Grad school financial planning with my daughter

[DooleyVT]

The basic background story…our daughter recently received a bachelors degree in animal science with a focus on equine health and still working on a double minor from UVM. She is an excellent student and a fantastic human being who seems dedicated to someday becoming a veterinarian. Fortunately with scholarships and hard work she has zero debt from her undergrad education. Currently she is working on applications to veterinary schools across the country with high hopes of getting accepted and attending a graduate program beginning in the fall of 2027. If she gets accepted, she (we) will have no choice but to finance the majority of the remainder of her education. We are obviously super proud of her and excited for her future but nervous for the financial burden that she will face during this time. We have made it clear that we will support her as much as possible but she will end up with a significant amount of debt after grad school. She is expecting to have very little time to have a job that would make any significant difference in her finances so her plan is to finance tuition, housing and living expenses. I’m estimating that will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100k per year!? That seems insane to me but don’t know how else she would do it. My wife and I are both hard working but regular blue collar people (without any rich relatives). We will do our best to help but that’s a very scary amount of debt! I worry about the long term effects it might have on our daughter and potentially us.

Any advice, experiences or suggestions on how to help with this process this would be greatly appreciated.

 

[180ls1]

Besides your faith and family, investing in your career has the highest ROI. Sounds like you all are doing a great job.

If you want, I can reach out to my network and get you some referrals. There are financial planners that work just on this niche, likley WELL worth the time/$$$.

 

[atmat]

The median vet salary is something like $125k.

Let your daughter live with you after grad school (if she’s so interested) and encourage her to work 1.5 jobs during her first year after graduating to pay off debt. She will be mid/late 20’s with no debt and a high paying career that can’t be automated/AI’d.

My wife and I worked 5 combined jobs after grad school to pay off debt as fresh newlyweds. It sucked for 18 months but we were debt free and then could focus on individual careers and take chances. We’re high earners now.

 

[arrow179]

My wife is a veterinarian and we got married when she was in undergrad so I have first hand knowledge of how this process works. I worked full time while she went to school so we were able to take loans out for her tuition only and I supported us for our living expenses. We paid her loans off quickly after she graduated with her DVM degree.

I will say that if your daughter has excellent grades and interviews well, then hopefully she can get accepted to multiple vet schools. Choose the one that is the least expensive. No one cares where she went to school, they will just care that she knows what the flip she is doing and can take care of their animals.

Since there isn’t a Vet school in Vermont she will be applying as a non-resident. Some vet schools allow a non-resident to become a resident of that state after their first year therefore allowing them to pay in-state tuition rates the final 3 years (an online search is your friend).

Apply for as many scholarships as she can. Make this her part time job. If she can get 30 scholarships averaging $1k each then there’s $30k…

Also beware that the “island” schools will rape you with excess tuition and then she will still have to go to a school in the US to do her 4th year rotations.

Feel free to PM me if you have an additional questions.

 

[Bluumoon]

Not to be Debbie downer.. Find the cheapest Vet program possible….no one cares where their vet went to school.

ROI is tough for veterinarians, they have one of highest suicide rates as a professional. I respect them greatly and appreciate them immensely.

 

[CorbLand]

Watch the DVM programs as some don’t allow you to gain residency once started. If that’s the case, it may be worth getting residency in the state before starting if possible.

Don’t be afraid to call and ask. Many schools provide tuition waivers for nonresident students. Many are only good for a year or whatever it takes to gain residency.

Utah State University has a DVM program that for residents, it’s less than half what you are expecting and my experience is that they generally over estimate some of the costs associated.

 

[DooleyVT]

I never even thought about her becoming a resident of that state before attending school there. She should know by January or February if she is accepted into any programs which would give her a little lead time to relocate. Good stuff so far!

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Find scholarships and grants for sure. I got 2 masters degrees for free, 100% paid for and at the end of the second, they even let me keep the balance of what was left on my account from the scholarship. So I got a bunch of education and at the end, a check for 11k showed up in the mail.

 

[DisplacedHusky]

There are relatively new restrictions on how much she may be able to borrow on federal student loans that could impact her journey.

How New Federal Student Loan Limits Could Affect Borrowers

The new loan limits could make it more difficult for graduate students to finance their education using federal loans. Without adjustments, the value of the …

www.urban.org

 

[Danny Hoey]

I never even thought about her becoming a resident of that state before attending school there. She should know by January or February if she is accepted into any programs which would give her a little lead time to relocate. Good stuff so far!

Might be different depending on the field, but my wife's graduate school cost was the same whether you were a resident or not.

 

[arrow179]

Let’s hope this will reduce tuition costs as they have really gotten out of hand the last 2 decades

There are relatively new restrictions on how much she may be able to borrow on federal student loans that could impact her journey.

How New Federal Student Loan Limits Could Affect Borrowers

The new loan limits could make it more difficult for graduate students to finance their education using federal loans. Without adjustments, the value of the …

www.urban.org

 

[DooleyVT]

There are relatively new restrictions on how much she may be able to borrow on federal student loans that could impact her journey.

How New Federal Student Loan Limits Could Affect Borrowers

The new loan limits could make it more difficult for graduate students to finance their education using federal loans. Without adjustments, the value of the …

www.urban.org

I think it’s a good thing to limit how much she is able to borrow but you’re probably right in that it won’t be enough to cover it all. It just makes me sick to think about her being that much in debt at 26 years old. It’s such a big life changing commitment at such a young age. It’s tough to explain to her what kind of a burden that can be without sounding like I'm trying to talk her out of going to grad school. We’re at a place in our lives right where we have very very little debt ourselves and how difficult it can be to get out of debt if you’re not careful no matter how much money you make.

 

[CorbLand]

I think it’s a good thing to limit how much she is able to borrow but you’re probably right in that it won’t be enough to cover it all. It just makes me sick to think about her being that much in debt at 26 years old. It’s such a big life changing commitment at such a young age. It’s tough to explain to her what kind of a burden that can be without sounding like I'm trying to talk her out of going to grad school. We’re at a place in our lives right where we have very very little debt ourselves and how difficult it can be to get out of debt if you’re not careful no matter how much money you make.

Sit down with her and math it out. That is a skill that isn’t taught enough to kids by their parents.

I was thinking about going to pilot school when I graduated high school. Would have cost me between 80-100K to complete and I let people tell me how “crippling” that much debt would be, and how you “don’t want to start your life that way.” If I had, and followed the same path as a few pilots I now know…I would be making well over that each year and I still have 31 years until I am 65.

Don’t get too caught up in the debt portion that you don’t consider the income potential.

 

[Bigred323]

Some good advice up already posted but I can add some more.

I graduated from vet school in 2017 from Mizzou. I applied to 5 schools and Mizzou was the only one I got into. Ended up working out great because they had a 2+2 program (2 years classroom and 2 years clinical) and what was the best was after a year of living there and working a part time job, I was able to become a resident and cut my Tuition by 50% for the next 3 years. So really pay attention to residency requirements when applying and see if yalls state has any partnerships with other schools.

As said, apply to as many vet schools as she can afford. The important thing is she gets into one as that’s the hardest part of it all. Ultimately, she will determine the type of vet she turns into, not the “status” of her school. I work in an area where most of my new vets are from one of those “prestigious” programs and they very rarely come out of the gate with solid skills and ready to work. Just get in.

That being said, I would avoid the Caribbean schools if it all possible. The debt to income ratio coming out of those programs is insane. I don’t know anyone that came out of there with less than 300-400k in debt and not the best exposure to good quality medicine, skills, etc. I have met some amazing colleagues that went to the island schools, but I would try to avoid them if she can.

Big question, what is her goal as a vet? Equine? Mixed? Small animal? Only asking because the money made between the 3 is VASTLY different and something to think about before hand. There is definitely money to made in vet medicine but you have be a hard worker and make the right decisions.

Also, make sure she has thick skin. And I don’t mean “yes she can take a joke”. I mean thick skin. Because this career will destroy people mentally because of social media and the keyboard warriors. At some point in her career there will probably be a time where she gets bashed on social media and dragged across the floor with comments and negativity. People can’t handle it. I’ve seen plenty of mental breakdowns from nasty comments made on social media about vets and friends in the field. As vets, we’re always the bad guy nowadays when people fail to take care of their animals and decide to bring in fluffy on deaths door and get mad we can’t save them or they don’t have any money to do anything.

I would love to stop hearing the complaint “ but you’re a vet. You should be doing this for free”

Feel free to shoot me a pm man if you have any other questions.

 

[ODB]

Are you/she a registered member of any tribe? Do not overlook tribal benefits for enrolled members. Ours (Osage) are incredible.

 

[Legend]

Get a roommate or 4. I had 6 at one point to keep my living expenses as low as possible. It wasn't fun. All you need is a safe place to sleep. A lot of people think they deserve fancy apartments.

 

[willfrye027]

I finished med school with close to 400k in debt that grew while I was in residency not making payments yet.

I am very happy with my life choices and truly love my career path.

The financial side really does suck. 1/3-1/4 of my take home pay goes to medical school debt. Sounds like for a vet it’s probably even worse.

If you are at all in the position to help her, you will be making a huge positive impact on her future financial life. If not, make sure she understands what paying that debt back looks like.

In the end there is truly something special about a meaningful career and if being a vet is her passion, it’s hard to put a price on that.

 

[DooleyVT]

Are you/she a registered member of any tribe? Do not overlook tribal benefits for enrolled members. Ours (Osage) are incredible.

Some Native American blood from her mother’s side but not a member of any official tribe.

 

[DooleyVT]

Big question, what is her goal as a vet? Equine? Mixed? Small animal? Only asking because the money made between the 3 is VASTLY different and something to think about before hand. There is definitely money to made in vet medicine but you have be a hard worker and make the right decisions.

She really wants to be a large animal vet but has little experience with large animals. She has done some training at an few equine farms but that’s about it as far as I know. And not exactly sure why she’s interested in that path specifically. Maybe it’s financial?

Also, make sure she has thick skin.

Besides finances that’s another one of my biggest concerns with her. She does NOT have thick skin and more often is hypersensitive. You need thick skin in life no matter what career path she takes but she’s an only child, gorgeous, super healthy, hard worker, a 3.9 gpa student and currently single so she doesn’t get much criticism from anyone. Working at a local vet clinic for the last few years has helped her some but she definitely doesn’t not do well with criticism. I’m not exactly sure how to help her with that but will definitely bring it up more often.

Feel free to shoot me a pm man if you have any other questions.

I may take you up on that offer at some point. Really appreciate your input

 

[ResearchinStuff]

From what I saw, most if not all grad students were on heavy scholarships, normally 100% plus stipend because the research they produce is incredibly valuable to the university's reputation. So, it might seem counterintuitive, but if she's that smart have her swing for a really good grad school, think ivy League, and she can probably walk away with a degree for free.