How to pay for living expenses in vet school?

[libster06]

where exactly does the loan money go that is designated for living expenses? do you just get a check? does it go right into your checking account? also, is it given out every month or is it at the beginning of each semester?

My dad cosigned my private loan for me and doles out money from it for bills as each month comes. I am 99% sure they gave him a direct deposit into his checking account. I am not sure however if they do it per semester or per year. Either way, I am almost certain it goes to his direct deposit account number that they have (he is the co-signer, so he gets the money I guess).

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[l2vet]

so maybe the answer to this question will become obvious to me once i'm actually in the process, but for now, i cannot wrap my head around how this works. when i had loans for undergrad, the amount just automatically went right into my student account. great. that part i understand. BUT where exactly does the loan money go that is designated for living expenses? do you just get a check? does it go right into your checking account? also, is it given out every month or is it at the beginning of each semester? i just can't picture how this works! thanks!

As far as when your money is disbursed, that probably varies a little by school, but as far as I've heard (I was very lucky to not have undergraduate loans), it's often distributed at the beginning of every semester or quarter, whatever your school is on.

 

[Jakesmom]

Ohio State disburses your remaining loan money 5 days before the start of the quarter.

 

[lailanni]

My issue with this whole "living on loans" thing is that, after much research, the best situation for me would be to buy a house rather than rent. However, mortgage companies don't count the money coming in from loans as "income" and thus, without a job (which I don't even know if I could handle with school yet) or a spouse who's bringin' in the bacon, I am left to find someone to co-sign for me. And of course, the one person who is most likely to agree to do this is my dad...who filed bankruptcy last year and would be a terrible co-signer! GRRRR!!

Over here, it's very popular for students to live in mobile homes. They're much cheaper than a real house. You have to pay lot rent, but it's cheaper than any apartment and you get some money back when you finally sell it.

 

[lailanni]

Some additional things to budget for:

Health Insurance - the place I go requires that you have some health insurance when you enter your clinical rotations.

Parking - you'll need a parking pass for school probably. It's a few hundred dollars here.

Microscope fee - probably different everywhere, but I had to pay $100/year when we used them.

Boards - the NAVLE isn't cheap. Plus if you want to buy the review material that can add up too. It's a few years away, but they're not going to give you any more money in 4th year than usual, so think ahead.

Rabies shots - also several hundred dollars.

Travel - some people want to spend summers at some cool clinic in another state, or neuter dogs in a 3rd world country. That gets spendy and for that reason I haven't gone on any of those trips.

Plus you won't actually get the full amount of your loan. Those bastards charge a loan handling fee or some crap. It's not huge, but it's always enough to annoy me.

 

[welelu]

This is a really helpful thread. I am lucky to come out with no undergraduate debt, but the S/O has 20k in undergraduate debt, so when he graduates next year his job will be paying off THAT, and I will still be taking out the max loan amount.

I live very frugally, I would say the majority of my expenses are really the beagle, since she is constantly sick and on lots of medications and prescription diets. I am hoping that the free or reduced food costs will help out with those things, because other than that I am very accustomed to living bare-bones. (there's no other way to graduate in biochemistry in 3 years while working P/T at 8$/hr! )

I like seeing everyone's hints on living and other things, my biggest thing is coupons coupons coupons. afullcup.com is invaluable for getting sunday coupons without having to pay for the paper!

 

[nuevaburra]

I lived on probably $10k / year in wisconsin as an undergraduate and had a pretty good lifestyle. I'm a foodie, and beer ain't cheap. Now I have a car, 4 cats and 2 horses I live comfortably on $22k.

Last I checked I had an extra kidney lying around... should be worth something on the black market, right? Whatever it takes to keep my zoo fed!

But seriously, you can find private loans for extra living expenses, right? Because I'd like have $22k / year for living expenses, and working PT could probably only pull in 4k.

 

[AngSchmange]

Sallie Mae is big right now...really low interest and don't ahve to pay till you graduate (I think?) so that may be something worth looking into. Vet schools usually will tell you in the financial aid presentation during the interview day, and they know what the students are using at the moment and what's popular.

I was shocked during my undergrad to find that people buy books from the bookstore. I know this might be different in Grad school because we'll probably need the books ASAP, but I ALWAYS buy books online, even if they don't come for a week or 2. I always emailed teachers for books so I could order them a week or 2 before the quarter anyways. I use www.dealoz.com and I highly recommend it. It searches all websites selling books including the major sellers and smaller venders. I've always had good luck. Speaking of which, my spring quarter at UG starts a week from monday so I better get on buying books!

Gotta concentrate on something before the fact that I'll be in $250k in debt sinks in...

 

[hunterjumper12]

Out of curiosity, do any current vet students have their horse(s) at vet school with them? If so, do you board them, or do you live on a property that has a place for horses?

 

[CurrySpice]

I'm not into vet school yet... but this loan system is terrifying! If you take out +$150 grand for vet school, you're going to be paying for it during the vast majority of your career. Wouldn't it be worth it to skimp for 4 years to limit the debt load as much as possible? I couldn't imagine trying to support a horse (had one in high school, adorable but wicked expensive) and/or a bunch of pets. It's just not logical! Haha, I do know that animals aren't a logical choice, and I'll probably end up with a cat or two during vet school. But seriously, I'm hoping for a tiny bedroom in a house with several roomies for cheap rent because I'll be spending most of my time studying at vet school, and the rest of the time working outside. My food tastes are relatively cheap, and will be more so when I'm actually living off of loans. Loans accumulate interest!

 

[OnceBitten]

Out of curiosity, do any current vet students have their horse(s) at vet school with them? If so, do you board them, or do you live on a property that has a place for horses?

I don't own horses, but several of my friends do. Two of them board at a place in town (the same barn, oddly enough) and two of them keep their horses on their property. You can find both options pretty easily here, it seems.

 

[lareinesoleil]

Out of curiosity, do any current vet students have their horse(s) at vet school with them? If so, do you board them, or do you live on a property that has a place for horses?

I don't own horses, but while looking around on Craigslist for places near Pullman there was at least 1 that allowed horses.