NEW VETERINARY GRADUATE
Debt Repayment
Prep Challenge
The 2024 Borrow Better Challenge is now closed. Please learn more about the challenge below and explore the tools from this year’s challenge. If you would like to be kept informed when the challenge launches next year, you may sign up to Get Updates.
Share your student loan experience, for a chance to win prizes
Share your student loan details, repayment strategy, and thought process for getting started in repayment (anonymously if preferred) so we can learn from each other! Bonus: You’ll also be entered to win awesome prizes 🏆
WHO:
Open to all soon-to-be new grads with U.S. student loans
WHAT:
2025 Debt Repayment Prep Challenge
WHERE:
VIN and VIN Foundation message boards
WHEN:
April 10, 2025 – May 6, 2025
WHY:
By sharing our stories we can learn from each other and we can build more helpful resources to help you.
WIN:
Post your student loan details and repayment strategy thought process (anonymously if you prefer) on the Student Debt Message Board – see additional details below.
Borrow Better Challenge Tools
- Student Loan Borrow Better Challenge Webinar Recording
Miss the live session? Want to review a couple of topics again? Watch the full recording of the session is below. - Student Loan Borrow Better Challenge Prezi
Think of this as the “slide deck” you can scroll through with clickable links to the resources referenced in the presentation. - Student Loan Borrow Better Challenge Message Board
Review your classmates’ entries to learn how other students are borrowing and trying to reduce their student loans. - A Borrow Better Case Study Using the In-School Loan Estimator
A VIN Foundation Blog post describing a student loan borrowing case study for a Colorado resident starting at CSU’s veterinary school in Fall 2024 using the In-School Loan Estimator.
How to enter the VIN Foundation 2025 Debt Repayment Prep Challenge:
Check your current student loan balance
Send your My Student Loans summary to the Student Loan Repayment Simulator
Post your Student Loan Repayment Simulator results and answer to the Debt Repayment Prep Message Board
*Participants who completed steps 1-3 in this challenge by 11:59 PM ET on Tuesday, May 6, 2025, were entered into a drawing to win a VIN Foundation Yeti mug, Rumpl blanket, or DoorDash gift card if they post their case.
Student debt sucks. But for more than 80% of eligible U.S. students attending AVMA COE-accredited colleges of veterinary medicine, it is a necessary tool to achieve the dream of becoming a veterinarian
This year, carefully considering how you enter repayment is more important than ever. Why? 2025 is the most confusing year for student loan repayment we’ve ever seen.
While there is no wrong way to get started in student loan repayment, there are certainly better ways than others. Depending on your specific loan details, career plans, and repayment goals, we want you to help you pay less and reduce your repayment stress!
We created this challenge to learn from each other, and the best way to do this is to share what you’re thinking and ask questions!
Soon-to-be new grads:
Preparing for repayment starts before graduation. If you haven’t filed a tax return for 2024, do so now. Grab your student loan details from studentaid.gov and upload them into the VIN Foundation My Student Loans tool. Start simulating your repayment options and building your repayment strategy.
Not quite new grads:
Follow along or feel free to participate! While we can try to guess what repayment will look like beyond 2025, it’s going to be tough in this rapidly changing environment.
Did you know?
All students who use federal student loans have 120 days to return loan amounts. Doing so will also return the interest and fees associated with the amount you return. So even if you took everything not knowing exactly how much you need, you have time to figure that out. Build your budget and reassess monthly. When you get about 90 days into your semester, see if you have amounts you can return before you reach the 120-day deadline.
You’ll put a bigger dent in your student loan balance by reducing the amount you borrow or returning excess funds within the 120-day window vs. making interest payments during school.
Borrow Better during school and you’ll have less to manage after school. Your future self will thank you!
MORE TOOLS TO EXPLORE
STUDENT DEBT CENTER
The VIN Foundation Student Debt Center is a comprehensive resource helping veterinary students, veterinarians, and those who support them manage student debt through school and beyond.
BLOG
Student Debt News
The student debt posts on the VIN Foundation blog features recent student loan news and helpful information.
PODCAST
Student Debt Series
The Veterinary Pulse podcast Student Debt Series discusses all the latest information and changes, and what borrowers need to know now.
BLOG
Student Debt News
The student debt posts on the VIN Foundation blog features recent student loan news and helpful information.
PODCAST
Student Debt Series
The Veterinary Pulse podcast Student Debt Series discusses all the latest information and changes, and what borrowers need to know now.
