with you with the overall message, but im not sure I agree with your assessment here. The interest rate for grad school hasn’t changed much since 2006. The interest rate for undergrad loans is different from the interest rate for grad schools. And that has always been the case. If anything, between 2006 and 2016 the interest rate went down as I said above for federal graduate student loans, so it wasn’t a surprise even in 2006. You had just made the assumption that the interest rates for undergrad and grad school was the same. But the information was out there. And I feel like you’re cherry picking by comparing the lowest interest rate of all of your loans to the highest. Those are different loans. You can’t say interest rates tripled when the interest rates of the same loan type didn’t change.
That’s like saying the cost of eggs tripled over 5 years by comparing the cost of the store brand eggs from a discount supermarket 5 years ago to the Whole Foods hipster organic “our chicken each get an acre of land (but not really)” eggs of today. Maybe the discount eggs did go up in price a little too, but not by three times.

Ok even looking at only my graduate loans, the interest rates increased every year, they did not decrease. I don't know where you get that they decreased in 2016, they most definitely did not. My interest rates increased every year from 2012-2016 when I graduated vet school.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Ok even looking at only my graduate loans, the interest rates increased every year, they did not decrease. I don't know where you get that they decreased in 2016, they most definitely did not. My interest rates increased every year from 2012-2016 when I graduated vet school.

Federal Interest Rates and Fees

If you receive a federal student loan, you will be required to repay that loan with interest. It is important that you understand how interest is calculated and the fees associated with your loan. Both of these factors will impact the amount you will be required to repay. [highlight]...

studentaid.gov

If you go way down they list it by year for graduate/professional school. The 6.8% from 2010-2013 and the 5.41% for my last year of vet school for direct unsubsidized loans matches what I had so I don’t have reason to believe what’s listed is false.

 

[DVMDream]

Federal Interest Rates and Fees

If you receive a federal student loan, you will be required to repay that loan with interest. It is important that you understand how interest is calculated and the fees associated with your loan. Both of these factors will impact the amount you will be required to repay. [highlight]...

studentaid.gov

If you go way down they list it by year for graduate/professional school. The 6.8% from 2010-2013 and the 5.41% for my last year of vet school for direct unsubsidized loans matches what I had so I don’t have reason to believe what’s listed is false.

I don't know what to tell you, I just logged into my loan account earlier this morning to verify what I was saying before I posted the above, and the interest all increased...

I was in school two years past you were, maybe that is the difference. I don't know, just stating what I am seeing from my own personal account.

 

[DVMDream]

How much debt did you graduate with?
What is your average salary?
How long have you been making payments?
How much are you paying monthly?
How long until you expect to pay it off?

To jump back to what the OP was asking about.

1. I graduated with around $350k in federal loans from both undergrad and vet school. That is now around $385k.
2. I started at $86k first year out, then went up to $90k, then up to $91-92k during the second-third year. And now almost 4 years out I am making around $80k due to a career change (not out of vet med just out of clinical practice).
3. I have been making payments since November of 2016
4. I am on REPAYE, payment varies based upon my salary, have been anywhere from $0 (first year out) to$545 a month. I would say it mostly hangs out in the $480-$550 range each month. Keep in mind, this doesn't touch the interest. Interest alone is over $1000/month. A 10 year repayment plan would be about $4500/month. I don't make $4500 in a month.
5. Well, hoping for forgiveness, which type I will get is still up in the air at this point. Hoping for PSLF, but not holding my breath on it, so still saving for taxes for the income based repayment in 25 years just in case PSLF falls through the cracks.



Honestly, I don't think posts like this really help for people to really SEE how this affects life.
I think what people really need to see is what it cost to live and how the loans affect your ability to live.

For example, I could have paid off the loans in 10 years initially. It would have cost about $4300/month and I was probably getting exactly that post-taxes in pay. I would have needed to live at home with my parents for 10 years. I graduated at 28, I don't know about anyone else, but living with mommy and daddy until 38 was not on my "goals" list. I also would have had $0 left over. I wouldn't have been able to buy food, help with electricity, water, internet/tv/phone bills, etc. It would have been 10 years of being a 100% free loader off my parents as an adult with a doctorate degree.

I didn't want that. No one wants that.

I was able to after about a year buy a home. Not an expensive one at all either.
So let's make some realistic idea of how this looks....

1. Home mortgage ($230k home)....$1500/month
2. Car payment (I couldn't drive my grandma's 14 year old Pontiac forever, it was having issues, got a car with a really good warranty, cheap car)... $350/month
3. Car insurance.... $125/month
4. Gas: $30/month
5. Electricity: $25-300/month, depending on the time of year
6. TV (I am actually cancelling this next month because it is dumb): $130/month
7. Internet/home phone service: $103/month (the phone is needed for work).
8. HOA fees (around here there is no way to find a home without an HOA, it is dumb, I don't like): $90/month
9. City billing (trash service, waste water): $46/month
10: Water bill: $35/month
11. I have a no interest credit card I used to furnish the house that will be paid off at the end of this year: $200/month
12. Private student loan payment: $440/month (current payment this varies)
13. Federal student loan payment: $490/month (current payment this varies)
14: Home security: $53/month (also cancelling this next month, I don't need the monitoring, the equipment is fine, but you can't get the equipment without signing a 2 year monitoring contract with it).

That is approximately $3600 in bills alone every month. I pull in about $4400 a month post-taxes currently. That leaves $800 for food, gas for the car, clothing, cleaning supplies, pet supplies, entertainment, cell phone, etc.

You can say "I don't want a home" which maybe you don't, but apartment rent around here is on average $1200/month, so not going to save much. Still have to pay all the rest, minus the HOA. You may say you don't mind having an old car, but repeat repairs is a drain on the finances as well.

If you have an SO it makes this all easier. If you are single, it is possible, but you aren't living in luxury by any means.

 

[that redhead]

How much debt did you graduate with?

$249,000. That included all of my interest but did not include my cost of living as my parents helped with that. I also came in to vet school with zero previous debt.

What is your average salary?

I started at $67,500 base for my first 2.5 years, brought home ~$80k/year those times. I now make $100k/year.

How long have you been making payments?

Since June 2015, when I graduated.

How much are you paying monthly?

My current minimum payment is $503; when I first started paying back, my minimum payment was ~$2900. I do what @Minnerbelle did and allot additional money to my highest-interest loans. I think I've paid $4,000 every month since graduation, give or take $1,000 (I hoard a little money around the holidays, for example, but if there's nothing foreseeable coming up, I may even put a little more down.)

How long until you expect to pay it off?

I've got $40,200 left, which means I could be done by the end of the year. However, we just had kids, I had to buy a new car, etc so that's very unlikely to happen My goal is to pay them off within the next 18 months.

I should add that the reason this is all possible for me personally is that my husband pays our living expenses. I have a credit card that I use for non-necessary stuff and we honestly aren't super strict with our money - we're careful of course, but I personally feel like it's worth spending a little on "fun" stuff here and there rather than having every single cent go to my loans. Still, I feel like I've been at least somewhat aggressive with paying them down and it will be kind of weird when we get to the point of having (real) two incomes!