Yeah totally. Like +1000. For 2 years prior to vet school I lived in Cambridge MA while working in Boston on a 30k salary, and yes it was doable and I even managed to save >$3k per year but I don't think I could live that lifestyle now. Like I had to SHARE A BEDROOM in a tiny 2 bedroom apt that was $2400/mon rent (I paid $650 of that plus $100 utilities). Didn't need a car or car insurance. Had excellent health insurance for cheap by working in the biggest human hospital in MA, that I didn't need to use at all because I was young and healthy. Didn't need to pay much for transportation because I lived in walking distance to work. And I only had a cat that was healthy and never needed to go to the vet. Other than food and cellphone, I had very few expenses. And it was just after college so I was in the "I don't need a life at all because that is to come after vet school" stage of my life.
That's hard to continue once you've been through vet school and at a point where you want to and should enjoy life. Especially if you're thinking about continuing on to residency. I don't even live in nearly that high a cost of living area now, and I live a fairly frugal lifestyle without children or any real hobbies, but expenses now as a functioning adult are waaay higher. Life is ****ing expensive. And even as a vet who gets really good discounts on my pets for things I do myself (paid total of ~$250 for a PU, a ton of meds, and a ton of diagnostics, for my sick UO cat), something happens every year even with my relatively healthy cats that gets me stuck with a $2000 bill due to need for AUS and admission at a tertiary referral facility. And car expenses are like no joke. Slightest thing goes wrong and you have a hefty bill. A big thing goes wrong and you're screwed. Same with medical costs. Even just walking into urgent care costs $200 these days. And the older you get, the more life gets complicated.More and more loved ones go through life crises, ailments, and death. And there are costs associated with that. And not that you have a ton of time, but going out to do anything is really costly!
Not really contributing to the convo, but when you're only getting paid <$30k, it totally is in your best interest to keep rent to a minimum. Or unless you're specializing/going into ER post-training, seriously rethink the internship idea and get a job instead that pays >$80k off the bat. If you have a DVM you are worth that and can be a competent dr, don't let any curmudgeonly academic faculty or uppity annoying classmate tell you otherwise.
