Do you think the costs of professional school (med, law, dental etc) are unsustainable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Medical school debt forgiveness does exist for doctors who practice in underserved areas for a certain number of years.

There are unfortunately many more med school students than resident spots for the “coveted” subspecialties.

I’m not even sure it’s worth it (if you care a lot about money) to become a pediatrician versus an accountant (4 years of undergrad with 150 credits in there).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately we live in a country where the top priority is maintaining a bloated military establishment. With that absorbing so much if our national resources, higher education does not get funded the way it does in most first world nations.

Really? Salaries of professors have not kept pace with tuition increases. These schools are charging more to subsidize completely free tuition for people making less than a certain amount. Soon middle class students won't be able to afford college if tuition keeps on this path.

+1


Also, those other first world nations that prioritize education over military heavily rely on the US military to police the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately we live in a country where the top priority is maintaining a bloated military establishment. With that absorbing so much if our national resources, higher education does not get funded the way it does in most first world nations.

Really? Salaries of professors have not kept pace with tuition increases. These schools are charging more to subsidize completely free tuition for people making less than a certain amount. Soon middle class students won't be able to afford college if tuition keeps on this path.

Tell me which schools give free tuition for people making under a certain amount that have above a 50% acceptance rate. I’ll wait. TIA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Medical school debt forgiveness does exist for doctors who practice in underserved areas for a certain number of years.

There are unfortunately many more med school students than resident spots for the “coveted” subspecialties.

I’m not even sure it’s worth it (if you care a lot about money) to become a pediatrician versus an accountant (4 years of undergrad with 150 credits in there).

But no one who’d choose to be an accountant over being a pediatrician because of money should be any kind of doctor. And, really, the equivalent is usually true of accounting. Successful accountants are mostly people who like accounting and would hate looking in people’s ears.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unfortunately we live in a country where the top priority is maintaining a bloated military establishment. With that absorbing so much if our national resources, higher education does not get funded the way it does in most first world nations.

Really? Salaries of professors have not kept pace with tuition increases. These schools are charging more to subsidize completely free tuition for people making less than a certain amount. Soon middle class students won't be able to afford college if tuition keeps on this path.

Just curious who you think is taking out student loans (average student debt is $30k at most schools) if the “poor” go “for free” (they don’t) and that being able to pay in full without loans makes someone only middle class in 2022.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be a lot of inflation, and the inflation means the value of fixed-rate debt will be a lot lower than it looks today.

NP and wow this is just horrible, stupid advice!

The OP already explained there is a debt to income ratio issue.

Veterinarians in rural areas already have a tough time getting veterinarians or vet techs in semirural areas. And we’re going through a huge wave of inflation that’s about to slash the real value of fixed-rate debt. This is a good time to load up on low-rate fixed-rate debt if you can invest the money in something sensible, like a great education for a great kid.

Regular people might skimp on care for pets, but agribusiness will still need vets to take care of livestock. So, this is a crash-resistant field. This isn’t about a kid borrowing a lot of money for an acting degree.

The OP’s family is worried about future debt load issues but has no apparent problems with debt today.

The daughter might have to stretch to pay for vet school but apparently can do it. Other kids may not have any way to pay for vet school or will refuse to take the gamble. So, the supply of new vets may well shrink.

Vet incomes are likely to rise sharply relative to debt payment levels.

If they don’t, plenty of other young adults will be facing the same issues, and the prices of the things they need will adjust.

And, what alternatives are more certain? Medicine is about the same or worse. Law is clearly worse. For a kid with no interest in business already, an MBA is worse. Data science or actuarial science could a good alternative, but not everyone can pass actuarial exams, and it sounds as if a fair number of data science people wash out.

Maybe being a nurse or a K-12 teacher would have the best risk-adjusted ROI, but not everyone can deal with those career paths.

So, the odds that the daughter could do fine as a vet are high, and the odds that she’d do better in another field are not that great.

It’s even possible that the daughter will get in-state tuition or enough merit aid to keep vet school costs low.

So, the daughter should take out the loans, take a deep breath, pray hard if she believes in prayer and do what she wants to do. If it doesn’t work out, she can figure something out then.

[Anonymous]

This thread makes me very sad. In my home country of Australia, it takes 5-7 yrs to complete vet science studies with tuition costs of US$10k per year. In my alma master, you enter direct from high school and are done after 5 years and US$50,000. Obviously, that’s subsidised by the government. For an international student, it costs US$250k in tuition costs, you also can enter direct from high school and the degree is recognised by the American Vet Medicine Association BUT you also have to complete US certification exams. Maybe this would make sense for someone with a strong sense of vocation? Surely it’s cheaper to do it as a full fee paying overseas student in 5 years than doing it through the US system? Or would you be penalised in some way?

[Anonymous]

I am generally curious what vets make, considering what we all pay for our well cared for animals these days. Cash up front too. Vets don’t need to have staff to handle insurance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am generally curious what vets make, considering what we all pay for our well cared for animals these days. Cash up front too. Vets don’t need to have staff to handle insurance.

I thought some of the issues with vets is that they tend to have lots of equipment/facilities/in house staff for most tests, all that eat into profits. Versus your human PCP outsources that so the actual costs are much lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Best thing we did for our kid - who was dead set on being a lawyer starting in HS - is insisting on state school for undergrad. The ability to graduate debt free from a top 10 law school is life changing. It has been said before and it is true - for professional schools it’s all about grades and scores. Sinking everything you have into the undergraduate basket is insanity - the long game is the way to go.

I wish my dd who wants to go to medical school can understand this logic.
She thinks she is cleaver for saying “I didn’t have to work this hard in high school” to go to state university.

[Anonymous]

* clever

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Medical school debt forgiveness does exist for doctors who practice in underserved areas for a certain number of years.

There are unfortunately many more med school students than resident spots for the “coveted” subspecialties.

My brother did that. Works out in the country where there are very few doctors. Private undergrad private med school.

[Anonymous]

One thing about vets: clients always feel they are paying too much. Maybe they will just … not pay and take the consequences.
On the other hand no one wants to pay their dentist. But they do. They pay up because it’s their teeth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thing about vets: clients always feel they are paying too much. Maybe they will just … not pay and take the consequences.
On the other hand no one wants to pay their dentist. But they do. They pay up because it’s their teeth.

Well, there are a lot of people who postpone getting all kinds of dental work too.
I know a person who goes to another country to do her dental work for much less expense and visit her family there at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am generally curious what vets make, considering what we all pay for our well cared for animals these days. Cash up front too. Vets don’t need to have staff to handle insurance.

my neighbor is a vet. She works at a clinic in the area. She's 46 and went to vet school straight out of undergrad, so been practicing for ~20 years. She told me she broke $100k last year. It is NOT a well-paying profession unless you want to become a partner at a clinic (and she wasn't interested in that). There is probably money in some subspecialties of veterinary medicine (like maybe the people who work for some mega food corp and do work at the farms) or, like I said, if you own a clinic, but the average small animal vet you're bringing pet Fido to at a clinic in suburban Maryland? Yeah, they're not raking it in.