Listen in as student debt experts and Board Member Drs. Tony Bartels and Rebecca Mears in this next installment of our Student Debt Series. In this episode we’re covering three major topics: 1) Updates and how they impact new grads and not to new grads 2) PAYE and ICR phase outs 3) Bonus mention for a new proposal to cancel up to $20k. Now is the time to learn what you need to know going into the summer.
As always, we want to hear from YOU. Please share your thoughts by sending an email or joining the conversation.
GUEST BIOS:
Dr. Tony Bartels
Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA graduated in 2012 from the Colorado State University combined MBA/DVM program and is a VIN Foundation Board Member and Student Debt Expert, and an employee of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). He and his wife, a small-animal internal medicine specialist practicing in Denver, have more than $400,000 in veterinary-school debt that they manage using federal income-driven repayment plans. By necessity (and now obsession), his professional activities include researching and speaking on veterinary-student debt, providing guidance to colleagues on loan-repayment strategies and contributing to VIN Foundation resources. Beyond debt, his professional interests include small- and exotic-animal practice. When he’s not staring holes into his colleagues’ student-loan data, Tony enjoys fly fishing, ice hockey, camping and exploring Colorado with his wife, Audra, daughter, Lucy, and their two rescued canines, Addi and Maggie.
Dr. Rebecca Mears
Rebecca Mears, DVM is from Lexington, KY, and a graduate of University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine. Rebecca started her career as an equine general practitioner and is an active AAEP member, currently serving as a member of the AAEP DEI Committee. Her interest in student debt education began with keeping her own education costs lower and grew from there. This was supported by her involvement in the Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA), which she now gives back to as a National Advisor. In her time away from veterinary medicine, she can be found obsessing over plants and hosting impromptu dance parties. She is passionate about giving back to the profession and improving the lives of veterinarians, pre-vet and vet students.
LINKS AND INFORMATION:
VIN Foundation Blog, Related Student Debt Blog posts:
- Personalized student loan Help from VIN and VIN Foundation
- Infographic ONE-TIME FORGIVENESS COUNT ADJUSTMENT
- One-Time Forgiveness Count Adjustment Video Case Study, 1999 DVM may save more than $65,000 in student loan costs
- Income-Driven Repayment Plan Discretionary income calculations, WikiDebt
- Repay Wiser
Additional help links:
- Borrow Better
- New Grad Student Loan Repayment Playbook
- Federal Student Aid Data, Consolidation, and Repayment Applications
- SAVE Repayment Plan Offers Lower Monthly Loan Payments
- New Proposed Regulations Would Transform Income-Driven Repayment by Cutting Undergraduate Loan Payments in Half and Preventing Unpaid Interest Accumulation
- Payment Count Adjustments Toward Income-Driven Repayment and Public Service Loan Forgiveness Programs
- Department of Education press release (Nov 2022)
- Department of Education press release (April 2022)
- One-time Forgiveness Count Adjustment
- Federal Student Loan Servicers
- Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
- Have a veterinary story you want to share?
- Stay up to date with VIN Foundation updates
Email VIN Foundation: studentdebt@vinfoundation.org
Get updates to stay tuned for the VIN Foundation webinars on student debt.
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