Audience: Veterinarians
Title: Climbing Mt. Debt | Repay Wiser
90% of graduates leave veterinary school with educational debt. Their debt is often more than 2- 3x the salary they can expect even upon completion of a specialty. Educational debt is very different from a mortgage or business loan and traditional repayment strategies are often contraindicated. Every student, intern, resident and those who work with, and supports, them needs to understand educational debt and its impact upon colleagues, practices, and the profession.
Creating debt repayment and financial plans specific to individual career path choices allows trainees to focus upon learning medicine rather than obsessing over their debt. In the Climbing Mt. Debt session, Dr. Bartels explores the options and strategies for surviving and thriving with educational debt and how they differ from managing a mortgage or the strategies physicians may use.
Learning Objectives:
Understand educational loans and repayment plans and how to minimize the impact of educational debt upon their future.
Speaker Context:
As recent veterinary graduates, Tony Bartels, DVM, MBA, and his wife have more than $400,000 of veterinary school debt that they manage using the federal income-driven repayment plans (IBR and REPAYE). Understanding income-driven repayment has allowed us to weather unexpected financial burdens as well as own a home.
Through first person experience as well as counseling thousands of veterinary students and professionals on student loan repayment strategies, Dr. Bartels engages the audience with an interactive presentation format that is part education and part financial counseling workshop. He debunks the common wisdom of traditional repayment methods and shows how those with high debt-to-income ratios can save tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars utilizing income-driven repayment.
Dr. Bartels demystifies the two most difficult aspects of loan repayment:
1) Knowing which repayment plans you can use; and
2) Deciding which repayment plan you should use.
Also covered are common myths and misconceptions like loan forgiveness, as well as the pitfalls and challenges associated with student loan repayment using real-world experiences.
CE Credits:
- 1 credit per hour
- Approved for AAVSB and New York State credits