Wow I literally was just googling for more info on the future after vet school. I come from a low income area and am also a first generation college student. While thinking about becoming a vet makes me soooo happy and excited, I would also love to give back to parents someday. 8/10 vets that I have talked to come from a more “privileged” background and even they say “DONT DO IT!” It’s crazy that there’s also a 1/4 suicide rate for vets in the U.S. it’s a tough career and every new vet I come across tells me the same thing. It’s not that their unhappy but most of them say “I wish someone would have told me how it actually is” and I would have pursued a different career. They feel burnt out. A lot of them say their first few years are really tough because the monthly payments come in quick and a lot of first year vets don’t make very much to have a life after. I am so torn on pursuing this field. I would love nothing more than to become a vet and I’m definitely open to more advice from anyone especially those who are also from low income areas and or minorities.
I guess you could describe my background as relatively "low income". I spent the better part of my childhood on food stamps and all that jazz, and I've had to work since I was 15-16 years old and all through undergrad, as well, because my family literally couldn't afford to contribute anything. Even with what I made working, I had to finance the majority of my undergrad and all of my vet school on loans. I attended vet school for just under two years and then left. You can guarantee that I'm still paying off that debt even though I didn't finish. You're talking about what you'll be dealing with after you graduate vet school, which is fair, but also consider what happens if you get in, start vet school, and then leave or fail out; you're still stuck with that five- or even six-figure debtload without a DVM. This is something that doesn't get talked about much because, I assume, attrition rates are still pretty low at most vet schools. But (and this is anecdotal, mind) I am increasingly hearing about more and more vet students who end up leaving for a variety of reasons, and one of the largest motivating factors appears to be financial. Unfortunately, even without undergrad debt and even leaving in the first semester, depending on the particular school you're attending and whether you are IS vs. OOS, you could still potentially have a significant amount in loans that you have to pay back.
Let me put it this way: I am $107k in debt. ~$35k of that came from undergrad and the rest is all from three semesters worth of vet school. I attended my cheapest option for school and was considered IS. My salary is $33k, meaning that I have a debt:income ratio of nearly 4:1. If I were doing the standard 10-year repayment, my monthly loan payment would literally be ~80% of my take-home pay. Needless to say, that's not practical (especially as a single person without a supplemental income from a partner or parent), so I'm basically banking on PAYE right now. My payments there are only ~$150/month, which is much more doable... but then there's that massive tax payment at the end and I have no earthly idea how I am going to be able to save up enough for that. I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, but I'm stuck making no real progress on repayment doing income-based plans because I can't afford any other option right now.
The majority of recently graduated veterinarians are in the same exact boat: little to no family contribution to education, single, with a debt:income ratio of 2:1 or higher. The difference is that they at least have a DVM and that the numbers are even more extreme.
Also, I would think that another large reason that freshly minted DVMs burn out is because, well, especially in general private practice situations, you may be largely on your own much of the time. By that I mean that you may be the only doctor on duty or, in some cases, the only doctor at that practice, period. When you're constantly juggling the responsibility of a life in your hands and all of the stress associated with that, as well as the stress of dealing with sometimes less-than-amiable clients, with what feels like no reasonable outlet... I can only imagine that that accumulates and can cause bad burnout over time. Especially when you take into consideration that they are not compensated well for the gravity of the work when our counterparts in other health professions at least have that going for them. Mental health issues abound in the veterinary profession and I think that a lot of veterinarians feel trapped; they may decide after school that they hate the field and want to leave, but leaving for another line of work often requires a hit in pay and, possibly, more education and loans... and, man, they've got a lot on their plate to deal with and potentially hundreds of thousands to pay back alread
y. Who in their right mind would take out even
more money?
It's a difficult spot to be in. You put what feels like a significant amount of money towards loan payments and then, after all of your other various expenses, have very little left at the end of the month to play with and live life like a normal functioning adult. I know of veterinarians who can't get approved for a car loan or a mortgage, even without good credit scores, because the debt:income ratio is
that skewed. I know of veterinarians putting off major life milestones essentially indefinitely because they can't afford them. Yet, despite everything you've put into it, there is absolutely no headway being made towards actually paying it off because much of the time you're just barely touching the interest---not even the principal. You literally may not be able to afford payments which would actually make a dent in that principal and so have to rely on income-based plans that don't even begin to scratch away at it. It makes you begin to seriously question if it was all worth it.
I would never discourage someone entirely from pursuing a career that they're interested in, but shadow as many different practices as you can, ask good questions of the doctors regarding vet school and loans and what they deal with, and make damn sure that it is what you really want. Even then, think about it some more. Honestly, if you have any doubts at all, I wouldn't do it or would at the very least hold out for a couple of years to explore other options and then maybe come back to it later. I really think that the future of the profession in this country is in jeopardy unless something changes drastically.
, I couldn't imagine paying an extra 20-30,000 a year to go to school OOS.
