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I’m probably not the best one to ask. I was very fortunate and went to my in-state school, was able to use some scholarship money from undergrad to cover first year’s tuition (because my school let the first year of vet school count as your senior year of an animal science degree), and my parents paid my living expenses. I am also old and graduated in 2015 before tuition recently started to grow astronomically. I only had about 60k of loans, which was three years of tuition only. I specialized, so I put the loans on income based repayment and paid nothing or like $100/month during my four years in internship and residency. Essentially just ignored them for those four years. Then once I got a job as a pathologist I put every extra dollar I had each month towards my loans and paid them off within two years. I knew I’d pay them off so it didn’t bother me much. My starting salary as a pathologist was 113k but four years in I’m making just over 200k. I’m single with no kids. Right after residency I lived in an expensive city in the south but now I work remotely and can live in the rural Midwest/south where cost of living is relatively cheap. My salary goes a long way here and is way above median income for the area. Even still, I imagine things would have been different if I’d owed 200-300k+.Thank you for the advice! If you don't mind, can you share how you have emotionally dealt with the debt?
Hey! I started vet school at 25 and turned 26 halfway through first year. Because I retook 1st year, I graduated at 29. I inherited a life insurance policy during 2nd year of school, so ended up graduating as if I had in state tuition because that life insurance policy paid for third and fourth year. So I graduated in a similar position in 2021.I am 26 years old, turning 27 this fall. I would be paying tuition costs through the North Dakota PSEP, so thankfully, I would not be paying the costs of OOS tuition.
So my timeline for graduation: graduated Sat, drove home Sun, married Mon (at the DMV), started job 2 weeks later, got pregnant in September, bought house in September, maternity leave the following June, baby born in June, started paying loans in September (2022).I am getting worried that maybe I'm too old to be starting professional school, gaining little to no income for four years, and then needing to start paying back my debt at age 30.
This is really important, but also include the amount you need to save monthly for the tax bomb at the end on loan forgiveness, and also to subtract this amount from your net income rather than gross, because you pay your student loans on post-tax income.Calcuate out what your expected post grad debt is, plug it into a debt calculator to look at monthly payment amounts, and subtract that from your expected salary to get some idea of what your realized salary will be.
Thank you so much for being candid and detailed. A tough part of choosing where I may want to seek employment is that the highest paying jobs are in areas with the highest cost of living. I'm just hoping I can find a sweet spot. This is planning ahead, as I will only just be starting vet school in the fall.This is really important, but also include the amount you need to save monthly for the tax bomb at the end on loan forgiveness, and also to subtract this amount from your net income rather than gross, because you pay your student loans on post-tax income.
For example, let’s say you start out with a loan amount of $250k with current average interest rate of 6.15% and you start out with a salary of $150k and you’re on the SAVES repayment plan.
Your monthly payment is $960, and you need to save $170 a month.
If you live in my state, the take home monthly on your $150k salary is $8770.
After your student loans, you would have $7640 left.
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Sounds great… but man, the cost of living is so goddam high these days.
I live in a modest house that I bought for under the average sale price of houses way back in 2017 for under $400k with a good interest rate. Thank the lord we bought when we did because it’s worth $600k+ now with double the interest rate. Anyway, even with our cheap home with good interest rate, our mortgage is $2,400.
Daycare for two kids is $3500. Down from $4k when one was in the infant room.
Car payment is $800 for our minivan. That’s just one car. The other’s paid off. Yes it’s a new car, though still cheaper than the US average… not a luxury vehicle.
***Just with mortgage, daycare, and single car payment, my monthly expenses are at $6700***
I still need health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, car insurance, electricity, oil heating in New England 🥶, groceries, cellphone, internet, sewage/water, trash, gasoline as bare necessities.
Add to that pet care, retirement, clothes, vacation, hobbies, occasional dining out/entertainment.
If it weren’t for a second income, we wouldn’t be able to do it. We’re not poor by any means, but we certainly don’t live luxuriously. Despite that, an insane amount of money leaves our pockets every month!!!