State (public, land-grant) veterinary schools offer tuition discounts to residents of their state or other states where they have special contract arrangements. Two private schools (University of Pennsylvania and Tufts University) also offer discounts to a certain number of residents of their states (Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, respectively). There can be significant cost differences between resident and non-resident seats.

Resident or non-resident status for veterinary school is determined by your state of residence at the time of application. Some programs allow you to switch from non-resident to resident status after the first year of the program to receive a discounted tuition rate. Other schools do not allow residency status changes once you have started the program. Most private veterinary schools have no tuition discount for residents vs. non-residents. Contact the Office of Admissions for each school to learn more.

These programs are split between two schools. The initial pre-clinical coursework is presented at a school that does not have a complete veterinary medicine program, with the remainder of the degree program being provided by the “partner” veterinary school. This type of program is only available at schools that have defined these “partnering” relationships. These may be referred to as a 1+3 or 2+2 program.

The VIN Foundation Cost of Education Toolkit is the only forward projecting cost comparison tool, calculating the likely total costs for a veterinary student starting school this cycle, and finishing 3-4 years from now. Other cost comparison tools use data from recent graduates of each veterinary school program who started their programs up to 4 years earlier. Costs can (and do) change while you’re enrolled. The VIN Foundation Cost of Education Toolkit uses the most recent cost data provided by each school and shows you estimated increases based on the last 4 years of tuition and fees changes per school (where available).

Veterinary school costs may increase over time. The VIN Foundation Cost of Education Toolkit displays current cost information with and without estimated increases. Increases for each veterinary school are based on historical tuition changes over the last four years. The estimated increase based on this data for each veterinary school is displayed on the COE Toolkit.

80-90% of veterinary students use U.S. federal student loans to pay for their education. Most student loans start accruing interest the moment they are received. The interest accrued during school is based on the fixed interest rate for each loan received during an academic year. Those interest rates are fixed for the lifetime of each federal student loan received. The interest rates for subsequent academic years may have different interest rates. Here is a chart of past and current federal student loan interest rates. The accrued interest calculations in the VIN Foundation Cost of Education Toolkit assume you are using federal student loans to cover the full Cost of Attendance. Veterinary students are not required to accept the full amount borrowed in student loans each year. 

The total cost of your veterinary school education may include cost of tuition and fees, cost of living, accrued interest, and other expenses. The cost of tuition and fees are fixed by the school; there isn’t much you can do about that. When considering Cost of Living, consider things like housing expenses, groceries, school supplies, travel, health insurance, etc. Some schools consider this in their Cost of Living estimates, others do not. If you believe you can control living expenses, keeping them lower than the school estimates, reduce the Cost of Attendance accordingly. If you have alternative sources of funds other than borrowing, reduce the accrued interest cost when calculating your total Cost of Attendance plus accrued interest. VIN Foundation recommends veterinary students borrow appropriately based on their expenses, a concept called Borrow Better.

The Cost of Education Toolkit shows costs related to tuition, mandatory fees, and living expenses. There may be additional costs depending on the program. Review the specific Cost of Attendance for each veterinary school you are interested in attending on the school’s website. Find a list of veterinary school websites here.