Delete

[Grace927]

Delete

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[JaynaAli]

I think it’s extremely common for people to have “imposter syndrome” at this stage. Often, a pre-vets whole life has focused on getting in to vet school, not necessarily what comes after. It happens again throughout vet school and again after graduation. I think you need to really do some soul searching and determine if what you’re feeling is just imposter syndrome and/or nerves or if you are truly second guessing things and want to pursue another career. I was a more traditional 22 year old when I started school but we had several classmates who were similar to your age. They’re all graduated and doing fine now. It sounds like you’ve done what you could to minimize the costs by getting instate tuition and having savings, so in that way I think you’re in a lot better position than many of the 22 year olds doing OOS tuition. Many people do pay the debt off, and it’s certainly easier if you’re talking about an IS debt load than OOS. I don’t want to just say “don’t worry about it, go to vet school” because concerns about debt and job outlook and the issues of the profession are absolutely real, but you’re the only person who can decide if it’s the right decision for you or if you need to pursue another career. There’s nothing wrong with pursuing something else if that’s truly what you want to do. And honestly if you’re questioning it is better to change direction before you start when there isn’t any debt. But be sure not to abandon it if you might regret it down the line. You may not get the opportunity again.

 

[JaynaAli]

Thank you for the advice! If you don't mind, can you share how you have emotionally dealt with the debt?

I’m probably not the best one to ask. I was very fortunate and went to my in-state school, was able to use some scholarship money from undergrad to cover first year’s tuition (because my school let the first year of vet school count as your senior year of an animal science degree), and my parents paid my living expenses. I am also old and graduated in 2015 before tuition recently started to grow astronomically. I only had about 60k of loans, which was three years of tuition only. I specialized, so I put the loans on income based repayment and paid nothing or like $100/month during my four years in internship and residency. Essentially just ignored them for those four years. Then once I got a job as a pathologist I put every extra dollar I had each month towards my loans and paid them off within two years. I knew I’d pay them off so it didn’t bother me much. My starting salary as a pathologist was 113k but four years in I’m making just over 200k. I’m single with no kids. Right after residency I lived in an expensive city in the south but now I work remotely and can live in the rural Midwest/south where cost of living is relatively cheap. My salary goes a long way here and is way above median income for the area. Even still, I imagine things would have been different if I’d owed 200-300k+.

Hopefully others with larger debt loads will chime in with their experiences. But in general you either make the decision to pay them off and throw everything you can at them (which is often easier if you have a spouse bringing in income as well but spouses do also mean more expenses competing for resources), or you just mentally accept that you’re going down the loan forgiveness route and pay as little as you are required knowing that is sometimes the cheapest overall option even though your balance increases (or just stays stagnant with the new SAVE plan).

 

[battie]

I am 26 years old, turning 27 this fall. I would be paying tuition costs through the North Dakota PSEP, so thankfully, I would not be paying the costs of OOS tuition.

Hey! I started vet school at 25 and turned 26 halfway through first year. Because I retook 1st year, I graduated at 29. I inherited a life insurance policy during 2nd year of school, so ended up graduating as if I had in state tuition because that life insurance policy paid for third and fourth year. So I graduated in a similar position in 2021.

I am getting worried that maybe I'm too old to be starting professional school, gaining little to no income for four years, and then needing to start paying back my debt at age 30.

So my timeline for graduation: graduated Sat, drove home Sun, married Mon (at the DMV), started job 2 weeks later, got pregnant in September, bought house in September, maternity leave the following June, baby born in June, started paying loans in September (2022).

A couple of bonus points in my corner however: my husband saved a ton of money while I was in vet school and I had left over life insurance money from my inheritance. So that's how we had a 20% down payment for the house.

Now, I pay $325 per week on my student loans ($1300 per month); I pay weekly so that I can put as much towards principle as possible per loan. The rest of the bills I am responsible for is just under $3000. I probably spend an additional $1500 on miscellaneous other stuff. So overall, I spend somewhere around $5500-6000 per months on all my bills. Husband pays a much smaller proportion because he takes home about 25% of what I make a month.

We're pretty comfy. I max out my 401K. Put several hundred per month in a HYSA. I am super paranoid about finances tbh. Grew up middle class and then my parents were both laid off in the 08 recession. So I just am really focused on finances right now. We have done a ton of upgrades to the house and have more to do (but we're waiting to see if we actually stay in this house). I'm an ER vet paid hourly at a great job and will only leave if management changes or we move. But we will only have one kid, secondarily because of finances; if one of us had a health crisis, I could absolutely support us financially. But if we had two kids and a heath crisis, I don't know if I could do it.

I will likely be okay financially long-term baring any freak Enron screw overs happening in the vet med industry.

 

[Quigly]

You state you aren't going to take on much debt, so not sure why the debt level is a concern. Bigger issue for me would be 4 years of sacrificed income to go to vet school. Additionally, the type of practice you want to join would matter also. If you go the mixed animal route in ND, I would almost take on a little debt even if I didn't have to, there would be pretty good opportunities to utilize a loan repayment program.

 

[Quigly]

If you can keep your debt to income ratio under or close to 1 after graduation, that is very manageable debt. Obviously most don't, but the farther away from that you get, the more government forgiveness becomes a strategy and I have trouble viewing that as an enjoyable way to live for a couple decades. Calcuate out what your expected post grad debt is, plug it into a debt calculator to look at monthly payment amounts, and subtract that from your expected salary to get some idea of what your realized salary will be.

The financial side of vet med is often not pretty, as you realize, especially if you can get a decent paying job elsewhere without the additional education. I've met too many vets 15-20 years out of school that are burnt out but still stuck paying off loans.

 

[Minnerbelle]

Calcuate out what your expected post grad debt is, plug it into a debt calculator to look at monthly payment amounts, and subtract that from your expected salary to get some idea of what your realized salary will be.

This is really important, but also include the amount you need to save monthly for the tax bomb at the end on loan forgiveness, and also to subtract this amount from your net income rather than gross, because you pay your student loans on post-tax income.


For example, let’s say you start out with a loan amount of $250k with current average interest rate of 6.15% and you start out with a salary of $150k and you’re on the SAVES repayment plan.

Your monthly payment is $960, and you need to save $170 a month.

If you live in my state, the take home monthly on your $150k salary is $8770.

After your student loans, you would have $7640 left.

*********************

Sounds great… but man, the cost of living is so goddam high these days.

I live in a modest house that I bought for under the average sale price of houses way back in 2017 for under $400k with a good interest rate. Thank the lord we bought when we did because it’s worth $600k+ now with double the interest rate. Anyway, even with our cheap home with good interest rate, our mortgage is $2,400.

Daycare for two kids is $3500. Down from $4k when one was in the infant room.

Car payment is $800 for our minivan. That’s just one car. The other’s paid off. Yes it’s a new car, though still cheaper than the US average… not a luxury vehicle.

***Just with mortgage, daycare, and single car payment, my monthly expenses are at $6700***

I still need health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, car insurance, electricity, oil heating in New England 🥶, groceries, cellphone, internet, sewage/water, trash, gasoline as bare necessities.

Add to that pet care, retirement, clothes, vacation, hobbies, occasional dining out/entertainment.

If it weren’t for a second income, we wouldn’t be able to do it. We’re not poor by any means, but we certainly don’t live luxuriously. Despite that, an insane amount of money leaves our pockets every month!!!

 

[FrogAndToad]

This is really important, but also include the amount you need to save monthly for the tax bomb at the end on loan forgiveness, and also to subtract this amount from your net income rather than gross, because you pay your student loans on post-tax income.


For example, let’s say you start out with a loan amount of $250k with current average interest rate of 6.15% and you start out with a salary of $150k and you’re on the SAVES repayment plan.

Your monthly payment is $960, and you need to save $170 a month.

If you live in my state, the take home monthly on your $150k salary is $8770.

After your student loans, you would have $7640 left.

*********************

Sounds great… but man, the cost of living is so goddam high these days.

I live in a modest house that I bought for under the average sale price of houses way back in 2017 for under $400k with a good interest rate. Thank the lord we bought when we did because it’s worth $600k+ now with double the interest rate. Anyway, even with our cheap home with good interest rate, our mortgage is $2,400.

Daycare for two kids is $3500. Down from $4k when one was in the infant room.

Car payment is $800 for our minivan. That’s just one car. The other’s paid off. Yes it’s a new car, though still cheaper than the US average… not a luxury vehicle.

***Just with mortgage, daycare, and single car payment, my monthly expenses are at $6700***

I still need health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, car insurance, electricity, oil heating in New England 🥶, groceries, cellphone, internet, sewage/water, trash, gasoline as bare necessities.

Add to that pet care, retirement, clothes, vacation, hobbies, occasional dining out/entertainment.

If it weren’t for a second income, we wouldn’t be able to do it. We’re not poor by any means, but we certainly don’t live luxuriously. Despite that, an insane amount of money leaves our pockets every month!!!

Thank you so much for being candid and detailed. A tough part of choosing where I may want to seek employment is that the highest paying jobs are in areas with the highest cost of living. I'm just hoping I can find a sweet spot. This is planning ahead, as I will only just be starting vet school in the fall.

If any current veterinarians have advice on places I should do externships/summer work to fulfill the above, I would be eternally grateful. Mixed or small animal/emergency/surgery are my interests.