Click here for an audio-only version of this drip

The Cost of Attendance

How Are Student Loans Calculated?

Let’s start unwinding the student loan enigma. We’re going to assume that you are in the federal student loan system. Private student loans are a whole other ball of wax, and generally not advisable unless you have an issue receiving federal student loans. Therefore, today we’re going to discuss taking out loans in the federal student loan system, and how much you can borrow. First, the Department of Education (DOE) is the Federal Agency that oversees the entire Federal Student loan system. 

You filled out a FAFSA form (Free Application for Federal Student Aid) and that entered you into the Federal student loan system and connected you to your school. The Department of Education requires your school to provide an estimate of your educational costs for the time that you are in school.  Your school has calculated and reported to the Department of Education the Cost of Attendance (COA). This is an estimate of how much an ordinary student will need to complete school and this estimate is used to set the limits for your financial aid packages.  In veterinary school, you are considered independent from your parents for the purposes of financial aid.  That means if you apply for financial aid, you’ll most likely be offered the full COA whether you need it or not.  That’s where you can use your budget to help determine how much of your financial aid package you actually need.

Each school is permitted to include the following items in the COA: 

• Tuition and fees; 
• Books and supplies;
• Transportation; 
• Personal expenses;
• Miscellaneous expenses;  
• Room and board; 
• Dependent care; 
• Study-abroad expenses; 
• Disability expenses; 
• Employment expenses for co-op study; and 
• Loan fees.

Also, keep in mind that not all schools present their COA in the same way.  Be sure to look out for mandatory items like health insurance, vaccinations, board exam fees, and other one-time expenses that might not be incorporated into the published COA. 

The COA is generally broken out into two main categories:

• Tuition and Fees
• Cost of Living

Your tuition and fees are required for you to obtain your degree.  The cost of living is where you have some flexibility to adjust what is offered to match your budgetary needs.

Keep in mind that tuition and fees may increase each year while you’re in school.  Your cost of living estimates may increase yearly as well.  Use your budget to determine whether you need to accept additional cost of living amounts.

The next big question is, do you need the entire amount of the Cost of Living loan funds that are available to you? If you have created a budget and that budget predicts that you won’t need all of the money, then you can return some of it! Many times the Cost of Living estimates are overly inflated, to make sure nobody runs out of money during the semester. 

This is huge... don’t borrow money that you don’t need! 

You can return the extra money within 120 days of disbursement at no cost to you! How much money you borrow during veterinary school is directly related to how much in student loans you will have to manage for the first 20 years of your career! Managing less in student loans is always easier than managing more. 

The key takeaway here is that your tuition and fees are required and your cost of living is an estimate.  In most cases, the cost of living is overestimated.  Use your budget to determine how much you really need to cover your actual living expenses.  Reduce or return financial aid award amounts in excess of what you need.  

Paying for Vet School

By now the routine of vet school is setting in, the realities of the academic rigor are evident and there’s another thing to consider! What is your plan to pay for it? We discussed the Cost of Attendance above, which to reiterate is the total estimated cost of your tuition, plus living expenses. If you totaled the costs of all four years, you might have reached a staggering number! Depending on your state of residency, this cost ranges from $200,000 - $350,000 for US accredited veterinary schools.

The easy thing to do is to ignore this amount that you are going to have to pay and deal with it later! This approach, however, has come back to haunt many veterinarians. 

They are saddled with the entire balance in student debt and wish they would have paid more attention while in school. 

If you do nothing but complete the FAFSA and sign the Master Promissory Note, the Department of Education will loan you the full amount in student loans and you will graduate with a student loan balance of over $200,000 which will then be part of your monthly budget for the next 20 plus years! This debt, hanging over the head of recent graduates, is part of the problem with financial angst, burn-out, anxiety and depression. 

The point of Personal Financial Success is to pay attention and do something about your financial future now! What are the ways to pay for veterinary school? Usually the funding comes from a combination of these sources. 

• Savings. This may be a savings account from your family or your own personal savings. This is a major way to pay for veterinary school. If you do have savings that are earmarked for tuition and living expenses, it’s essential that you make it last! 
• Scholarships. Scholarships are as close to free money that you can possibly get. We’ll go over searching for and applying for scholarships in the next section. Meanwhile here is an equation to tattoo on your brain! SCHOLARSHIPS=AWESOME 
• Spouse or Significant Other’s income. Again, if this is your situation, congrats! Some veterinary students are able to live off of a partner’s income while attending school, then the deal usually is that the table flips once you’re an employed veterinarian! 
• Employment During School. Here, the money you earn during the semester or during school breaks goes to offset loans or other sources of paying for veterinary school. We’ll dedicate drips to this concept in the future, but for now, know that every dollar you earn will lower your loan balance. The caveat is to not let working get your grades in trouble! 
• Student Loans. This category should be used to fill the gaps that the other sources can’t provide. As previously mentioned, student loans fall into two major types a) Federal Student Loans and b) private student loans. The general knowledge is to use Federal Student Loans first and use private loans as a last resort. 
• Credit cards or Consumer Loans. Ouch. Please don’t do this. It is only on this list to point out what a bad idea this is. 

The main point here is to be aware of all the possibilities there are to pay for veterinary school and that it’s more than just student loans. We want to maximize scholarships and earnings and minimize loans. Everyone’s personal financial status is different and there is no one size fits all approach. It’s your responsibility to look at your situation and weigh your options. Most of all, don’t default to the easiest option, because you will have to pay later! 

Veterinary school has been your dream and you can do it, you just have to create a plan to get there! Take that step to plan your path! 

Scholarship Search

Do you like free money? Of course you do! Do you like paying full price for tuition? Heck no! Vet school is busy! Use your time wisely. 

THERE ARE HUNDREDS OF SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE TO VETERINARY STUDENTS. And many of them only have 1-2 applicants. Many of these are not about grades or class rank, but consider diversity, career plans, and other factors that may be a fit for you. Now is the time to sharpen up that résumé, fill out those applications, and write those essays! Even if a scholarship is $500-$1,000, that’s more than $0! 15 minutes today applying for scholarships is the best possible investment in time you can spend. 

1. Start with your vet school! The administration publishes a page to make this easier for you! Click to see examples from UC Davis and Iowa State  
2. Contact the administrative person that’s in charge of scholarships. This person often knows which scholarships don’t have many applicants. You want to be friends with this person! 
3. Look to your home state and home town’s Veterinary Medical Association. Click to see an example from Arizona 
4. The American Veterinary Medical Foundation has a good list! 
5. The American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges also has a good list. 
6. Don’t forget about your friends at the VIN Foundation. 
7. Look to National Associations for specific types of practice, such as Bovine Practitioners, Feline Practitioners, Emergency and Critical Care. Click to see examples from AABP, AAFP and VECCS.  
8. Some veterinary companies also offer scholarship opportunities you can research.
9. Lastly, you can move on to researching non-veterinary scholarship searches of which there are many! 

Cast a broad net and apply for as many scholarships as you can find. Keep in mind that every dollar you are awarded is a dollar you don’t have to borrow, or pay back! Even smaller amounts add up, when you consider the amount of time that you will be paying off your loans. 

Here’s the big win, you will feel great when you submit that application! Check that box off of your list. Then you can enjoy the rest of your day. What could be a better feeling? The day you are awarded the money! That’s a huge step toward financial wellness. 

Take some time today and check these applications off your list. You will thank yourself later!