[Student question]: Optometry school debt - Is this an average calculation?

[swms]

Hello all,

The career I have decided to pursue and fully immerse myself in is Optometry. I need to first pursue undergrad.

So now, I am debating right now what to do. I want to go to college, live in a major city, and work part time 20hrs/week for 3-4 years to gain clinical experience. But I've calculated my debt will be about $30K for undergrad (with housing factored in). Next, I want to go to Optometry school which would set me back about $200K in loan debt (that seems like a fair, possibly a little low, est. for 2025-2028 based on my research).

Based on my calculations, the max I could save is $30K pre-OD school but that would mean living with my parents for 4 years which is probably unrealistic.

So I would end up with a rough estimate of $230k in debt as a fresh out of school OD...

Is this normal? Does it bug you (recent grads)? I guess I just have to accept that is the norm, unless somebody can tell me otherwise.

I appreciate any thoughts. Thanks!

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[Catlover14]

I start optometry school in the fall, so keep that in mind when taking my opinion into consideration.

1- Why do you want to work for 3-4 years first? Is this during undergraduate that you would be working? If so, then it's a good idea if you can manage it and keep your GPA up. If not, don't bother doing it if financially possible, just go straight into undergrad. 3 years experience is way overkill if it's simply for the fact of "gaining experience" and would be completely unnecessary.

2- Yes that is roughly the average debt most students graduate with. It's something that you will really have to consider. I would try my hardest to get into the cheapest optometry school possible and that will literally shave years off of your debt repayment.

If you are set on living in a big city once you are an optometrist, you are going to take a big pay cut and most likely be forced to work part time. I have heard 70-80k salary MAX in bigger cities. However, I clearly can't speak from experience with this.

If you are set on living in a big city, I probably would reconsider taking out 200-250k loans for a 70k salary. You will hardly be able to pay off interest.

If you are willing to work more rural, the debt will definitely be easier to pay off.

If you are looking for more optometrists to answer this question, perhaps consider posting on the optometry reddit

 

[swms]

I start optometry school in the fall, so keep that in mind when taking my opinion into consideration.

1- Why do you want to work for 3-4 years first? Is this during undergraduate that you would be working? If so, then it's a good idea if you can manage it and keep your GPA up. If not, don't bother doing it if financially possible, just go straight into undergrad. 3 years experience is way overkill if it's simply for the fact of "gaining experience" and would be completely unnecessary.

2- Yes that is roughly the average debt most students graduate with. It's something that you will really have to consider. I would try my hardest to get into the cheapest optometry school possible and that will literally shave years off of your debt repayment.

If you are set on living in a big city once you are an optometrist, you are going to take a big pay cut and most likely be forced to work part time. I have heard 70-80k salary MAX in bigger cities. However, I clearly can't speak from experience with this.

If you are set on living in a big city, I probably would reconsider taking out 200-250k loans for a 70k salary. You will hardly be able to pay off interest.

If you are willing to work more rural, the debt will definitely be easier to pay off.

If you are looking for more optometrists to answer this question, perhaps consider posting on the optometry reddit

Thanks for your input. Glad to hear you are starting OD school soon. To respond to your comments:

1) The idea I had in mind was to work just one or two days a week while an undergrad student. To gain clinical experience and have some extra spending cash. Nothing that would overload my studies. I have freelanced for several ODs and enjoy the work.

2) Because it will take about 8 years to become licensed, I'm thinking of how I can save what is reasonable. Debt is inevitable post-undergrad. I even thought of taking all pre-req courses (mostly at a cheap CC) and skipping the Bachelor's degree and going into OD school in 3 yrs. I know that might totally look less professional but I've seen testimonies of students who did that and the OD school completely accepted them (without any degree, just pre-reqs and OAT). That's like the absolute minimal effort method, haha. (Disclaimer: I don't fully comprehend how people would spend 3 years in college and just bail on earning their Bachelor's to get in to grad school a year faster. I guess that's the same logic with people who opt-out of post-grad residency - they reason, that's just taking away from what they would earn in their first year in clinic.)

3) Los Angeles, CA is where I would like to practice and even attend all college prior to if it was feasible. But as mentioned, my debt calculation would be about $230K to do that so I am heavily considering it. It looks like most ODs who work there can expect to earn $60/hr or about $115K per year at 40/hrs per week (source: current indeed.com job listings)

4) I've done the math, and it looks like staying in-state for undergrad is not massively cheaper, but still fairly significant savings of about $30K in 4 years.

If you have any tips based on what I wrote I would surely appreciate your thoughts. I'm all speculative right now, this is all hypothetical, but I'm sure there's something I can glean from this post from more experienced & informed users.

 

[Catlover14]

Thanks for your input. Glad to hear you are starting OD school soon. To respond to your comments:

1) The idea I had in mind was to work just one or two days a week while an undergrad student. To gain clinical experience and have some extra spending cash. Nothing that would overload my studies. I have freelanced for several ODs and enjoy the work.

2) Because it will take about 8 years to become licensed, I'm thinking of how I can save what is reasonable. Debt is inevitable post-undergrad. I even thought of taking all pre-req courses (mostly at a cheap CC) and skipping the Bachelor's degree and going into OD school in 3 yrs. I know that might totally look less professional but I've seen testimonies of students who did that and the OD school completely accepted them (without any degree, just pre-reqs and OAT). That's like the absolute minimal effort method, haha. (Disclaimer: I don't fully comprehend how people would spend 3 years in college and just bail on earning their Bachelor's to get in to grad school a year faster. I guess that's the same logic with people who opt-out of post-grad residency - they reason, that's just taking away from what they would earn in their first year in clinic.)

3) Los Angeles, CA is where I would like to practice and even attend all college prior to if it was feasible. But as mentioned, my debt calculation would be about $230K to do that so I am heavily considering it. It looks like most ODs who work there can expect to earn $60/hr or about $115K per year at 40/hrs per week (source: current indeed.com job listings)

4) I've done the math, and it looks like staying in-state for undergrad is not massively cheaper, but still fairly significant savings of about $30K in 4 years.

If you have any tips based on what I wrote I would surely appreciate your thoughts. I'm all speculative right now, this is all hypothetical, but I'm sure there's something I can glean from this post from more experienced & informed users.

1) that's a great idea! I worked one day a week all throughout undergrad and do not regret it. Having a tiny bit extra of spending money was nice.

2) it won't look less professional at all if you skip getting a bachelors. Nobody really ends up using their undergrad degree at all once they are an optometrist. especially if it's just in bio/chem. It's a good idea, just make sure that the schools you want to go to don't require a degree because some do. I have friends in other professions like pharmacy who "skipped" their fourth year and never got an undergrad degree. I really don't think you will feel like you are missing out. But that's completely up to you. There are pros and cons to that.

3) I'm not saying indeed is necessary "wrong", but it's definitely misleading sometimes. For instance, it probably doesn't take into consideration people that are part time. However, most websites usually include residents who are making very little. Maybe just contact a few clinics near you and ask what they think the local average is?

If you are considering/open to other careers and you are not set on optometry, I would suggest medical school, nursing, podiatry, NP/PA school (however some are saying np/pa are getting saturated), or maybe dental school. You can start undergrad and then shadow in these fields while you are in undergrad to see if you are interested

 

[London22]

$230k was about average for my class. Our average salary after graduation was $130k. Those who opened up their own practice made significantly more. It hasn't been difficult to pay it off so far. So no, I don't think that's too high, especially when you consider the fact that you will be entering an interesting career that is needed in all 50 states.

 

[UncertainOpto]

$230k was about average for my class. Our average salary after graduation was $130k. Those who opened up their own practice made significantly more. It hasn't been difficult to pay it off so far. So no, I don't think that's too high, especially when you consider the fact that you will be entering an interesting career that is needed in all 50 states.

May I ask which school you went to? Or the general location?