$200k+ student debt - how bad is it?

[canadian18]

I realize that there have been several threads on this subject. Some say it's not too bad with a modest lifestyle during residency.. others say it's living hell with 10+ years of monthly payments.

Can anyone who has recently been through this or is currently in this situation give me an idea of what it's really like?

I'm probably going be at least $200k in debt by the time I finish med school. Reality check and advice on what I can start doing now to manage this would be much appreciated.

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[eHombre]

A couple of useful publications below... The numbers on the second page of the first link will give you an idea of the kind of monthly payments, loan periods, and total repayment amounts you'd be looking at under various repayment methods.

https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data/debtfactcard.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/download/48764/data/debtmanager.pdf

 

[AWK87DOC]

A couple of useful publications below... The numbers on the second page of the first link will give you an idea of the kind of monthly payments, loan periods, and total repayment amounts you'd be looking at under various repayment methods.

https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data/debtfactcard.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/download/48764/data/debtmanager.pdf

Whoa! The repayment total is hella scaryyyy!

 

[canadian18]

A couple of useful publications below... The numbers on the second page of the first link will give you an idea of the kind of monthly payments, loan periods, and total repayment amounts you'd be looking at under various repayment methods.

https://www.aamc.org/download/152968/data/debtfactcard.pdf
https://www.aamc.org/download/48764/data/debtmanager.pdf

thank you for those awesome pdf's, the second link has TONS of great information

and the first link is just... scary

 

[eHombre]

thank you for those awesome pdf's, the second link has TONS of great information

and the first link is just... scary

FYI, though.. No more subsidized Stafford loans for graduate students, thanks to the debt ceiling "crisis", so the actual 2012 numbers are going to be a bit worse than what's quoted in that AAMC guide.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/01/news/economy/debt_ceiling_students/index.htm