saving money for a year or two before vet school?

[Tortaspie]

I am going to graduate soon with a degree in Medical lab science. The average pay is anywhere from 50-60,000 a year. Do you think it's a good idea that I work full time for a year or two to try and save money for vet school? After reading on so many threads where people have 150,000 in debt I think it would be worth it at this point. Are any of you doing this?

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[Gwenevre]

If you can do it, do it! Yes, vet school is crazy expensive, and if you can do anything to cut down that debt it's the best choice. Plus you can use that one or two years to gain a ton of varied vet experience to help boost your application.

 

[cowgirla]

I'm going to say "it depends"

If you can get a job lined up and won't be spending months job hunting- not sure what the job market is

If you can put a large chunk of your take home pay into savings. remember you lose a lot to taxes. If you have minimal expenses, live at home, have someone sharing expenses, etc, and can save 30K (for example), it might be worth it. if you have a lot of expenses (rent, car, etc) that will eat up your salary so that you can only save a few thousand, it might not be worth it. Tuition is likely to continue rising each year, so in some ways it might better to start sooner rather than later.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Agree, it depends on where that "average" number comes from, and whether or not that is actually a realistic number for you. It's not uncommon for those numbers to be misleading.

 

[StartingoverVet]

I say no.

Ultimately your earnings are going to grow in vet med, and you want to get out there working as soon as possible.
The small amount your debt will be less will hardly matter after taxes and living expenses, and you could just as soon reduce your debt after graduation by paying off from the same base salary if you live the same lifestyle after school.

The longer you delay entering the fewer years you will practice, and the longer it will take to get higher income.

Not to mention tuition keeps on rising so some of the savings just goes to higher tuition.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I dunno, if you can live like a student and save $20k per year, and use those 2 years to establish residency in a cheaper IS tuition school it may be very worth it especially if your job is something that will make you a better candidate for vet school. If you have to take out $40k less, that's that amount plus 4.5 years of interest on that principal that you are ahead by the time you go into repayment.

And once in repayment after you have capitalized that accrued interest, it's like $52k less of principal that you're paying interest on for the duration of your loan (assuming 6.8%). That frees up $300 per month in just interest that you're not paying as you start your career that you can use instead to pay off that lower principal. That might be well worth it vs being able to work 2 extra years as a vet. Depending on the debt load, a lot of people struggle to pay much of that principal down on their salaries because the interest is so prohibitively high.

Now this is assuming that you have full intentions of paying off your loans. If you are going to bank or loan forgiveness on PAYE or IBR, then the sooner you go in the better it will be.

 

[Minnerbelle]

As someone who saved $7k in 2 years earning $30k per year living in a high cost of living area (Cambridge, MA), I think I could have saved quite a bit if that were my goal and I was earning $60k.

 

[K9Mechanic]

I would not do it.

Theoretically, going in 2 years earlier means you work an additional 2 years before retiring. Those 2 years being just before your retirement means your salary is likely the highest it will ever be. You lose that by saving up now.

 

[Tortaspie]

I would not do it.

Theoretically, going in 2 years earlier means you work an additional 2 years before retiring. Those 2 years being just before your retirement means your salary is likely the highest it will ever be. You lose that by saving up now.

Yeah you're right.