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The Student Debt Veterinary Nerdbook covers how veterinarians and veterinary students can formulate strategies for climbing and surviving the veritable mountain of debt that tends to accumulate during veterinary school. It also briefly covers details of individual student loans.  

Although presented in many versions and styles before, this federal student loan navigation and repayment strategies book is constantly updated. It has been a true labor of love from Dr. Paul Pion and Dr. Tony Bartels over the last 10 years because of numerous student debt questions and comments as well as Dr. Bartels and his wife’s own struggles of working their way through student debt. As more information has been acquired along the way, both from research as well as questions and comments from students and post-graduate borrowers, newer revisions have been developed. The goal of this updated book is to help borrowers understand all of their options with regard to debt and repayment, and hopefully to avoid mistakes their predecessors have made. 

You can’t manage what you don’t measure. Much of this book will cover understanding individual borrowers’ current loans and debt load. Many people reading this series are either already borrowing to attend veterinary school or are in repayment. These readers have real-world numbers to work with, so this book will show borrowers where to find the information needed to understand their student loan options as well as how to understand any ongoing incurred debt and how it behaves during the loan repayment period. 

This book will also cover the variety of repayment options that are available. The government has created several repayment options, so it can be difficult to understand which ones can be used and which ones should be used. Matching up finances based on an individual’s veterinary career, both current and future objectives, will help understand which repayment plans to use. This can help not only manage student debt, but it can also improve general financial management, allowing for goals such as saving for retirement; building an emergency fund; preparing financially for a family; and enjoying life with less debt and associated stress.