any residents or seniors who were in or went to NYCOM who could let me know how they are taking care of, or plan to take care of, their student loans? It is an extremely expensive school and I want a clear picture of what i would be getting myself in to from someone who is in the middle of residency or about to start that went to the school.
NYCOM Graduates and Loans
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Im not a NYCOM student but it doesn't really matter. You may want to consider this. http://www.finaid.org/loans/publicservice.phtml
As long as you work in a hospital for 10 years after med school (which includes almost every residency/fellowship) and pay monthly payments which are based on your income, the govt will forgive your loan after 10 years. I think its a pretty sweet deal for those taking out a lot of loans and a lot of people are unaware of it.
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there's a decent chance the funding for this program might cease in years to come. though its a pretty decent deal.
I'm not really sure. This website is really much better and the FAQ is pretty good. http://studentaid.ed.gov/PORTALSWebApp/students/english/PSF.jsp#Q6
It seems like you do have to be a full time employee but I am not sure. Some of the language is a bit confusing. Maybe someone else can clarify.
Also to the previous post, where did you hear this program would likely be cancelled? I talked to a financial planner who was very confident that it would not be because the government has some incentive to keep it going. Also, he said you would likely be grandfathered in if you started in the program and it was later cancelled.
Does being in residency counts as working full time in the hospital or does it start after residency? If its during residency than it's a really good deal especially for those residencies that are 5 years or longer.
Your residency/fellowship definitely count.
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Check out the financial aid forum, some pretty interesting threads regarding the 10 year debt forgiveness
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There is a big difference between working (salaried, W2, etc) for a non-profit hospital system (remember, some hospitals are in a for-profit health system so it won't count) and working in a private group contracted through the hospital OR working as independent contractor for the hospital (1099-MISC). Only directly working (salaried, W2) for a non-profit hospital system will count towards the loan forgiveness.
However, keep in mind, you may be penny-wise but pound-foolish. You may have a decent salary, and your loans forgiven in 10 years (or whatever remainder of your years minus residency/fellowship) ... but if you join a group ... you could be making A LOT MORE money (especially if you are on a partner track or become a partner and share in revenue). I have friends who are salaried faculty at an academic center (MD faculty), friends who are salaried hospitalist at a private hospital, and friends who are part of a hospitalist group contract to work at a hospital. The lowest paying friend is the academic hospitalist, followed by salaried employee (hospitalist) followed by private group hospitalist. The difference between an academic hospitalist salary and the private group salary is almost $120k/year. *however, the private group covers multiple hospitals, does ALL admissions for all services (including elective surgical cases), and has a fast turn-around time (with bonuses for decrease length of stay, decrease in-hospital infection rate, etc) ... and the group does their own billing (RVUs for procedures, CPTs, E&M, etc) so it's a "eat what you kill" mentality.
And some groups and hospitals offer loan payback as part of their contract (as a recruitment tool).
So in the end, depending on your contract, you may end up making more money working for a private group than being a salaried employee of a non-profit organization (and hoping that Congress doesn't get rid of the 10 year public service loan forgiveness).
And also - only federal DIRECT loans qualify. So none of the private loans would qualify, and for those who borrow under the FFEL Programs (where your stafford and perkin loans used to come from a bank with a government guarantee) won't qualify either.
However, keep in mind, you may be penny-wise but pound-foolish. You may have a decent salary, and your loans forgiven in 10 years (or whatever remainder of your years minus residency/fellowship) ... but if you join a group ... you could be making A LOT MORE money (especially if you are on a partner track or become a partner and share in revenue). I have friends who are salaried faculty at an academic center (MD faculty), friends who are salaried hospitalist at a private hospital, and friends who are part of a hospitalist group contract to work at a hospital. The lowest paying friend is the academic hospitalist, followed by salaried employee (hospitalist) followed by private group hospitalist. The difference between an academic hospitalist salary and the private group salary is almost $120k/year. *however, the private group covers multiple hospitals, does ALL admissions for all services (including elective surgical cases), and has a fast turn-around time (with bonuses for decrease length of stay, decrease in-hospital infection rate, etc) ... and the group does their own billing (RVUs for procedures, CPTs, E&M, etc) so it's a "eat what you kill" mentality.
And some groups and hospitals offer loan payback as part of their contract (as a recruitment tool).
So in the end, depending on your contract, you may end up making more money working for a private group than being a salaried employee of a non-profit organization (and hoping that Congress doesn't get rid of the 10 year public service loan forgiveness).
And also - only federal DIRECT loans qualify. So none of the private loans would qualify, and for those who borrow under the FFEL Programs (where your stafford and perkin loans used to come from a bank with a government guarantee) won't qualify either.
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I'm pretty sure that stafford loans (don't know about perksin or grad+) are direct loans though, no?
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I hate to say this, but does anyone find this whole process insane. Somehow, it seems like a huge government boondoggle. I'm totally cool with the gov't writing off loans to people who go and work as public school teachers. I'm also cool with writing off loans for physicians who work in very rural, or perhaps urban public hospitals -- i.e. places that most physicians don't want to work. But calling any hospital a "public service occupation" is truly an abuse of the system. Why should physicians, whose salary places them in the top 10% (and probably in the top 5%) of earners get a free ride?
I'm not suggesting take out as much loans as possible and then rely on the govt to bail you out. The OP wanted suggestions on how to pay off large debts and the PSLF is a good option. Of course if your offered 100K or more to join a private practice than if you worked at a hospital, you should take the private practice offer. I think overall though with income based repayment even if you have a lot of loans you should be able to repay without too much financial difficulty. Obviously everyone's financial situation is different. You may also want to talk with a financial advisor who is really knowledgeable about all the different options and strategies rather than just asking random people on SDN. When your dealing with so much money its probably wise do get professional help to make sure your doing the best thing possible.
Just my opinion take it or leave it.
Just my opinion take it or leave it.
I don't think its insane because no other profession I can think of costs so much money to become educated for. Tuition alone is over 40K at a lot of schools (mine included) in addition to our undergrad loans. On top of this, when we get out of school we will only be making (50-60K) for 3-8 yrs while having this mountain of debt on our heads. If the government wants people to continue to go into medicine (especially general practice where the salaries can be less than half that of a specialist) they should continue this program. Either that, or somehow force these schools to charge less tuition. But I doubt that will happen.
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To be honest, the government and public doesn't care about physicians, nor plight of physicians. They do care once senior citizens get affected. Veterinarians also go through the same ordeal, only their median pay is $82k/year (according to US Bureau of Labors Statistics). Lawyers are graduating with huge debt but many with slim prospects. Pharmacists are graduating into saturated markets in many parts of the country. And then you have people who go to private undergraduate schools (with tuitions of $30k-$50k/year) who major in communication, English, Philosophy, Ancient Greek Literature, etc. who can't find a sustainable job that can pay off their college loans.
I think the PSLF was an attempt by Congress to encourage people to go into "public service" instead of joining the private sector (where the $$$ is) and this was the incentives. They want teachers for public schools instead of private tutoring groups (or private schools) ... they want lawyers for government services or charities instead of Big Law. I think it was an oversight on the part of Congress that physicians who are direct employees of non-profit health systems will also benefit from this arrangement. It won't be hard for Congress to fix this .... just add an income limit like they do for student loan deduction, or roth ira contributions, and just like that, the PSLF option for physician is gone.
As of right now, it's too nebulous - and since the earliest that anyone is eligible for PSLF is 2017 - Congress doesn't have to worry about it until then (ie worry about how to fund it). Once it starts affecting budget negotiation, then it might go through changes (if it survives budget cuts). I'm just curious what position the GOP will take on the PSLF and what position the DNC will take on this.
