Student Loan Debt?

[Hay Dude]

Yep. However, a lot of it depends on what kind of vet medicine you specialize in. Fortunately for both of them, there's a big shortage of veterinarians in private practice and industry right now. Job prospects are good.

I have Univ. of Pennsylvania’s “New Bolton Center” right near me.
Amazing place. Hundreds of acres of sprawling campus farmland. Maybe 100 students there. They do surgical procedures on lions, giraffes, elephants, race horses, etc.

 

[bunchgrass]

That's the difference between a boring job where you HAVE to go to work but can't wait for the workday to end and and exciting job where you WANT to go to work and often stay extra unpaid hours because you want to.
I was lucky enough to find a position where my initial college training got me in the door but the job (and I) evolved to be far different.

Yep -- I taught and still live in a small logging community. Most loggers don't want their kids to work in the woods but also don't get college because they think it's supposed to be a jobs program. The thing college does is puts a kid from a small community in touch with people, ideas and career potentials that are never going to come to their town looking for them.

Our fore fathers worked hard to make it affordable to the average person because those people, our parents and grandparents, saw education as a way up. When Reagan became POTUS, he started cutting federal support to higher ed. The same higher ed that had helped move this country to the top post WW2. When the public pushed back, the solution was to have the govt subsidize loans and run them through private industry (banks). Later, the conservatives decided that parents should be paying for their kids' higher ed, not students trying to work to pay for it. That allowed for costs to be well beyond what any normal 18-22 yr old could pay for even with a full time job.

 

[bunchgrass]

I have Univ. of Pennsylvania’s “New Bolton Center” right near me.
Amazing place. Hundreds of acres of sprawling campus farmland. Maybe 100 students there. They do surgical procedures on lions, giraffes, elephants, race horses, etc.

How many wildlife or race horse vet jobs are there in the US or the world for that matter?

Most vet schools have a hard time getting students to take on mixed practice or large animal specialties. Why? Livestock, horses excluded, are usually put down when the cost starts to add up. Not so with pets and horses. Small animal is what most go into

Absolutely not, it’s part institution and mostly liberal worthless profs…

You have no idea what you're talking about. It's like someone saying "most tractor owners are white supremacists".

 

[two_bit_score]

One thing everyone forgets is when one goes to college, they lose 4 YEARS of earnings! That could be 100-250K

I worked a full time job during most of my college years. But YES, that lost time in the workforce is a major factor that many overlook.

 

[tractortroof]

Does your SIL have a really good job? Because being a vet isn't all that lucrative.

Around here veterinarians make $500k-$1 million. I guess you are talking about farmer related vets perhaps?

I know of a heart surgeon who didn’t make anywhere near what his daughter (a vet) made.

 

[bunchgrass]

I worked a full time job during most of my college years. But YES, that lost time in the workforce is a major factor that many overlook.

What job can you (or I) do as an 18 yr old straight out of HS that's going to pay me as much as the increase in my earning potential is after going to college? I worked part time through college and paid my way through because it was cheap enough to be able to do that. As a science major, there was no way to work ft and get through, due to labs etc. Today --- no way to do that.

 

[bunchgrass]

Around here veterinarians make $500k-$1 million. I guess you are talking about farmer related vets perhaps?

I know of a heart surgeon who didn’t make anywhere near what his daughter (a vet) made.

HAHA. 500k? Come on. I worked at a university and dealt with prevet students, vet students and grad students who were already vets. The only people making big money were: old vets who had a long established practice or had bought up a string of clinics, some who specialized (just like MDs) or, those who went to work for pharma companies.

 

[CalG]

If you’ve ever met many faculty, cookie cutter instruction is far from the outcome. They are all talented individuals with their own perspectives and experiences with the curriculum they teach. Boards of regents just approve the general programs of how many hours of what subjects are required for degrees and funding/infrastructure issues. I sit on an advisory board for a forestry program. We look at gaps in the subjects offered, not how they are taught.

Exact-tly

Government intervention is not a "value added" proposition.

 

[two_bit_score]

What job can you (or I) do as an 18 yr old straight out of HS that's going to pay me as much as the increase in my earning potential is after going to college? I worked part time through college and paid my way through because it was cheap enough to be able to do that. As a science major, there was no way to work ft and get through, due to labs etc. Today --- no way to do that.

I'll give you a better example than myself because I did not go to law school. I have a friend who was put through college and law school by a law firm whose name partner saw the potential in this guy. They paid him to work for them during summers and as he could while atending school. They knew he was very smart and a very hard worker. They put him to work as soon as he got out of school. His name is now the first name of the firm. All in a small Texas town.

 

[CalG]

Remember, Educational certificates are the only Legal form of discrimination we have!

 

[lilranch2001]

How many wildlife or race horse vet jobs are there in the US or the world for that matter?

Most vet schools have a hard time getting students to take on mixed practice or large animal specialties. Why? Livestock, horses excluded, are usually put down when the cost starts to add up. Not so with pets and horses. Small animal is what most go into

You have no idea what you're talking about. It's like someone saying "most tractor owners are white supremacists".

Well sit we’ll have to just agree to disagree there

 

[CalG]

Perhaps there is too much emphasis on the money potential
as result of "higher education".

I see a lot of unhappy "educated" people.
There are times I am one....
and life has been very generous to me and my family.

 

[jyoutz]

Exact-tly

Government intervention is not a "value added" proposition.

If we didn’t have state colleges and universities, most people couldn’t afford to attend college at all. Private schools are outrageously expensive.

 

[lilranch2001]

Yawwwnnnnn

 

[Hay Dude]

How many wildlife or race horse vet jobs are there in the US or the world for that matter?

Most vet schools have a hard time getting students to take on mixed practice or large animal specialties. Why? Livestock, horses excluded, are usually put down when the cost starts to add up. Not so with pets and horses. Small animal is what most go into

Yeah, well maybe that’s the way it is in N. Idaho (beautiful place), but in MY area, there‘s horses everywhere. Lots of race horses, too.
There was also the King Ranch. 14,000 acres of cattle grazing, to they had and continue to have lots of “patients”.
So we have a lot of demand for Veterinarians.

 

[Hay Dude]

HAHA. 500k? Come on. I worked at a university and dealt with prevet students, vet students and grad students who were already vets. The only people making big money were: old vets who had a long established practice or had bought up a string of clinics, some who specialized (just like MDs) or, those who went to work for pharma companies.

Oh absolutely. Our vet was the richest man in our town that had an everyday job.
There were wealthier people who inherited millions, but our best vet was probably worth 10 million + and that was in the 80’s.
What you fail to understand is vets get paid in cash a lot, so they can play games with declaring income and taxes.

 

[jyoutz]

Yeah, well maybe that’s the way it is in N. Idaho (beautiful place), but in MY area, there‘s horses everywhere. Lots of race horses, too.
There was also the King Ranch. 14,000 acres of cattle grazing, to they had and continue to have lots of “patients”.
So we have a lot of demand for Veterinarians.

Large animal veterinarians are in high demand because most vets specialize in small animals. Unfortunately, they typically cater to a poorer clientele than the small animal vets. Race horses are an exception. We have lots of very large ranches ranging up to 500,000 acres, but most of those outfits do their own cowboy veterinarian work and only use veterinarians for very rare and serious cases like roping horses or other high value animals.

 

[Hay Dude]

Large animal veterinarians are in high demand because most vets specialize in small animals. Unfortunately, they typically cater to a poorer clientele than the small animal vets. Race horses are an exception. We have lots of very large ranches ranging up to 500,000 acres, but most of those outfits do their own cowboy veterinarian work and only use veterinarians for very rare and serious cases like roping horses or other high value animals.

Like I said to butchgrass, it depends on where you live.
I live in an equine rich area. We have 2 billionaires in my area. They love their horses. I don’t say that to brag, I say that to help you understand that vets in MY area can be extremely wealthy.

 

[jyoutz]

Like I said to butchgrass, it depends on where you live.
I live in an equine rich area. We have 2 billionaires in my area. They love their horses. I don’t say that to brag, I say that to help you understand that vets in MY area can be extremely wealthy.

No doubt that is true. And we have areas where race horses are raised where those vets do very well. But a lot of large animal vets work out of their trucks and are a dying breed (but still in high demand). Pet horses and 4H animals just don’t pay like those pampered foo foo dogs. We need more large animal vets.

 

[Hay Dude]

New Bolton sends a students to help with our vets on ours.