Real-life examples of the impact of vet school debt?

[MrsOwl]

I'm the parent of a future vet student. I know that little to no debt is always ideal, and I know that what constitutes a "manageable" amount of debt varies greatly from person to person. But I'd like to learn from graduates (and share with my daughter) about how debt might affect her life – particularly in the $30k (total) range. (Things were different for me when I had student debt like 100 years ago.) Is anyone willing to share real life examples about how your student loan debt has impacted your choices in today's veterinary world? Taking a particular job, doing a residency or not, deciding where to live, etc.? It's unlikely she will go into a higher-paying specialty, if that's relevant.

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[JaynaAli]

I'm the parent of a future vet student. I know that little to no debt is always ideal, and I know that what constitutes a "manageable" amount of debt varies greatly from person to person. But I'd like to learn from graduates (and share with my daughter) about how debt affects your life – particularly in the $30k (total) range. Is anyone willing to share real life examples about how your student loan debt has impacted your choices? Taking a particular job, doing a residency or not, where you live, etc.? It's unlikely she will go into a higher-paying specialty, if that's relevant.

30k or did you mean 300k? 30k is 100% considered “little to no debt” in the realm of veterinary loans. A ten year repayment on 30k is only like $300-350 a month depending on interest rate. “Just” 30k of debt really wouldn’t be a big impact at all for most veterinarians I know. I mean having debt can be stressful no matter the amount, but 30k is very manageable. I borrowed 58k (quite a few years ago now) and did income based repayment for four years because I was an intern and resident where my salary was 24k-34k per year. I paid $200 a month those years which just barely covered the interest that accrued every month. It wasn’t too difficult to make those payments even on that tiny salary but I admit my parents did help out some by paying my phone bill and car insurance and trips home during a couple holidays during those years. At a full vet salary it is really doable to pay 30k off in just a few (and maybe even as little as 1-2) years for most people, even as a single person. Once I finished my residency and made a full salary (pretty much equal to an urban GP salary, just over 100k) I paid off my remaining 36k of loans within a year and a half while also saving for a down payment on a house. I could have been even more aggressive paying them off sooner but the COVID pause happened so I slowed down a little to prioritize the house savings for several months.

But if you meant 300k total then that’s a whole different ball game than 30.

 

[MrsOwl]

30k or did you mean 300k? 30k is 100% considered “little to no debt” in the realm of veterinary loans. A ten year repayment on 30k is only like $300-350 a month depending on interest rate. “Just” 30k of debt really wouldn’t be a big impact at all for most veterinarians I know. I mean having debt can be stressful no matter the amount, but 30k is very manageable. I borrowed 58k (quite a few years ago now) and did income based repayment for four years because I was an intern and resident where my salary was 24k-34k per year. I paid $200 a month those years which just barely covered the interest that accrued every month. It wasn’t too difficult to make those payments even on that tiny salary but I admit my parents did help out some by paying my phone bill and car insurance and trips home during a couple holidays during those years. At a full vet salary it is really doable to pay 30k off in just a few (and maybe even as little as 1-2) years for most people, even as a single person. Once I finished my residency and made a full salary (pretty much equal to an urban GP salary, just over 100k) I paid off my remaining 36k of loans within a year and a half while also saving for a down payment on a house. I could have been even more aggressive paying them off sooner but the COVID pause happened so I slowed down a little to prioritize the house savings for several months.

But if you meant 300k total then that’s a whole different ball game than 30.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate your reply. And yes, I mean 30-40k in debt (not 300k), which still feels like a lot to me, so it would be such a relief if she could pay it off in just a few years. It sounds like your situation would be similar to hers (parents able to help with car insurance, etc.), and that 30k would be manageable even with residency salary or a lower starting salary depending on her plans/specialty.

 

[twelvetigers]

$30k is very, very low. For many schools, that covers less than a year - perhaps just a single semester...

Please double check the cost...

Not to sound dubious but we just want to make sure you are getting the right numbers. I went to the 2nd-3rd cheapest US school as an in-state applicant in 2011-2015 and the tuition alone for the 4 years (plus like $2k for a computer at the beginning) resulted in $80k total. So less than half that is hard to believe.

If she has scholarships of some sort, saved money, or some helpful financers, that makes sense and is fine.

 

[MrsOwl]

$30k is very, very low. For many schools, that covers less than a year - perhaps just a single semester...

Please double check the cost...

Not to sound dubious but we just want to make sure you are getting the right numbers. I went to the 2nd-3rd cheapest US school as an in-state applicant in 2011-2015 and the tuition alone for the 4 years (plus like $2k for a computer at the beginning) resulted in $80k total. So less than half that is hard to believe.

If she has scholarships of some sort, saved money, or some helpful financers, that makes sense and is fine.

Yes, the 30-40k of debt is after savings, leftover GI Bill, family contributions, scholarships, etc. for in-state tuition.

 

[Daisy705]

I would give anything to get out of vet school with only 30k in debt. Most of us could only dream of that.

If I was her I would even consider working in the summers if she can just to save up more money. Obviously everyone has a different situation and that might not be possible for her. I don't know what school she will be going to but some are really good about letting students work even a couple hours a week it's not a lot of money but she also doesn't need a lot.

I know where I am at since the minimum wage is $15 a hour if I worked full time for all 3 months of summer I could pull in about 7,500 dollars so if she did that the summer going into vet school, and each of the three summers following she would practicality have the 30,000 made. Working during school or breaks is not for everyone and I know that but if it is really a topic of concern in my opinion this would be the best solution.

Also watch the scholarships because most of the ones I know of are only for 1 semester/year.

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Oof I hate to say it but I don't know how useful we will be, because most of us are anywhere from 100-300k in debt. I don't know if our experiences would be relevant. Of course there are some outliers on either side, but might be harder to find.

 

[ejblue]

An internist I worked with said she won’t get married because of her massive debts. I recommend listening to some podcasts about the financial loans, filing taxes, and making payments specific to vet med.

 

[battie]

Yes, the 30-40k of debt is after savings, leftover GI Bill, family contributions, scholarships, etc. for in-state tuition.

Most bachelor's degrees cost more than thus tbh. If your child will *truly* have a max of 40k of loans (~6.5% interest), they should be fine paying it off with some fiscal considerations and time. With that little debt, being aggressive to pay off as much per month as possible would be ideal.

 

[britzen]

Before I came to vet school I sat down and crunched the numbers for what different amounts of debt would mean. It was an important part of my decision about whether vet school was worth it financially to me.

The amount of loans that would have minimal to no impact on my family's lifestyle was about $100,000. By that I mean, all the extra income I would make as a veterinarian compared to my previous job would all go to loans for 10 years. If you daughter is single income, that will probably be a different number.

You can estimate a salary here:

Veterinary Salary Estimator for Current Students – AVMA My Veterinary Life

What it is Do you want to know the possible salary ranges of a veterinarian—whether in a clinic, animal health company, government, academia, or elsewhere? The AVMA Veterinary Salary Estimator for Current Students can provide you with an approximate range to use as a guide for pay negotiations...

myvetlife.avma.org

You can estimate a monthly loan payment here:

Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid

This Loan Payment Calculator computes an estimate of the size of your monthly loan payments and the annual salary required to manage them without too much

finaid.org

Remember that salaries are going to take out taxes, insurance, retirement, etc. Depending what she decides to do , that'll probably be 25-40% of her salary. So when you are considering the financial ramifications, determine whether it's reasonable to live off of ~70% of the salary minus the monthly cost of the loans.

For a lot of vets who have large debt loads, the answer is no. If you have a $350K debt load for example, 100% of your salary would have to go to the loans on a standard plan. This means they have to seek alternate routes of loan repayment (paying a % of their income for 25 years before the rest is forgiven) or have to make sacrifices to pay it off more quickly (picking up extra shifts, working overtime, no vacations/eating out/extras, living with roommates into their late 20s or early 30s, etc).

For a vet with only $40K in loans. Probably meh? The impact will be something like having a smaller house or delaying buying a new car buy a few years assuming she's going into small animal clinical practice. If she wants to do something that's paid less well (equine practice, rural mixed or food practice), maybe more of an impact but still quite doable.

 

[britzen]

In a more direct answer to your question, I have a lower than average amount of debt compared to other graduates (my loan burden is about 60% of the average debt load compared to other students that graduate with debt). My loan repayment will be about $1100 per month for 10 years.

My family can afford that based on our dual-income, but I'd prefer for it to be gone asap.

As a result, I am seriously considering taking a job outside of my desired field to pay off my loans more quickly. Will I find the work as fulfilling or intellectually stimulating? Probably not. But I'd like it fine and I'd be free of my loans in probably less than 2 years.

If I decide to stay in my preferred field, I will try to pick up extra shifts as a relief worker for the next several years so that I can pay down my debt quickly. It will mean a lot of weekend / holiday work, and a lot of 6 day work weeks. My day job will make me happier, but my work life balance will be worse.

 

[DVMDream]

I definitely can't comment on $30k debt as I have $400k debt, but I'd imagine I would have been able to pay that off easily. My undergrad was more than that.

I would also double check she is really looking at veterinary schools and not veterinary technician or assistant programs. That debt seems more on par with tech or assistant school. Definitely could be vet school if there is very significant financial help reducing her costs, but I would just make sure.

Paying $30k on a tech/assistant salary is vastly different than paying $30k on a veterinary salary.

 

[that redhead]

I'm the parent of a future vet student. I know that little to no debt is always ideal, and I know that what constitutes a "manageable" amount of debt varies greatly from person to person. But I'd like to learn from graduates (and share with my daughter) about how debt might affect her life – particularly in the $30k (total) range. (Things were different for me when I had student debt like 100 years ago.) Is anyone willing to share real life examples about how your student loan debt has impacted your choices in today's veterinary world? Taking a particular job, doing a residency or not, deciding where to live, etc.? It's unlikely she will go into a higher-paying specialty, if that's relevant.

I graduated with $249k in vet school debt (my in state undergrad was paid for and I had no additional debt). My husband paid essentially all of our bills for seven years while my entire paycheck went to my loans.

A tenth of my debt would have been more of an inconvenience than anything. Like maybe I wait to buy that new car, or have to save an extra couple months for a vacation/house/etc. Like you said, there are a lot of differences in what people consider “manageable” but I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone on this site that will do more than blink at just $30k. Use the loan simulators provided above, get an ideal of average salary in her planned field, factor in possible internship/residency, consider any ongoing contributions you may make to her, consider if she has or will have children…you get the idea.

 

[twelvetigers]

Yes, the 30-40k of debt is after savings, leftover GI Bill, family contributions, scholarships, etc. for in-state tuition.

Then she is very fortunate. She should not have trouble paying that back. Thank you for confirming! I wish her luck as she moves forward. I would just advise her to be careful about talking to her vet school friends about their debt, because they may be more like most of us.