— UPDATE, April 2, 2020 —
Yesterday, April 1, 2020, the Department of Education provided guidance on the student loan relief for federal student loan borrowers described in the CARES Act.
Managing your veterinary student debt can be as emotionally charged as managing patients. But, in finances as in medicine, the best decisions are evidence-based.
The bombardment of marketing campaigns encouraging you to refinance your federal student loans into a private loan(s) can be overwhelming. Claims of lower interest rates and faster, less expensive payoff are attractive and tempting. Entertaining these offers is a risky venture for most recent graduate veterinarians.
If you remember one thing from reading this: A LOWER STUDENT LOAN INTEREST RATE DOES NOT EQUAL LOWER PAYMENT; nor does it always equal lower repayment costs. If you’d like to know why, read on!
Analyzing the various federal repayment options and programs and choosing the best for your situation is challenging. Spending nearly the last ten years helping veterinary students, veterinarians, and those who work with them navigate their student loans and repayment options, we’ve seen student loan forgiveness and the debates around it cause significant confusion. First, make sure you understand the differences between Public Service Loan Forgiveness and the taxable forgiveness under income-driven repayment.
A small, but significant change to the Department of Education (ED) updates Income-Driven Repayment (IDR) Plan Request was made in 2019. The IDR Plan Request form allows you to apply, renew, or update your student loan payment using Revised Pay as You Earn (REPAYE), Pay as you Earn (PAYE), Income-Based Repayment (IBR) or Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) for Direct or FFEL program student loans. You can apply for/renew your IDR plan via studentloans.gov or your loan servicer(s).
Documenting income is a source of financial, emotional, and logistical stress for those with student loans as well as for the loan servicers who process the applications.
Yes. There are three ways to receive in-state tuition to veterinary school:
The “standard” amount of financial aid offered for your veterinary education is defined by the Cost of Attendance (COA) published by each school. The COA includes Tuition & Fees as well as living expenses.
Type of practice, experience, and location are major factors in a veterinarian’s income.
Veterinary medicine is experiencing a student debt crisis. Yes, many higher education graduates experience loan repayment hardship; however the magnitude affecting recent veterinary graduates is unique. Every day I counsel pending and recent graduates through the Veterinary Information Network (VIN) and via VIN Foundation who report student debt balances in excess of $200,000, $300,000 and $400,000 with incomes between $70,000 and $90,000 depending on where they choose to live and what type of veterinary medicine they are pursuing.
While we can help veterinarians navigate these repayment challenges, the old adage “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is a significant part of the solution. A key driver of the crisis is the decreasing availability of discounted tuition seats for veterinary school; those seats that allow you to pay an in-state or otherwise discounted tuition rate.
We’re knocking on the door of another veterinary school application cycle. The Veterinary Medical College Application Service (VMCAS) for the veterinary class starting in Fall 2020 is now open. As you apply for veterinary school this year or beyond, Apply Smarter!
Visit the Apply Smarter page on the VIN Foundation Vet School Bound website for the webinar recording and additional Apply Smarter resources.
This question, asked by a 2019 veterinary graduate who attended the recent new graduate webinar we presented on student debt, is one of the most confounding aspects of income-driven repayment (IDR). Unfortunately, this confusion often prevents veterinarians from accepting the student loan repayment relief and other benefits provided by an income-driven repayment strategy.