So yesterday I threw up a chart showing the number receiving the mean private practice salary, as so carefully touted by the AVMA, plotted against the number of each graduating vet school class that had debt.  

Got me to thinking... what's the total amount made compared to the total amount borrowed each year?  How far underwater is each year's crop of graduates?  So I added it up...

First, all numbers came out of JAVMA senior surveys on employment and indebtedness, were compiled by me, and adjusted to 2012$.  

Here's the total amount made by all the graduates in each of the various job categories JAVMA asks about on the annual senior survey:

The total amount made by each year's graduating class has been declining sharply since 2008, largely because of what's happening in private practice.  While equine was never really big enough to budge the needle, and mixed and food animal have held steady, fewer grads get a job in private practice with each passing year, and those who do get paid less each year.

Now, here's the total amount made each year ( # taking each type of job, multiplied by the average salary reported for that type of job) plotted against the total amount borrowed by that year's class.

No wonder I find myself arranging a suicide prevention webinar...