Money for Time?

[jb2]

I don't want to do my military payback time after finishing residency. Is there a way to just pay the military back monetarily instead of paying back my time?

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[usnavdoc]

I don't want to do my military payback time after finishing residency. Is there a way to just pay the military back monetarily instead of paying back my time?

nope

 

[UltimateDO]

I don't want to do my military payback time after finishing residency. Is there a way to just pay the military back monetarily instead of paying back my time?

get a dishonorable discharge

 

[colbgw02]

actually, you can, but you'd have to go to jail.

 

[Galo]

almost impossible. Anything you do, they can do worse to you. If you only have 4 yrs, try to make the best of it.

The Gay card would compromise your integrity, and be difficult to prove. You can write a letter of resignation, but it has to go all the way to the SECAF, and can be stopped all along the way.

Its sad that people have to get to those extremes, when they realize what they've gotten themselves into.

I wish I had had this forum when I was young, poor, and idealistic.

 

[militarymd]

Just do your time....

 

[militarymd]

and don't be an ass while you're in.......

 

[orbitsurgMD]

You could request a transfer to the USPHS. No assurance they will agree, though. They would still require service but not military service. Usually that would mean service at a PHS facility, indian reservation, Bureau of Prisons, Merchant Marine and the like.

As far as a clean out with just some money payback, sorry.

 

[theman1990]

Just do your time and fight the system!! Become a flight surgeon, and pass all pilots.... at least you'll be loved throughout your unit. TOOOOOO many FS seem to think it's there goal in life to ground aviators (for stupid reasons, like sprained ankles or something).

 

[Sarg's kid]

and don't be an ass while you're in.......

As a former dependent, I'll second this one.

 

[Rudy]

As a pre-med student, I suffered from poverty-induced psychosis to the point that I made a horrible mistake: I decided to go to USUHS. Now I am stuck for the 7 year payback plus IRR time. It was a bad professional, financial, and personal decision for my family and I. My life perspective, priorities, and circumstances have changed tremendously since my pre-med days, but unfortunately I am stuck with that decision I naively made with little understanding of what I was getting myself into. There should always be a legitimate way out (even if it involved paying back large sums of money).

Please don't do it just for the money. I assume the original poster has already signed his/her life away, but for those trying to decide whether or not to join, here are 3 simple rules that I wish somebody would have explained to me as a pre-med:

1) If you end up going into a specialty field (rads, derm, gas, surg, ER, path, etc...), don't worry about the debt, you will be able to pay it off quickly.
2) If you end up in primary care, there are increasing opportunities in many states in the U.S. for loan payback in rural/underserved clinics where you can have the bulk of your loans taken care of in 3 or so years. Then you are free.
3) The ONLY people that should really consider mil med are those that have prior service and can retire within a few years

In the long run, you would much rather owe the bank than be irreversibly shackled to the dysfunction of military medicine, so unless rule #3 applies to you, go with the loans and don't look back.

 

[cmeshy]

As a pre-med student, I suffered from poverty-induced psychosis to the point that I made a horrible mistake: I decided to go to USUHS. Now I am stuck for the 7 year payback plus IRR time. It was a bad professional, financial, and personal decision for my family and I. My life perspective, priorities, and circumstances have changed tremendously since my pre-med days, but unfortunately I am stuck with that decision I naively made with little understanding of what I was getting myself into. There should always be a legitimate way out (even if it involved paying back large sums of money).

Please don't do it just for the money. I assume the original poster has already signed his/her life away, but for those trying to decide whether or not to join, here are 3 simple rules that I wish somebody would have explained to me as a pre-med:

1) If you end up going into a specialty field (rads, derm, gas, surg, ER, path, etc...), don't worry about the debt, you will be able to pay it off quickly.
2) If you end up in primary care, there are increasing opportunities in many states in the U.S. for loan payback in rural/underserved clinics where you can have the bulk of your loans taken care of in 3 or so years. Then you are free.
3) The ONLY people that should really consider mil med are those that have prior service and can retire within a few years

In the long run, you would much rather owe the bank than be irreversibly shackled to the dysfunction of military medicine, so unless rule #3 applies to you, go with the loans and don't look back.

Oh how I wish it were true. Students going to private schools can look at easily over 250k for debt. Things have changes since those who have gone through (skyrocketing tuition). WHile I totally agree that debt can be paid off, I due consider 2000K a month for nearly 20 years to be a LARGE investment that will total something in the neighborhood of half a mil before a person is free from that debt.. THAT IS A LOT MONEY. Not sure how people keep talking like it isn't? Is is worth the pain of mil med, not sure, still figuring out that one? But I do know that I dont' take that debt load litely like many think we should.

 

[pgg]

2000K a month for nearly 20 years to be a LARGE investment that will total something in the neighborhood of half a mil before a person if free from that debt.

It's not like there's a prepayment penalty for student loans, so there's no reason to take 20 years to pay them off.

If you're suddenly earning $200K+/year after residency, there's no reason you can't employ a tiny shred of self discipline, live on a mere $100K year for a while, and pay off that loan in 2-3 years.

And as an earlier poster mentioned, if you wind up in a low paying specialty, a few years in the purgatory of an underserved area could pay off your debt if you're motivated enough to seek the opportunity.

 

[helo doc]

I don't want to do my military payback time after finishing residency. Is there a way to just pay the military back monetarily instead of paying back my time?

You are essentially "stuck" for your commitment unless you want to try any of the alternative routes jokingly suggested above (dishonorable dc, homosexual behavior, etc). Bottom line - do your time, maintain your integrity and honor, moonlight on the side if you can, then get out. Then return to forums such as this and keep others from making the same mistakes you did.

 

[cmeshy]

It's not like there's a prepayment penalty for student loans, so there's no reason to take 20 years to pay them off.

If you're suddenly earning $200K+/year after residency, there's no reason you can't employ a tiny shred of self discipline, live on a mere $100K year for a while, and pay off that loan in 2-3 years.

And as an earlier poster mentioned, if you wind up in a low paying specialty, a few years in the purgatory of an underserved area could pay off your debt if you're motivated enough to seek the opportunity.

While I agree with you, and do consider myself to have the discipline that would able myself to pay off the loan as quick as possible, I am finding flaws in your arguement. Or at least from how I understand how it works. Don't want to start a thread on math skills but:

Say I start out at 200k income with 250k debt, and you say that I should just pay off the loan in what 3 years and live off of 100k for awhile. Uh, after taxes that is just about all I have left. And lord knows how the tax brackets will raise again when a liberal pres is put in office in 08. And then you expect me to fork over over 7500 a month for loans. I would be making less than I did as a resident.

The reality of debt is real. The object here is to find out what is worth it to eliminate the load and still be happy. Still trying figure that one out. BUT I do APPRECIATE your advice nonetheless.

 

[usnavdoc]

While I agree with you, and do consider myself to have the discipline that would able myself to pay off the loan as quick as possible, I am finding flaws in your arguement. Or at least from how I understand how it works. Don't want to start a thread on math skills but:

Say I start out at 200k income with 250k debt, and you say that I should just pay off the loan in what 3 years and live off of 100k for awhile. Uh, after taxes that is just about all I have left. And lord knows how the tax brackets will raise again when a liberal pres is put in office in 08. And then you expect me to fork over over 7500 a month for loans. I would be making less than I did as a resident.

The reality of debt is real. The object here is to find out what is worth it to eliminate the load and still be happy. Still trying figure that one out. BUT I do APPRECIATE your advice nonetheless.

What he is saying is that whatever your take home is you could live on less and pay back the loans with the residual, if you choose that option. But dont think that your education is free if you chose the military. They will make you pay it back in so many other ways.

Coming into the military to pay off loans can be done through several methods. I would advise you to explore things other than HPSP, such as FAP and HPLP. With HPSP they own you from the get go.

Dont forget that the military is not the only method. If you do a higher paying specialty the loss of income in the military vs civilian practice would easily pay off your loans in the same amount of time you will spend on AD. For example: Ive spent the last 5 years on AD and will now start as a PGY2 in anesthesiology. If I had gone civilian from med school I would have been practicing for 5 years by the time i finish three years from now, and considering the starting and eventual partner salary of an anesthesiologist I have lost money on this deal.

If you chose a lower paying primary care specialty then their are hospitals and groups that will pay off a substantial amount of your loans once you contract to work for them for a number of years.

Regardless, I also advise you to look up threads on finances and loan payback in the general residency section. You will find that paying back your loans early is not always the smartest way to "invest" your money.