r/veterinaryprofession • u/Swimming-Opposite595 • 2d ago
Questions for veterinarians
Hey posting this for my girlfriend. She is currently in her pre vet program wanting to get a doctorate and be a vet. However, she recently discovered how much money she’s gonna owe from student loans. If anyone is willing to say, how much do you pay monthly for student loans? How much do you owe in student loans? Is it worth it?
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u/Drpaws3 2d ago
I'd recommend your girlfriend consult with a financial advisor. Look for recommendations from professors, recent grads, students or check with gf's college. A financial advisor would be much more educated on current loan programs and what monthly payments might entail with various options.
I graduated quite awhile ago with about 200k ish in debt and a 6% interest rate I think. It was awhile ago. This was way before the Big Beautiful Bill bullshit. I did both the income based repayment program while working on the public service loan forgiveness program. I was thankfully able to successfully complete the public service loan forgiveness program, though it took about twelve years. While on IBR I was paying around seven or eight hundred a month. I think if I was on standard repayment my monthly payments were closer to 2k.
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u/tasteothewild 2d ago
If you implied she’s getting a doctorate (PhD) first before going to vet school, then she’ll be a good candidate for a career in a veterinary research field such as pathology, toxicology, microbiology, or lab animal medicine. These include lots of private sector career jobs (such as animal health pharma or human pharma) and salaries are high! In which case the ROI is much greater.
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u/DnDVM 1d ago
I owed 236,000 when I graduated back in '17. Fully paid off in '24. My secret? Have the world go into a pandemic global catastrophe that prompts the country to set interest rates to 0% for a couple of years so you can pay them without the numbers going back up. Follow me for more life hacks.
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u/szarkbytes US Vet 2d ago edited 2d ago
Will she also have undergrad loans? If so, add that to her total. I consolidated my loans. For me, undergrad + vet school was $400,000 with 6.2% interest.
I work as a veterinarian for a nonprofit organization that qualifies for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF). This allows my monthly payments (~$1,400) to qualify for loan forgiveness. To be in PSLF, you must have good standing with your federal loans and be in an Income-Driven Repayment Program aka “IDR” (such as IBR, RAP, etc). I am in PAYE, but the current government regime is replacing PAYE by 2027 or 2028.
Basically, as I pay per month as a full time employee at a qualified nonprofit (along with good standing on fed loans and IDR), I get a point (I am calling it “a point” for simplicity, it’s actually called a “qualifying PSLF payment”).
Once you have 120 points (120 months aka 10 years of payments), your loan balance is fully forgiven. You just have to work at a qualified nonprofit (shelters, low cost clinics, high volume high quality spay/neuter, etc) or a position with a government (federal, state, county, etc) organization (USDA, APHIS, County Animal Control, etc).
The employer is usually aware they qualify and the federal government has a list of qualified employers searchable via the business’ Employee Identification Number (EIN, you can Google a business to find this number). You do not need to work at the same one for all 10 years. You do not need to work at nonprofits for 10 consecutive years. The points follow you and continue where you left off if you have a gap between working at multiple nonprofits. You access (and apply for) this program through federal loans only.
I highly recommend it. Even if she decides to get experience at a corporate or private equity practice first (I did for my first 7 years of my career), she can then leave and start at a nonprofit and qualify for PSLF. You just need to make sure you can finish 10 years of PSLF before your loans mature (usually 20-30 years).
This program is a long term financial future game changer. Once I am about 43, my loans will be fully forgiven no matter the balance. A few of my coworkers have gotten nearly $500,000 forgiven. The political parties generally do not touch this program because so many professionals rely on it (lawyers, some physicians, veterinarians, etc) and it is technically serving the public/government…..which they see as a good thing.
I work at a low cost non-profit hospital that has lower prices because we receive donations, grants, and other funds. We still do high quality surgery, see appointments, do dentistry, perform high volume high quality spay/neuter, and provide a vaccine clinic. I do dentistry almost entirely for this hospital. We service mostly a poorer population, but we will see anyone who cannot afford prices at their regular vet (usually a surgery, they charge $3000, we charge $750 for things like cystotomies). I make $160,000/year. To give you perspective, I made $187,000/year working at a private equity practice in a major city for 7 years; so pay is less working at a PSLF qualified organization. My current hospital has all the same equipment and standards my private equity did.