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The sites I've browsed in my desired area have scores between 18-21, so I'm assuming that's high. Thanks smalltownpsych for the tips!
PhD/PsyD Health Service Psychologist for NHSC Loan Repayment Eligibility?
- Thread starter Terri Dactyl
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Let's crunch some numbers:
First of all, there are very few positions that pay 100k for a psychologist, esp a early career psychologist unless you are neuropsychologist or working at a fee for service private practice. There are few others also i.e., prison systems, working with individuals with developmental disabilities and contractual work with the federal government (which I am lucky to be in one and make 95k). Thou, I would say that it is definitely possible to make to 100k in private within in a year or two of building a practice, it does mean non traditional hours-- several evenings and maybe a Saturdays every week.
Someone already mentioned the loan repayment amount is untaxed and you get it in lump sum at the start of the commitment. Getting the lump sum at the beginning of the work commitment is a savings in terms of interests.
For example if someone had a loan of $150k with a interest of rate of 5% and a 10 year repayment plan, their monthly payment would be $1590.
Let's say person A makes 60k, their net pay in the state of VA would be $45552 (http://www.paycheckcity.com/)
Let's say person B makes 100k, their net pay in the state of va would be $72410
If person A does the loan repayment, and uses the lump sum and pays the regular monthly payment of $1590, then after two years, the person's loan balance would be $69356
If person B does not do the loan repayment, but makes the extra payments to equal to 50K in the two years (which would mean, making additional payment of $2083, which would mean a monthly student loan payment of $3673!), the person's loan balance would be $71,922.62.
Very few of us would be disciplined enough to make that large of a extra payment monthly.
But you ask, why even make the extra payments, pay the minimum and use the proportion of what you would use for extra payment towards investment (stock market on the long term on average gives you 8% rate of return) or towards down payment of house.
There's a lots of reasons to be debt free as soon as possible. Having a huge debt, even a 'good' debt as student loan, impacts your ability to do other things, such as buying a house. Which is what has led me to decided to do a loan repayment program. I am pursuing it through the Indian Health Service. The pay is great! Equal to private sector, the benefits are much better than private sector, and most importantly for me, I feel like I am giving back. Working there for three years, is going to wipe clean my $125k of debt.
First of all, there are very few positions that pay 100k for a psychologist, esp a early career psychologist unless you are neuropsychologist or working at a fee for service private practice. There are few others also i.e., prison systems, working with individuals with developmental disabilities and contractual work with the federal government (which I am lucky to be in one and make 95k). Thou, I would say that it is definitely possible to make to 100k in private within in a year or two of building a practice, it does mean non traditional hours-- several evenings and maybe a Saturdays every week.
Someone already mentioned the loan repayment amount is untaxed and you get it in lump sum at the start of the commitment. Getting the lump sum at the beginning of the work commitment is a savings in terms of interests.
For example if someone had a loan of $150k with a interest of rate of 5% and a 10 year repayment plan, their monthly payment would be $1590.
Let's say person A makes 60k, their net pay in the state of VA would be $45552 (http://www.paycheckcity.com/)
Let's say person B makes 100k, their net pay in the state of va would be $72410
If person A does the loan repayment, and uses the lump sum and pays the regular monthly payment of $1590, then after two years, the person's loan balance would be $69356
If person B does not do the loan repayment, but makes the extra payments to equal to 50K in the two years (which would mean, making additional payment of $2083, which would mean a monthly student loan payment of $3673!), the person's loan balance would be $71,922.62.
Very few of us would be disciplined enough to make that large of a extra payment monthly.
But you ask, why even make the extra payments, pay the minimum and use the proportion of what you would use for extra payment towards investment (stock market on the long term on average gives you 8% rate of return) or towards down payment of house.
There's a lots of reasons to be debt free as soon as possible. Having a huge debt, even a 'good' debt as student loan, impacts your ability to do other things, such as buying a house. Which is what has led me to decided to do a loan repayment program. I am pursuing it through the Indian Health Service. The pay is great! Equal to private sector, the benefits are much better than private sector, and most importantly for me, I feel like I am giving back. Working there for three years, is going to wipe clean my $125k of debt.
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The locale is not so good. That's the trade-off.
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2015 application period isn't open till January. If you sign up here they will email you to remind you. http://www.nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/index.html
The whole process is confusing and frustrating and if you make a mistake along the way then you won't be eligible for another year. Good luck with the process, if you have any questions about it you can ask me since I did make it through successfully so far. I applied in April of 2014 and was approved for service in June, got the check in August. My first six month verification will be coming up in a few days so have to make sure that my site and I both have the exact same info regarding days off and work days and schedule and who knows what else before sending it in or something really bad will happen!
The whole process is confusing and frustrating and if you make a mistake along the way then you won't be eligible for another year. Good luck with the process, if you have any questions about it you can ask me since I did make it through successfully so far. I applied in April of 2014 and was approved for service in June, got the check in August. My first six month verification will be coming up in a few days so have to make sure that my site and I both have the exact same info regarding days off and work days and schedule and who knows what else before sending it in or something really bad will happen!
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Are there any loan repayment programs for more research-oriented folks? Just curious. Thanks!
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I believe the NIH offers loan repayment for folks (including psychologists) in primarily/solely research positions.
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I think it was in March last year. I was able to get all the paperwork done in about 3-4 hours on a Saturday. This was after many briefer sessions of reading through all of the materials. I obsessed about the process too because it is complex and some of the instructions are confusing or contradictory. I am waiting to get notification from them of my first six month verification. I thought it was late since Dec 18th was my date, but they told me they won't send it till after the first of the next month. So maybe today or Monday I'll get it, if not, then back to trying to contact them again.
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For those of you who received $50,000 deposited into your checking account this week, do you pay your loans online, by phone, or mail?
At Navient that don't give advice. I guess it only makes sense to pay off the higher interest loans first, but with all the recent news about reducing the interest rates across the board to 2.3% interest and other political/legislative reports in the news it may not make much difference.
When you pay online it only allows for $10,000 payment at a time so you have to make five payments and interest, fees, and taxes are paid first before going towards principal. Regarding my income taxes it may help if paid towards the loans in 2015.
For those who have already completed NHSC service, how did you submit the $50,000 to your loan provider? I reviewed all of the rules and it seems that since I just began my two-year of services in July that I have to make payment before the end of 2015 or before January 1, 2016.
At Navient that don't give advice. I guess it only makes sense to pay off the higher interest loans first, but with all the recent news about reducing the interest rates across the board to 2.3% interest and other political/legislative reports in the news it may not make much difference.
When you pay online it only allows for $10,000 payment at a time so you have to make five payments and interest, fees, and taxes are paid first before going towards principal. Regarding my income taxes it may help if paid towards the loans in 2015.
For those who have already completed NHSC service, how did you submit the $50,000 to your loan provider? I reviewed all of the rules and it seems that since I just began my two-year of services in July that I have to make payment before the end of 2015 or before January 1, 2016.
Last edited:
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I called them up and paid over the phone direct from my bank account. I applied the funds to the accounts with the highest rates first. I wouldn't bank on your higher rate accounts getting lower interest based on political talk.
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When I called Navient yesterday, I have two loans at 8.5% interest for $39,000 and $7000 and I would have around $4000 left. She was unsure of how to do the last payment and I was not sure. She talked with her supervisor but she could not provide any advice on how to make payments. Since I was uncertain I decided to wait until I had more information. I will call back and tell them I want to pay the highest interest rates first on those two loans and then the remaining amount on the other highest interest rate. My loan repayment is in forbearance until Feb 2016 so she thought I could wait until then. However, the HRSA website indicated the full amount must be paid on my loans before the end of the year.
