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Quick answer: For years, selling to a corporate consolidator was treated as the default exit for a veterinary practice. That's changing. As EBITDA multiples have come down and owners have grown wary of multi-year earn-outs, selling to an associate — a partnership buy-in — has become an equally strong, and often better, option. It keeps the owner in control, can leave them in a comparable or better financial position over time, and gives associates a real path to ownership. Th

Short answer: No. Texas Senate Bill 1318 does not apply to veterinarians. SB 1318 changed the rules for non-compete agreements covering physicians, dentists, nurses, and physician assistants. Veterinarians are not included. If you are a veterinarian who landed here while researching this law, it does not change your non-compete, and below we explain exactly why, and what law does govern your agreement. We hear from veterinarians about SB 1318 often. The good news is that the

Recently the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Hines v. Pardue, leaving in place a Fifth Circuit ruling that fundamentally changes how state veterinary boards can regulate online consultations. The holding, in plain English: a state cannot discipline a veterinarian for the content of online veterinary advice without running afoul of the First Amendment. The decision is binding in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, and it is highly persuasive everywhere else. For practic

TL;DR — Key Takeaways Specialty negotiation is different. For internal medicine and ECC (emergency & critical care) specialists, the schedule, equipment clauses, vacation, and compensation are all elevated, and it matters a lot whether you're negotiating with a recruiter or with the actual practice. Specialists need equipment written into the contract. Verbal promises "yes, we'll buy the phaco machine" disappear. If you can't do your job without a specific tool, put a deadlin

Why these “what if” questions are worth asking If you’re a veterinary student staring at a balance that looks like a mortgage, it’s normal for your brain to jump to worst‑case scenarios. That anxiety usually isn’t about the monthly payment, it’s about uncertainty. The reassuring part: for federal student loans, many of these scenarios are not mysteries. The rules are written down in federal regulations, and there are specific discharge pathways for death, total and permanent

Student loans have a weird superpower: they let you make expensive choices without ever feeling like you made a choice. Most of the big money mistakes we see in early repayment happen because a new grad accepts a “helpful” default; automatic deferment, easy forbearance, a refinance offer that looks clean, or delays planning because “it’s 20 years away.” In 2026, that’s even riskier than it used to be. The SAVE plan is still blocked by a federal court injunction, repayment rul

The Part About Student Loans No One Says Out Loud There’s this quiet moment most veterinary students hit, usually sometime near graduation, where everything starts to feel very real. Not in a dramatic way. In a numbers-on-a-screen kind of way. You log in, you see your balance, and there’s this underlying question sitting there: How is this actually supposed to work? And if you’ve ever felt like the answer to that question is weirdly unclear, you’re not wrong. Because the trut

The first year after graduation isn’t when you “choose a repayment strategy.” It’s when your loans quietly choose one for you. Federal student loans come with default settings; grace period, automatic deferments, and “helpful” pauses like forbearance, that are not automatically aligned with how veterinary careers actually unfold (internships, residencies, delayed income growth, and high debt-to-income ratios). If you do nothing, you’re still making a choice, just the default

The first year after graduation is when most loan mistakes happen, not because new vets are careless, but because the system makes decisions by default. If you don’t actively choose settings, your loans will. And the “factory settings” aren’t designed around veterinary careers (internships, residencies, delayed income growth, or long forgiveness timelines). The grace period isn’t “free time” if forgiveness is part of your plan Most federal student loans have a six-month grace

When a veterinary employer tells you something is "company policy," do you accept it and move on? Most veterinarians do. And most of the time, they're leaving thousands of dollars, and years of unfair contract terms, on the table. In Episode 12 of the Office Hours Podcast, Lance, Steve and Madison pull back the curtain on one of the most powerful advantages Roasa Law Group has when negotiating on behalf of veterinarians: we've seen thousands of employment agreements from the

Soon after graduation (and sometimes even before), you’ll start getting messages that sound almost identical: “Combine your loans.” “Make one payment.” “Lower your rate.” The problem is that two completely different actions get marketed with the same casual language. One is mostly about convenience inside the federal system. The other is a permanent exit from it. Here’s the simplest way to remember the difference: Federal consolidation = you’re reorganizing federal loans wit

If your loans are federal, student debt strategy is not the same thing as “debt strategy” in general. Federal repayment comes with built-in safety nets, income-based options, and (sometimes) forgiveness—so “I’ll throw every extra dollar at the loan and be done in 5 years” can be emotionally satisfying but financially suboptimal for many new veterinarians. In 2026, this matters even more because the system is actively shifting: SAVE is under a federal court injunction, and the

Are your veterinary consent forms up to date? Learn what consent forms should include, common mistakes practices make, and how proper documentation helps reduce legal risk and protect your practice.

The cheapest debt you’ll ever “pay off” is the debt you never borrow If you’re still in school, you’re in the only phase of the student loan journey where you can make a move that lowers your total repayment cost without needing a higher salary, a bigger budget, or a perfect repayment plan later: borrow less up front. It’s the part you control right now; before interest, fees, and repayment decisions pile on. This matters even more for the Class of 2026 and beyond because the

Most veterinary students know their total loan balance.Some know their interest rates.Very few know their debt-to-income ratio. But this single number can tell you more about your financial future than the raw loan balance ever could. It gives you a quick, realistic sense of whether your debt will feel manageable, or overwhelming, once you start earning a veterinarian’s salary. And the best part? It only takes a few seconds to figure out. What Is a Debt-to-Income Ratio? Your

If you’ve ever opened your loan dashboard and immediately closed it again, you’re not alone. For a lot of veterinary students, the number is the scariest part. $180,000. $240,000. $300,000. It feels less like a student loan and more like a mortgage, except you don’t even have the house. So the question most students are really asking is this: Does that number automatically mean I’m going to struggle financially? Short answer: not necessarily. The Number You See Isn’t the Numb

If you’re a veterinary student, you’ve probably heard some version of this sentence more times than you can count: “Vet school debt is really bad.” That’s usually where the conversation ends. What rarely follows is a clear explanation of what the debt actually is, where it comes from, how it works, and what decisions really matter while you’re still in school. The result? A lot of anxiety, a lot of assumptions, and a lot of half-true advice passed around between students, fam

If you spend more than five minutes around veterinary students, student loans will come up. Sometimes quietly. Sometimes loudly. Sometimes at 2 a.m. when you’re staring at your balance instead of sleeping. Debt is a real issue in veterinary medicine, but it’s also not a uniform one. Some students graduate owing nothing. Others finish school with loan balances that feel impossible to picture, let alone repay. Most fall somewhere in the middle. That range matters, because there

Vet school asks a lot of you. Your time. Your energy. Your emotions. Your brain space. And while you’re learning how to care for patients, it’s easy to forget that you are also a living, breathing system that needs maintenance. Stress isn’t a personal failure, it’s a predictable response to sustained pressure. The goal isn’t to eliminate stress (impossible), but to manage it before it manages you. Let’s talk about what that actually looks like. First Things First: You Don’t

As a veterinary contract attorney, my team and I spent 2025 on the front lines of associate employment negotiations. Over the course of the year, we reviewed close to 1,000 veterinary employment contracts for both general practitioners and specialists across the United States. The takeaway from 2025 is clear: the veterinary job market remains strong, and negotiation is still very much alive. Employers are willing to negotiate, but how that negotiation works, especially with