A family friend told me not to worry too much about tuition & loans when deciding on a medical school because hospitals will often pay off a physician's loans as a hiring incentive. He is basing this off of one doctor that he knew (I don't know the specialty or circumstances). I am guessing that this can depend a lot on specialty and location, but was curious just how common this actually is. Is this something that is becoming less popular? More popular? I didn't think it was very common, but just thought I would ask.
Loan coverage / signing bonus, does this happen?
- Thread starter PlumbLine
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Not good advice. I was offered loan repayment from exactly one of the seven places where I interviewed. It ended up being the employer I went with, but it was "only" $1,000 per month, and I'm paying taxes on it. It's basically part of my salary that I believe the hospital can use as a tax write-off.
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Your friend is almost flat wrong. Many employers will offer to put money towards repayment, but they just deduct that amount from the salary you would otherwise be offered.
Unless you plan to work in an underserved area and get federal public assistance (also often comes with a lower salary), then the military is your main option at loan forgiveness. Oh and the military will also always pay less.
There is always a catch with loan forgiveness.
Unless you plan to work in an underserved area and get federal public assistance (also often comes with a lower salary), then the military is your main option at loan forgiveness. Oh and the military will also always pay less.
There is always a catch with loan forgiveness.
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It depends on supply in demand. I get postcards in the mail every week or so offering me huge loan repayment if I want to be a doc in some super rural area. When I was actually in the midst of my job search, I was looking in an area that doesn't struggle to bring in people in my specialty, so loan repayment wasn't part of the package. One practice offered a signing bonus. I would not plan on this at all when figuring out your loans. You never know what you'll end up wanting to do, and where your other life commitments will take you, so take out the smallest amount of loans you can and live simply.
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I interviewed at 14 places.
2 offered me 150K loan forgiveness if I worked minimum of 3 years. One was North Dakota, and one was South Dakota.
I said no to both of them.
Your friend is mostly wrong.
However, I was offered signing bonus everywhere I intereviewed. Not enough to cover my loan.
If I had to do it over again, I would have gone to cheapest medical school I could find, instead of doing Ivy League all the way.
2 offered me 150K loan forgiveness if I worked minimum of 3 years. One was North Dakota, and one was South Dakota.
I said no to both of them.
Your friend is mostly wrong.
However, I was offered signing bonus everywhere I intereviewed. Not enough to cover my loan.
If I had to do it over again, I would have gone to cheapest medical school I could find, instead of doing Ivy League all the way.
