How do students pay for dental school?

[psychoboylol123]

As you know, dental schools' tuition and fees are too expensive to afford compared with other professions. How do you think you are going to pay for it? (Federal Student Loan, Private Student Loan, HPSP, any scholarship programs if you don't mind sharing)
Sharing is caring.
Please help !!! God bless you.

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[cmcner]

Income Based Repayment (IBR) plus Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)

 

[cresophene]

Marry into money .

 

[newyorkblork]

Marry into money .

This. Find a spouse who works hard and has career ambitions. If you have one, and s/he doesn't have a lot of money, start looking to trade up

Nah, it's expensive as hell, but after I graduate [usual caveat: I am a lowly First-Year], I plan to do the research and go where the money is. If that means taking a government benefits job out in Hicktown Alabama for a few years, I'll do it. Very likely not gonna be one of the ones who tries to stick it out and play the odds in NYC.

Basically... I'm trusting that hard, smart, honest work will pay the loans. Seemed to work pretty okay for my dad

 

[zriceman]

...with our souls

 

[psychoboylol123]

Marry into money .

What about you are an freaking weird guy?

Don't want to marry, rather step on your own, then how do you handle loans seriously?

 

[Kahr]

Been there, done that, in regard to student loans; no thanks.

Military HPSP all the way.

 

[DudeDDS]

...with our souls

quoted for truth

 

[Mackchops]

The same way you're going to pay for a house, a car, and a new practice -- LOANS!!!

 

[youknowthedrill]

This. Find a spouse who works hard and has career ambitions. If you have one, and s/he doesn't have a lot of money, start looking to trade up

Nah, it's expensive as hell, but after I graduate [usual caveat: I am a lowly First-Year], I plan to do the research and go where the money is. If that means taking a government benefits job out in Hicktown Alabama for a few years, I'll do it. Very likely not gonna be one of the ones who tries to stick it out and play the odds in NYC.

Basically... I'm trusting that hard, smart, honest work will pay the loans. Seemed to work pretty okay for my dad

Please stay in NYC...We don't want you in Hicktown, Alabama.

 

[newyorkblork]

+

 

[druidhill]

Military HPSP is great, but you are not going to in the chip until you break away.

 

[Andre3k]

Most well off people have debt. As a dentist you will more than likely be in a position to repay your loans and still live a comfortable life style. You will be able to pay off that debt and still be able to put more money in your pocket than the majority of people in america. School is an investment.

 

[jamsoncheng]

Dental school is an investment. Many students have to take out a loan at the bank. Working while studying is very difficult because dental school is a very intense program. Most dental students pay off their loan after several years practicing as a dentist.

 

[apcks]

...with our souls

what he said. .....

 

[Dr.Toothenstein]

what he said. .....

Protip, check the date of the thread/replies before posting a three word reply and resurrecting a 4 year old thread.

 

[gsquared]

Protip, check the date of the thread/replies before posting a three word reply and resurrecting a 4 year old thread.

honestly, this was the question I was asking earlier this morning when I was collecting some financial paperwork. This necro thread was one of the answers to one of the many questions I was asking...

 

[sbdento]

A lot of loans. Hopefully this refinance plan will help:

http://www.ada.org/en/publications/...offer-with-drb?nav=news#.VfGF0PJi5Wc.facebook

 

[jahnavi bhatt]

Can students loans be settled within 5yrs???

 

[Dr.Toothenstein]

Can students loans be settled within 5yrs???

Almost no chance. Depends how much you make and how large of a loan you owe. I heard of someone paying it off about 5 years but they were making 270K a year (very uncommon for new graduates) and living very frugally (driving an old car). Living in a rural area. Look around for calculators to see how much a month you would have to pay to get it done in 5 years

 

[jahnavi bhatt]

I have a 250k debt can it be cleared in 5yrs with a graduate dentist starting salary? ????

 

[Incis0r]

I have a 250k debt can it be cleared in 5yrs with a graduate dentist starting salary? ????

Yes, it can.

 

[allantois]

I have a 250k debt can it be cleared in 5yrs with a graduate dentist starting salary? ????

Yes if you pay 5k a month (and you should still have more money left than medical residents).
If you pay 3k, it will take 10 years but your interest will only be 50k more.

It's really a problem when loans approach 400k or so.

 

[Incis0r]

Here's the thing though. My views have changed on this.

Earlier I used to be in the pay everything off immediately camp.
Now, after months of reflection, crunching the numbers, and analysis, I am of the opinion that you should maximize cash flow after dental school and invest that in building even more cash flow, and THEN knock out the debt.

Ex: You earn $8K/month after taxes. You can pay $5K/month for loans for 5 years. Or you can pay $2K/month for 15-20 years.

But if you take that extra $3K/month and invest it in a down payment for a dental practice or other investments that produce cash flow (such as a side business, dividend-paying funds), then you can rain cash down on your debt and wipe it out before the estimated 15-20 years, while having more economic power and stability due to the increased cash flow!

 

[allantois]

Here's the thing though. My views have changed on this.

Earlier I used to be in the pay everything off immediately camp.
Now, after months of reflection, crunching the numbers, and analysis, I am of the opinion that you should maximize cash flow after dental school and invest that in building even more cash flow, and THEN knock out the debt.

Ex: You earn $8K/month after taxes. You can pay $5K/month for loans for 5 years. Or you can pay $2K/month for 15-20 years.

But if you take that extra $3K/month and invest it in a down payment for a dental practice or other investments that produce cash flow (such as a side business, dividend-paying funds), then you can rain cash down on your debt and wipe it out before the estimated 15-20 years, while having more economic power and stability due to the increased cash flow!

Whitecoat investor would disagree with this approach. What is the return on dividend-paying funds? Someone graduating NYU, would need to pay 3k a month just to prevent their loan from increasing any further. You might as well count on IBR or PAYE if you are ok with a loan repayment of 20-25 years.

 

[Incis0r]

Whitecoat investor would disagree with this approach. What is the return on dividend-paying funds? Someone graduating NYU, would need to pay 3k a month just to prevent their loan from increasing any further. You might as well count on IBR or PAYE if you are ok with a loan repayment of 20-25 years.

Good job, Allantois. You bring up a very important point. But there's a difference between the amount of loan someone from NYU has (400K+) and someone from a state school like TX has (150-200K). So in the second example, the 2K/month will chop away at the principal while leaving you with enough to invest in growing your cash flow.

It's all a cost-benefit analysis. There is no one-size fits all approach. I should have specified that my approach is one I'd use for <250K of debt.

Also, if your loan rate is low (suppose you use SoFi and get it down from 7% to 4%), then it makes even more sense to spread the loan out to 30 years since inflation helps you in the end because loan payment amounts are fixed while the value of that money falls. Then, you take the thousands of $$ that you are no longer giving to the banks, and use them to buy lots of funds, put a down payment on your practice, build your retirement plan, etc.

To answer your question, my fund grows on average 8% a year, including the crash in the previous decade. Average inflation is 3%, so my before-tax growth (I don't have an IRA or 401(k) since i'm not employed) is 5%. This is before any dividends, which I reinvest.