Fast Facts
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SCHAUMBURG, ILL. — Educational indebtedness for 2007 veterinary medical graduates increased nearly 100 percent since 1997, while starting
salaries rose 46.5 percent during the same 10-year period.
That ratio, considered bleak by some, stems from analysis rooted in American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) graduate
surveys, published annually in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Information for the 2007 report, issued in December, was collected from 1,892 respondents representing 75.5 percent of 2007
graduates of U.S. veterinary schools and colleges.
The survey shows that, although more graduates than ever accepted positions in advanced-study programs (36.8 percent) — an
area of work known for low pay and blamed for driving down overall earnings — the most popular jobs continue be in private
practice (59.4 percent), specifically in small-animal-exclusive sectors (32.1 percent). Yet even without counting advanced-study programs, mean starting salaries reached just $54,984 in 2007, up 5.4 percent from
2006, while mean educational indebtedness increased 6.1 percent between 2006 and 2007 to total $106,959 last year.
Long-term, that's not a sustainable trend, says Richard Vedder, PhD, senior economist at the U.S. Joint Economic Committee
and Ohio University professor. He warns that if the cost-earnings ratio continues to snowball, students simply won't be able
to afford a career in veterinary medicine.
"A generation ago, students would have balked at the cost of earning a veterinary medical degree compared to projected earnings,"
says Vedder, who sat on the U.S. Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education in 2006.
"Nowadays, indebtedness is forcing new graduates to live a lower-middle-class lifestyle when veterinarians have traditionally
enjoyed an upper-middle-class living."
First-hand account
Like many of her colleagues, Dr. Andrea Honigmann lives paycheck to paycheck. Graduating from Iowa State University (ISU)
in 2006 nearly $300,000 in debt, she describes monthly loan payments totaling roughly $1,670 as "crippling," especially considering
she's scheduled to make the payments until age 57.
"I can't buy a home, and owning a practice isn't in the cards for me since it will be a long time before I ever have any collateral,"
says Honigmann, who considers her earnings as a small-animal practice associate in Smoketown, Pa., above average.
"I knew I would be saddled with loans, but I don't think I realized how this would affect me once I got married. My debt will
restrict how many children I can have."
While Honigmann's loan obligations, mostly accrued while attending ISU as an out-of-state student, represents the high end
of the AVMA survey's indebtedness spectrum, she's not alone. According to association research, 89.6 percent of respondents
had debt at the time of their graduation from veterinary medical school.
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