This blog is a platform for veterinary students to discuss and bring into the light the highly stigmatized topics of mental health and suicide in veterinary medicine. This post, however, is about a topic everybody loves to discuss: student debt.
With mental health and suicide, a lot of efforts are encouraged at the individual or interpersonal level. This includes making sure you take time to take care of yourself, maintaining and building relationships, and seeking professional counseling services. But it’s important not to forget about higher levels of interaction. What effect does the community of your veterinary school have on your mental health? What effect does the culture of veterinary medicine in your country have on you as an individual?
Student debt is as equally intricate and is likely related on some level to mental health. I am not educated to teach on this topic, but there are many who are. Just two days ago, Dr. Tony Bartels held a special VIN Rounds for students on the topic of loan repayment and the new REPAYE program (VIN is free for students). This post is dedicated to collating recent data and opinions on the state of veterinary medical education economics and how it affects students.
Student debt: Release the quacken.
This April 20-22, American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) members, the Association of American Veterinary Medical Colleges (AAVMC), recent graduates, and students will meet at Michigan State University to discuss student debt. They will discuss four areas of possible improvement:
- tuition reduction
- value of the veterinary school graduate
- debt reduction
- practice economics
Last fall, Dr. Mike Dicks, the director of the AVMA Veterinary Economics Division, and his team posted the results of a study on reported student debt at United States veterinary schools. It was found that “excessive” debt is concentrated at certain schools. A series of articles, all with different opinions, were posted.
I encourage you, when you find some downtime, to read them and form an opinion and a plan.
- November 1, 2015- Upset about veterinary debt? Don’t blame the students by Dr. Mike Dicks
- December 3, 2015- Study: Excessive veterinary student debt concentrated at certain schools by Amy R. Connolly
- February 29, 2016- Student borrowers not ‘excessive’ or ‘frugal’ by Dr. Tony Bartels and Dr. Paul Pion (VIN discussion board link)
Thought of the Week:
Having read the articles, what is your opinion and plan?
Ideas:
I need to take some action at the individual level
I need to take some action at the national level
I am not sure yet…I need to take action to learn more to make an informed decision
??? (post in comments)
Beasts, Unburdened 
These are very interesting articles, and I wish I understood everything more clearly. All I know is that I was shocked with the amount of debt that most American students are dealing with. I met some this summer and it blew me away. One of the vets was even saying that if she were to give advice to someone wanting to be a vet, that she might discourage them from doing it because of the astronomic debt. She was doing emergency work – which is very physically, mentally, and emotionally draining just to try and make a dent in her debt. Working long hours and as much overtime as possible can only last so long. If it doesn’t have immediate mental health effects on students while in school (although I can’t see how it wouldn’t), it definitely does when you start working. I think for sure something has to change soon at the national level. Canadian students have debt, for sure, but it is not nearly the soul-crushing debt that American students are dealing with, so there has to be a way that the US can manage a better system. Obviously systemic change would take a massive overhaul, but I just can’t see how it is sustainable the way it is now.
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Shannon, thanks for sharing a Canadian perspective. Unfortunately, this post is pretty US-centric but that’s what I know best. It also sounds like it may be the biggest problem in the US. My next door neighbor at my parents house is a veterinarian originally from Canada and went to school for just $2,000-3,000 per year. I’m glad you guys can still benefit from that.
Do you have any idea about the reason there is such a difference? Like I said, I’m not an expert and want to learn more.
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