Vet School Debt and Repayment

[caecilian]

Hi!! Sorry if this is not the right place to ask this (please let me know and I’ll delete the thread). I was just wondering how much debt from vet school would be realistic to deal with, and if anyone has any insights on this.
I’ve been accepted into 2 international schools (1UK and SGU) but from calculating the debt I’ll be left with, including tuition and cost of living, its about 300-400k CAD debt. I do not have financial support from anyone, so it will all be through student loans and student line of credits through banks.
Would it be a really bad decision to take up this debt to be a veterinarian, as I know the profession does noy pay much. This is my 4th cycle applying, I’ve been rejected from the school in my province 3 times and I feel like going international will be the only chance I have to be a Veterinarian.
If any one has had a debt this large, how did you pay it off and how long did it take?

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[JaynaAli]

I think the fact that you’re Canadian is a significant factor and that will influence advice since Canadian salaries are a bit lower than US. Who are our resident Canadians? Maybe @awesomenessity? @SARdoghandler? @DVMDream is in the US but did a couple years internationally before transferring stateside and I know had significant student debt, so she may have good input.

In general, ability to repay loans will vary significantly based upon personal factors. It’s often SIGNIFICANTLY easier if you have a significant other with whom to split living expenses. Cost of living/housing in your area, if you’re a parent or have other dependents, etc. will all change things a lot. The people I know who paid off 300+ either had significant others and basically threw their entire vet salary at the loans and lived off a spouse’s income, are specialists, worked tons of er and vaccine clinics for extra income for a few years, or had a windfall like an inheritance. It is manageable with income based repayment but I don’t know what, if anything, like that is available in Canada especially if you choose to go international.

I personally wouldn’t want to pay more than like 250k for the degree…2-2.5x an average salary seems to kinda be a breaking point where people can pay it off be going for loan forgiveness in the US. I know many if not most programs are higher than that now, but that’s still my opinion.

 

[pp9]

The people I know who paid off 300+ either had significant others and basically threw their entire vet salary at the loans and lived off a spouse’s income, are specialists, worked tons of er and vaccine clinics for extra income for a few years, or had a windfall like an inheritance.

This. Speaking from both personal experience with paying off my own debt (not quite 300k USD) entirely based on circumstances and a bit of luck and seeing the success stories posted in the Debt-Free Vet facebook group. I'm pretty sure all of the success stories (and there are quite a few in that group) I've read that involve debt of 300k+ being paid off in a shorter periods of time involve one or more factors that you've listed here that are not options for every single person. Irks me a bit when some of those stories come with the 'See, it can be done!' sentiment.

 

[PixelPenguinz]

For anyone in academia, do you know what’s the word with the public service loan repayment program? If all these government changes cause it to be disbanded, I’ll probably have to go the private practice route

 

[JaynaAli]

I think it’s entirely too early to know what will happen with PSLF and even the other loan repayment plans. Nothing to do but wait and see. I hope it continues but the skeptic in me says to assume it won’t be available and hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised in the future if it is.

 

[caecilian]

Thanks for all the insight. Sounds like I need to get married soon then lol.
Would specializing help pay off the debt. I’ve heard that residency does not pay really well, but are specialists usually payed better than GPs?
I’m super interested in pathology, but I cant find exactly if it would also be a horrible decision to pursue that along with the debt of being a veterinarian (and I know thats very far into the future to be thinking about and my interests would definitely change as I go through vet school, just looking for a general answer)?

 

[supershorty]

Specializing is not a decision about money. Yes, specialists are paid better, because they go through more extensive training. But debt should not be a driving factor in making the decision to specialize.

 

[JaynaAli]

Specialists do usually have higher salaries but I wouldn’t recommend someone just specialize in order to make more money…residency years are soul sucking so you really have to be in it because you love that field of medicine and the salary bump is a nice perk. But in-demand specialties can make 250-400k or more, depending on your area.

I am a pathologist, actually and I regret to inform you that we are among the lowest paid specialties. Our salaries are about the same or slightly better than average urban small animal GP numbers. It may be slightly better for Canadians, from what I know about average vet salaries there. My company starts new US pathologists at 135k-ish and mid 140s in Canada. There is often opportunity to do extra cases for extra pay, so I make significantly more than that (about 220k this year), but I also do more work than a lot of my colleagues and I sometimes work weekends too. Academia pays even less than diagnostics. Industry (so preclinical drug safety and the like) can pay well but is a unique niche you really have to love. The benefit of pathology is that at least in diagnostics, we get to work from home nowadays which provides excellent quality of life and work life balance imo. I live in an extremely rural area now that we can work remotely, so my salary is literally three times what my friend makes as rural mixed vet in the area. My salary goes a long way out here…I have no debt but my mortgage and I just bought 80 acres and plan to build a farm in about a year. But a pathologist salary doesn’t go nearly as far for my friend who lives near Boston. So all that to say, specializing in pathology specifically may or may not be all that different than GP salary wise, it just depends on your circumstances. it is hard to make and significant progress paying loans back on a residents salary but it’s just three years.

 

[caecilian]

Specializing is not a decision about money. Yes, specialists are paid better, because they go through more extensive training. But debt should not be a driving factor in making the decision to specialize.

Sorry I may have worded that poorly! I do not intent to specialize just to pay off my debt, I really am interested in pursuing a specialization. My concern is moreso based on how much finances will affect my dreams as unfortunately I may not be able to pursue certain careers due to financial reasons. I completely understand that specializing requires a lot of hard work.

 

[caecilian]

Specialists do usually have higher salaries but I wouldn’t recommend someone just specialize in order to make more money…residency years are soul sucking so you really have to be in it because you love that field of medicine and the salary bump is a nice perk. But in-demand specialties can make 250-400k or more, depending on your area.

I am a pathologist, actually and I regret to inform you that we are among the lowest paid specialties. Our salaries are about the same or slightly better than average urban small animal GP numbers. My company starts new US pathologists at 135k. (Edit: Canada is slightly more because of the exchange rates and stuff, I think mid 140s?) There is often opportunity to do extra cases for extra pay, so I make significantly more than that (about 220k this year), but I also do more work than a lot of my colleagues and I sometimes work weekends too. Academia pays even less than diagnostics. Industry (so preclinical drug safety and the like) can pay well but is a unique niche you really have to love. The benefit of pathology is that at least in diagnostics, we get to work from home nowadays which provides excellent quality of life and work life balance imo. I live in an extremely rural area now that we can work remotely, so my salary is literally three times what my friend makes as rural mixed vet in the area. My salary goes a long way out here…I have no debt but my mortgage and I just bought 80 acres and plan to build a farm in about a year. But a pathologist salary doesn’t go nearly as far for my friend who lives near Boston. So all that to say, specializing in pathology specifically may or may not be all that different than GP salary wise, it just depends on your circumstances. it is hard to make and significant progress paying loans back on a residents salary but it’s just three years.

Thank you so much for you answer. I guess I have a lot to decide and think on now.

 

[SARdoghandler]

Hi yes, Canadian here but I went to a Canadian school. Thanks for the ping @JaynaAli

Feel free to pm me if you want to chat specifics about anything. I came out with about 70k of debt that I am still paying off. International schools are very, very difficult to recoup cost from for Canadian vets due to our salaries. Depending on where you want to practice, etc would be huge factors here. I haven't had a chance to read the whole thread yet because I'm at work right now but like I said, happy to chat privately as well

 

[battie]

The Canadian factor is definitely going to make or break the decision. If you were a US student, I would advise caution into going anywhere but your in state school. Between the current salary market and the impending drastic increase in students, the market is going to become heavily saturated with doctors. Salaries will likely become depressed in about 7-10 years due to the doctor saturation in the US.