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galaxyx said:
You're kidding right? Do you believe that teachers live in subsidized housing, get food stamps, and are qualified for medicaid? In 43 states the starting salary for a teacher is at or below $35000. (I chose $35,000 because that's close to the delination between the 15% and 25% tax rates in this country.)

You should probably turn off the Fox News Channel.
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It depends on the number of dependants you have and the cost of living of your state. In Louisiana, which is not particularly generous with its social programs, you would need a husband and three children to qualify for food stamps with a household income of $35,000 (though you'd be very, very close with 2 kids). That's a cheap southern state, though, in the socially progressive Massachusetts that teacher would qualify if she had a single child. To get your children medicaid in Louisiana you just need to be under 200% of the federal poverty level, which for the same family of 3 would mean you were under $50,000. Massachussets is more complicated: the teacher's kids would all qualify, but she would need to have three kids (or currently be pregnant) before the teacher herself would qualify for full Medicaid benefits. The qualifications for section 8 subsidized housing vary by parish, and state to state but for the same family of 5 averages about 30-40K/year. Again, that's in the south, if you live in boston a single person is subsidized if they make less than 45K/year, and a family of 5 can make 70K/year and still qualify for subsidized housing!

So yes, if the teacher has a family the teacher would qualify for most of that federal assistance. You're right that the food assistance is less available to a single teacher in Louisiana, but even in Louisiana she would still qualify for free care (the charity hospital based version of Medicaid) and subsidized housing. If she lived in Boston she'd qualify for pretty much every kind of assistance even if she was single except for full Medicaid benifits. The requirements for federal assistance programs are less stringent than you think. That's why so many people use them.
 
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But you seem to be under the belief that every person who may be eligible for subsisdies, takes them. I'd wager this is a false assumption, especially since if every family of 3 that makes under $50,000 lives in section 8 housing, most of the country would be section 8 housing.

You also happened to pick the lowest end of the spectrum of the range I gave.

$75,000 post tax&loans is still significantly more that $60,000 pre tax...

For simplicity, let's go with $75,000 pre tax, 3 dependents. A person earning $75,000 with 3 dependents in my state will have a take home pay of about $55,000 after taxes. That is 27% less than the $75,000 post tax/loans that is being called equal. Sure a person that earns $150,000 might put that extra $20,000 into retirement, but once again living on $55,000 with no retirement savings does not equal living on $55,000 while putting $20,000 into savings.

*If anybody questions my numbers, I used paycheckcity.com's paycheck calculator to estimate taxes.
 
Perrotfish said:
It depends on the number of dependants you have and the cost of living of your state. In Louisiana, which is not particularly generous with its social programs, you would need a husband and three children to qualify for food stamps with a household income of $35,000 (though you'd be very, very close with 2 kids). That's a cheap southern state, though, in the socially progressive Massachusetts that teacher would qualify if she had a single child. To get your children medicaid in Louisiana you just need to be under 200% of the federal poverty level, which for the same family of 3 would mean you were under $50,000. Massachussets is more complicated: the teacher's kids would all qualify, but she would need to have three kids (or currently be pregnant) before the teacher herself would qualify for full Medicaid benefits. The qualifications for section 8 subsidized housing vary by parish, and state to state but for the same family of 5 averages about 30-40K/year. Again, that's in the south, if you live in boston a single person is subsidized if they make less than 45K/year, and a family of 5 can make 70K/year and still qualify for subsidized housing!

So yes, if the teacher has a family the teacher would qualify for most of that federal assistance. You're right that the food assistance is less available to a single teacher in Louisiana, but even in Louisiana she would still qualify for free care (the charity hospital based version of Medicaid) and subsidized housing. If she lived in Boston she'd qualify for pretty much every kind of assistance even if she was single except for full Medicaid benifits. The requirements for federal assistance programs are less stringent than you think. That's why so many people use them.
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All this assumes a single-income family, just wanted to point that out. Most teachers are females, and most females have husbands that mostly have jobs....

If you're a doc making 150k, you too could have a teacher as a wife making 30k....
 
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MaxillofacialMN said:
All this assumes a single-income family, just wanted to point that out. Most teachers are females, and most females have husbands that mostly have jobs....

If you're a doc making 150k, you too could have a teacher as a wife making 30k....
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Most females with children don't have husbands, let alone husbands who have jobs.

If you're a doc making 150K your wife's 30K won't count nearly as much as if she was making 30K on her own because you'll file jointly. Her small income gets taxed into oblivioon because state income taxes for some reason think two people filing together owe more than two people filing seperately.
 
galaxyx said:
But you seem to be under the belief that every person who may be eligible for subsisdies, takes them. I'd wager this is a false assumption, especially since if every family of 3 that makes under $50,000 lives in section 8 housing, most of the country would be section 8 housing.

You also happened to pick the lowest end of the spectrum of the range I gave.

$75,000 post tax&loans is still significantly more that $60,000 pre tax...

For simplicity, let's go with $75,000 pre tax, 3 dependents. A person earning $75,000 with 3 dependents in my state will have a take home pay of about $55,000 after taxes. That is 27% less than the $75,000 post tax/loans that is being called equal. Sure a person that earns $150,000 might put that extra $20,000 into retirement, but once again living on $55,000 with no retirement savings does not equal living on $55,000 while putting $20,000 into savings.

*If anybody questions my numbers, I used paycheckcity.com's paycheck calculator to estimate taxes.
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I feel like you're making my point. You've just shown that a Doctor making 150K really only has 27% more income than someone with half of his supposed salary. And that's without including the cost of his years of lost income.
 
Actually, no, because regardless of the fact that medical school tuition has gotten ridiculous, medical school isn't free, life isn't free. That loan that is being repaid is money that the doctor was living off of while in school, money that the doctor used to pay for his/her education. You can't discount the fact that a person was in school and then neglect their living expenses from that time period. The person making $75,000 isn't paying 15,000/year in loans because they didn't live for 4 years on someone else's dime.

And really my original point is that having a middle class income after taxes, loans, and savings is not equivalent to a middle class income.

The opportunity cost of a medical education is a completely different issue.
 
I would have made the same decision if i were in your shoes....
You'll earn a great education anywhere, and reputation should not be as big of a factor as tuition costs when choosing which school you want to attend.
 
Hey guys, I was wondering how does one get a full ride to medical school? Honestly that would be so amazing to get a full ride!
 
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