"Congratulations, you've finally earned your veterinary degree. Here's a bill for $130,000."

Veterinary school graduates are entering the profession today with educational debt that resembles an average mortgage in the United States. What a graduation gift.

With average educational debt approaching the estimated $136,000 average of a U.S. home mortgage, veterinarians new to the field face significant financial challenges. But this isn't only about veterinarians. It's about animal and public health, as well as food safety.

The sobering debt levels of veterinary graduates are forcing many beginning practitioners to make some tough decisions about where to live and what type of veterinary medicine to practice. Many of them are going where the salaries are higher, and unfortunately, this often means bypassing rural areas of great veterinary need–particularly in food animal veterinary medicine