Financial Tips for Final-Year Students
You’re almost ready to graduate, and we’re excited to welcome you into the veterinary profession! Get ready to start off your career on healthy financial footing by following these three important tips:
- Have a budget. If you’re new to budgeting, consider tracking a few months of your historical spending first so you have an idea where your money has been going. Then move to budgeting, where you’ll set goals for future spending. You can use the AVMA’s personal financial planning tool to put your budget together with veterinary-specific categories to make things easy! And if you’d like to see what your budget could look like after graduation, use the veterinary salary estimator to get an idea of possible salary ranges for different positions.
- Plan your loan repayment strategy. If you’re taking out student loans to help pay for veterinary school, it’s important to be thinking about your repayment strategy so you have a plan. Life gets busy after graduation as you’re preparing for your first job, so start now! First, check your loan types and balances. Your federal loan information is available at StudentAid.gov; private loans must be tracked separately. The VIN Foundation’s Student Debt Center has an In-School Loan Estimator to help you approximate the total amount you’ll borrow for your education. Then, review the available repayment plans and start thinking about the option that best matches your goals. These short video modules featuring student debt expert Paul Garrard provide important information for comparing plans, and you can always seek professional advice if needed.
- File your taxes. Especially if you’re planning to use an income-driven repayment strategy for student debt, filing your taxes for the year you graduate will give you the documentation you need to start off on the right foot.
Find more financial tips in this AVMA Trust blog post on financial planning at the start of your career.