Employment, starting salaries, and educational indebtedness of year-2006 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges

Allison J. Shepherd AVMA Communications Division.

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  • • Mean starting salary among all employer types combined (private, public-corporate, and advanced study programs) was $45,546 in 2006.

  • • Mean educational debt among those with debt was $100,805 in 2006, which is an increase of 13.5% over debt in 2005.

In cooperation with 26 of the 27a US colleges of veterinary medicine that had a graduating class, the AVMA conducted an annual survey of veterinary medical graduates in spring 2006. Information on veterinary graduates' employment choices, salaries, and educational indebtedness was collected from 1,773 survey respondents, representing 78.7% of the graduates from the 26 participating veterinary colleges. Not all respondents answered all questions.

Employment of New Graduates

At the time of the survey, 97.2% (1,723) of the respondents indicated that they were actively seeking employment or advanced education in veterinary medicine. Among those seeking employment or advanced education, 91.3% (1,572) had received an employment or advanced education offer. Of those who had received offers, 42.7% had 1 offer, 22.4% had 2 offers, 17.4% had 3 offers, and 17.5% had 4 or more offers.

The distribution of graduating veterinarians who accepted positions by employment type was determined (Table 1). Among those who had received an offer, 89.4% (1,405) had accepted an offer. Nearly two thirds (63.4%) accepted an offer in private practice, 3.0% accepted an offer of public or corporate employment, 32.9% accepted a position in an advanced study program, and 0.5% accepted employment in some other setting. An additional 0.5% did not indicate the type of employment offer they had accepted. Among all graduates who accepted a position, 97.5% expected to work full time (≥ 30 h/wk, ≥ 48 wk/y). Among graduates who accepted private practice employment, 96.8% expected to work full time and 1.1% expected to be self-employed. Among graduates who accepted public or corporate employment, 95.2% expected to work full time. All but 0.9% of graduates who accepted advanced study positions expected to work full time.

Table 1—

Mean starting salaries of year-2006 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges by type of employment.

Employment typeNo. (%) accepting positionsMean starting salary ($)No. reporting starting salaryMean additional compensation ($)No. reporting additional compensation
Private practice
   Large animal exclusive34 (2.4)61,028339,88419
   Large animal predominant41 (2.9)53,397397,72818
   Mixed animal122 (8.7)52,2541217,09170
   Small animal exclusive487 (34.9)57,1174778,976219
   Small animal predominant137 (9.8)56,2411338,27459
   Equine66 (4.7)40,1306412,64129
   All private practice887 (63.4)55,0318678,801414
Public and corporate
   College or university4 (0.3)-3-1
   Federal government5 (0.4)-5-3
   State-local government2 (0.1)-2-0
   Industry-commercial4 (0.3)-3-1
   Uniformed services24 (1.7)60,84219-0
   Not-for-profit3 (0.2)-2-0
   All public and corporate42 (3.0)55,71434-5
Advanced study459 (32.9)25,4964345,31568
Other8 (0.5)-7-4
Unknown*9 (0.5)-3-1
All employment types1,405 (100.0)45,5461,3458,395492

Includes respondents who accepted a position but did not indicate their employment type.

- = Base size too small to report value.

The employment type chosen by most graduates was private practice. Small animal exclusive practice (34.9%) was selected most often, followed by small animal predominant practice (9.8%) and mixed animal practice (8.7%). Equine practice (4.7%), large animal exclusive practice (2.4%), and large animal predominant practice (2.9%) employed the fewest graduates in the private sector.

Of the 3.0% of graduates who accepted a position in the public or corporate setting, 1.7% accepted an offer from the uniformed services, 0.3% from a college or university, 0.4% from the federal government, 0.2% from a not-for-profit organization, and 0.1% from state or local government.

Specialty Board Certification

Among graduates, 33.3% indicated they were planning on obtaining postgraduate education or training in an AVMA-recognized board-certified specialty. The 2 specialties mentioned most often were the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (10.9%) and American College of Veterinary Surgeons (6.8%).

Base Starting Salary

Graduates who accepted an offer of employment in 2006 were asked to indicate the base starting salary they expected to receive from their employment (Table 1; Figure 1). All but 4.3% of those who had accepted a position provided starting salary information. Mean starting salary among all employer types combined (private, public-corporate, and advanced study programs) increased 3.8% in 2006 ($45,546 in 2006; $43,874 in 2005).1 Public-corporate mean starting salary increased 4.1% in 2006 ($55,714 in 2006; $53,526 in 2005). Mean starting salary in an advanced study program increased 1.6% in 2006 ($25,496 in 2006; $25,100 in 2005).

Figure 1—
Figure 1—

Relative frequency distribution of annual starting salaries of year-2006 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges who entered private practice.

Citation: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 229, 7; 10.2460/javma.229.7.1087

Among private practice employment types, mean starting salary increased 7.0%, from $51,416 in 2005 to $55,031 in 2006. Excluding equine practices, mean starting salaries ranged from $52,254 for mixed animal to $61,028 for large animal exclusive practices. Equine practices offered a mean starting salary of $40,130 in 2006. Graduates entering equine practice continued to earn less than their counterparts in other private practice types. Across private practice types, the annual percentage change in mean starting salary ranged from 2.8% for large animal predominant practices to 24.1% for large animal exclusive practices.

The distribution of graduates who accepted a position by base salary category was determined (Table 2). Approximately one fourth (23.2%) of graduates expected to receive a base salary from $55,000 to $62,999. Of all graduates, 11.0% expected to earn < $23,000. Approximately one third (32.0%) of graduates who accepted an advanced study position expected to earn < $23,000.

Table 2—

Distribution of starting salaries of year-2006 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges by type of employment.

Salary range ($)LAE (33)LAP(39)MIX(121)SAE(477)SAP(133)EQU(64)UNI(3)*FED(5)*SLG(2)*IND(3)*USV(19)NFP(2)*OTH(7)*AST(434)Overall(1,345)
<23,000---0.80.86.2-------32.011.0
23,000-26,9993.0--1.1-14.0-------29.710.9
27,000-30,999--1.62.7-14.0-------31.011.8
31,000-34,999-2.5-0.2-6.3-------3.01.4
35,000-38,999-2.60.80.60.81.6-------3.91.8
39,000-42,999-5.14.11.56.74.7-------0.22.2
43,000-46,999-7.75.04.24.59.4--------3.3
47,000-50,99912.125.637.212.619.531.3--------12.5
51,000-54,99912.15.114.110.59.03.1----15.8---7.0
55,000-58,99927.320.522.320.318.03.1----26.3---12.9
59,000-62,9996.118.09.116.422.64.7----36.8---10.3
63,000-66,99915.210.32.513.65.3-----5.3---6.4
67,000-70,9996.12.60.85.94.5---------2.9
71,000-74,9993.0-0.82.10.8--------0.21.2
≥75,00015.1-1.77.57.51.6----15.8---4.4

For each type of employment, values indicate percentage of respondents. Numbers in parentheses indicate number of respondents.

Base size too small to report.

LAE = Large animal exclusive. LAP = Large animal predominant. MIX = Mixed animal. SAE = Small animal exclusive. SAP = Small animal pre-dominant. EQU = Equine. UNI = College or university. FED = Federal government. SLG = State or local government. IND = Industry. USV = Uniformed services. NFP = Not-for-profit. OTH = Other public and corporate. AST = Advanced study. - = No observations in this category

Additional Cash Compensation

Among all new graduates who accepted positions, 53.5% indicated they were able to earn cash compensation in addition to their base salary in their first year of employment. Mean additional cash compensation was $8,395 in 2006 (Table 1). Of those who accepted a position in an advanced study program, 25.9% indicated they would receive additional cash compensation (mean, $5,315).

Approximately two thirds (68.3%) of graduates who accepted private practice employment indicated they were able to earn additional cash compensation in their first year of employment (mean, $8,801). Within private practice, mean additional cash compensation ranged from $7,091 for mixed animal practices to $12,641 for equine practices.

Educational Debt

Graduates were asked to indicate their total educational debt; 88.6% had debt at the time of their graduation from veterinary medical school (Table 3; Figure 2). Mean debt increased 13.5% from 2005 to 2006. Mean educational debt among those with debt was $100,805 in 2006, compared with $88,854 in 2005. Median debt increased 12.3% from 2005 to 2006. Median educational debt among those with debt was $100,000 in 2006, compared with $89,000 in 2005. In comparison, mean debt increased 9.6% from 2004 to 2005 and median debt increased 11.3% for the same time period. In 2004, the mean debt was $81,052 and the median debt was $80,000. In 2006, 45.5% of graduates incurred a debt of $100,000 or more. All but 8.4% of the mean debt of graduating veterinarians was incurred while in veterinary medical college.

Table 3—

Total educational debt of year-2006 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges.

Educational debt ($)Percentage of respondentsCumulative percentage
≥150,00011.611.6
140,000-149,9993.214.8
130,000-139,0004.819.6
120,000-129,0009.128.7
110,000-119,0005.834.5
100,000-109,99911.045.5
   90,000-99,9998.954.4
   80,000-89,99911.365.7
   70,000-79,9995.070.7
   60,000-69,9995.275.9
   50,000-59,9993.479.3
   40,000-49,9993.182.4
   30,000-39,9992.685.0
   20,000-29,9991.386.3
   10,000-19,9991.487.7
<10,0000.988.6
No debt11.4100.0

Total number of respondents = 1,750. Cumulative percentage represents the percentage of total respondents who had debt greater than or equal to the specific range's lower limit (eg, 65.7% of respondents reported debt ≥ $80,000).

Figure 2—
Figure 2—

Mean educational debt of graduates of US veterinary medical colleges, years 2004 to 2006.

Citation: Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association 229, 7; 10.2460/javma.229.7.1087

a.

The University of California did not participate in the survey.

Reference

1.

Shepherd AJ. Employment, starting salaries, and educational indebtedness of year-2005 graduates of US veterinary medical colleges. J Am Vet Med Assoc 2005;227:10841086.

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