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OK, I know this is a long post, but if you’re considering pursuing an unfunded PsyD, you may want to read this because detailed first-person accounts of PsyD debt are rare. I know that my case is not representative, but I want to talk about money because very few of my peers/colleagues do/did (many admitted to me that they had no idea how much they owed and would go months and years without looking at debt balances) and it always bothered me (and, I think disadvantages students and advantages schools). Same story with faculty at my school--the impact of debt was downplayed every time I discussed it with professors (many graduated decades ago under very different circumstances and the new ones are probably doing IBR). I also have a certain amount of privilege and have had some luck that made it less likely I'd bury my head in the sand, be ashamed, or demur when the topic of money came up. So here goes.
For anyone not familiar or just new to this, a PsyD is a professional doctorate in the U.S. that, in most instances, lets one become licensed as a psychologist. If you stay on track in most programs, it takes 5 years to finish (4 years of courses and practica + a yearlong internship), which is one year fewer than it usually takes to get a PhD in psychology (if everything goes right). Licensure, following the accrual of more supervised hours, is usually another year or so away. Some PsyD programs are funded, but the vast majority are unfunded, meaning the entire cost falls to the student. Unfunded PsyD programs attract a lot of criticism as instances of credential creep and educational inflation, for diluting the prestige of professional psychology, as well as for being predatory (lower acceptance standards than funded programs, being cash cows for schools, especially for-profit free standing professional schools, and for only existing because of unsustainable educational debt, among other things).
In 2018, I graduated from a university-based, unfunded PsyD program located in a major metropolitan area. I graduated with 165k in debt ($140k principal + $25k in accrued interest)--all federal direct unsubsidized loans with an average interest rate of 5.75% (my balances grow by approx. $20/day). Many of my peers owe tens of thousands more--both due to undergrad debt and having taken out PLUS loans for living expenses. I started paying off the debt "early" in October of 2018 and the loans went into repayment starting February of 2019. In the last year I've paid off $37k (and now owe $133k). I never took out any PLUS loans (as I lived at home and lived off of savings--significant savings: I spent about $70k that I had saved up in the years before returning to school). That $70k mostly got spent on food, dating, gas, car insurance, car note, gifts, and the odd trip or luxury (iPhone, tech, etc.). When I matched to a local internship and knew that I could continue to live at home for free, I financed a car purchase (approx. $12k) to replace my car that wasn't going to pass its smog test. By this time I only had about $10k in savings left and I consider it my emergency fund and thus don’t touch it.
I didn't work for wages until my final year in the program--my internship year when I made $25k (all of my take-home pay that year got spent). In addition to school, years 2-4 involved practica work, where one usually works for free (though a few sites do pay practicum students), which can involve lots of driving and even parking costs--I had a year-long practicum downtown that required me to pay for parking twice a week (approx. $8/day). Is it obvious I’m still bitter about that?
My first post-doc job paid $50k/year (a position at the same site I did my internship). I also received bonuses amounting to approx. $3k. Significantly, I also started a side hustle working for a group practice under supervision on the weekends (earning $80/hour). I was able to make such a significant dent in my debt because I worked 6 days/week, paid little in rent, lived off of my side hustle pay, had a partner that subsidized eating out/dating, and sent my entire paycheck from my full-time job to my loan servicer.
My story is exceptional. I lived with family rent free (except for the last year when I've started to contribute $300/month) for the last 6 years. I started school with $80k in savings. I matched for internship at an APA-accredited site within driving distance of my home (though a long commute) and I stayed there post-graduation to accrue my hours needed for licensure. I landed an unlicensed position under supervision with a group practice in an affluent area seeing all cash-pay clients (grossing $22k over 11 months, but as an independent contractor, so, taxes). I got in at this group practice because I’m savvy and lucky. After accruing my hours, I’ve just quit my agency job to focus on my group practice work and passing my licensing exams (if I hadn’t been hustling, commuting for 2.5-3 hours/day to my agency job, and doing personal treatment planning research for my private practice work, I likely would have already taken the licensing exam).
While in school I had thought about doing PSLF for 10 years and doing private practice on the side. But I've mostly come to realize that many of the PSLF-eligible jobs I could actually get wouldn't be jobs that I'd want for 10 years. Guess the starting salary for licensed psychologists at the community mental health site where I interned and was later employed. $55,620/year. For perspective, I'm guessing that the average debt of newly-graduated unlicensed PsyDs at my agency is north of $200k. Next I considered am income-based repayment plan--an option that most of my peers take: pay an income-based amount for 20/25 years, then have the rest forgiven (but don't forget the “tax bomb”). For a great take on these options check out: Psychologists Are Rising in Popularity...and So Are PsyD Student Loans | Student Loan Planner. Things I didn’t seriously look at but would recommend others research would be loan forgiveness with National Health Service Corps and/or similar state programs.
But carrying debt for so long (and watching it balloon) isn't an option for me. So I decided to let my loans go on the standard repayment plan, which came out to $1,680/month for me--every month for 10 years. I've been able to pay about $2900/month (my take-home agency salary) toward my loans with plans to continue paying $3,000/month for the time being (at this rate I would have it paid off in 4 years). Of course, I hope to pay more if the money is there, but we'll see. I'm hoping to finally move out from under my parents' roof next year and in with a partner (living in a major metro area means that it costs about $2k-$3k/month for a one-bedroom apartment). I wouldn't move out unless I knew I could split costs with a partner. Other impacts of debt: there will be no saving for a down payment on a house anytime soon and children are also being put off till the debt is paid down. Oh, I also had a find a partner that didn't balk when I said "by the way, I'll have $150k+ in debt that's going to affect both of our lives for years to come!" And my retirement planning? Uh, marry well, play catch-up later, pray I can work till I’m 70? Considering the savings I spent, the income I gave up for 6+ years, the retirement contributions I never made (and lost gains), and the debt and interest I’ll pay…well that’s some math I won’t be doing, but it’s safe to say it easily adds up to over a half a million dollars. Perhaps I’ll check-in in another 6 years and let you all know how it’s going.
Some final thoughts for now: I originally thought that I would owe $110k with interest taking me into $120ks (and I tried to be a clear-eyed realist). But costs were more (and grew faster) than I anticipated and I didn’t live as frugally as I could have. Unknowns about internship and having to potentially move away for a year or two had me holding on to my savings and using more loan money for tuition. I hoped that I would match to a local internship and thankfully I did, but three quarters of my classmates had to move (often across the country) for internship. Luckily my internship site hired me on as an employee after internship, helping me get my final hours for licensure quickly and paying me a decent salary with benefits. Other peers are still cobbling together hours in far flung locales and/or at group practice(s), often with no benefits. Doing one’s internship in, say, Ohio and then moving to, say, Florida to join a group practice for post-doc hours was not at all unusual, in my cohort at least. Speaking of my cohort, I graduated in 5 years (of the 29 students in my first-year cohort, 16 graduated with me—5 dropped after the first year, 2 transferred to other programs, and 6 took an extra year). And a piece of advice: don’t take an extra year to do yet another practicum to be “more competitive” for internship (a couple of peers got burned doing this). Imagine taking an extra year, working for free somewhere, and then not benefiting come match day. You’ll miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
I tried (way back in 2013) to go into this clear-headed, but I also knew I didn’t know what I was getting into. I know a lot more now, and I hope some of this was useful to you. I’m happy to answer any questions others may have.
For anyone not familiar or just new to this, a PsyD is a professional doctorate in the U.S. that, in most instances, lets one become licensed as a psychologist. If you stay on track in most programs, it takes 5 years to finish (4 years of courses and practica + a yearlong internship), which is one year fewer than it usually takes to get a PhD in psychology (if everything goes right). Licensure, following the accrual of more supervised hours, is usually another year or so away. Some PsyD programs are funded, but the vast majority are unfunded, meaning the entire cost falls to the student. Unfunded PsyD programs attract a lot of criticism as instances of credential creep and educational inflation, for diluting the prestige of professional psychology, as well as for being predatory (lower acceptance standards than funded programs, being cash cows for schools, especially for-profit free standing professional schools, and for only existing because of unsustainable educational debt, among other things).
In 2018, I graduated from a university-based, unfunded PsyD program located in a major metropolitan area. I graduated with 165k in debt ($140k principal + $25k in accrued interest)--all federal direct unsubsidized loans with an average interest rate of 5.75% (my balances grow by approx. $20/day). Many of my peers owe tens of thousands more--both due to undergrad debt and having taken out PLUS loans for living expenses. I started paying off the debt "early" in October of 2018 and the loans went into repayment starting February of 2019. In the last year I've paid off $37k (and now owe $133k). I never took out any PLUS loans (as I lived at home and lived off of savings--significant savings: I spent about $70k that I had saved up in the years before returning to school). That $70k mostly got spent on food, dating, gas, car insurance, car note, gifts, and the odd trip or luxury (iPhone, tech, etc.). When I matched to a local internship and knew that I could continue to live at home for free, I financed a car purchase (approx. $12k) to replace my car that wasn't going to pass its smog test. By this time I only had about $10k in savings left and I consider it my emergency fund and thus don’t touch it.
I didn't work for wages until my final year in the program--my internship year when I made $25k (all of my take-home pay that year got spent). In addition to school, years 2-4 involved practica work, where one usually works for free (though a few sites do pay practicum students), which can involve lots of driving and even parking costs--I had a year-long practicum downtown that required me to pay for parking twice a week (approx. $8/day). Is it obvious I’m still bitter about that?
My first post-doc job paid $50k/year (a position at the same site I did my internship). I also received bonuses amounting to approx. $3k. Significantly, I also started a side hustle working for a group practice under supervision on the weekends (earning $80/hour). I was able to make such a significant dent in my debt because I worked 6 days/week, paid little in rent, lived off of my side hustle pay, had a partner that subsidized eating out/dating, and sent my entire paycheck from my full-time job to my loan servicer.
My story is exceptional. I lived with family rent free (except for the last year when I've started to contribute $300/month) for the last 6 years. I started school with $80k in savings. I matched for internship at an APA-accredited site within driving distance of my home (though a long commute) and I stayed there post-graduation to accrue my hours needed for licensure. I landed an unlicensed position under supervision with a group practice in an affluent area seeing all cash-pay clients (grossing $22k over 11 months, but as an independent contractor, so, taxes). I got in at this group practice because I’m savvy and lucky. After accruing my hours, I’ve just quit my agency job to focus on my group practice work and passing my licensing exams (if I hadn’t been hustling, commuting for 2.5-3 hours/day to my agency job, and doing personal treatment planning research for my private practice work, I likely would have already taken the licensing exam).
While in school I had thought about doing PSLF for 10 years and doing private practice on the side. But I've mostly come to realize that many of the PSLF-eligible jobs I could actually get wouldn't be jobs that I'd want for 10 years. Guess the starting salary for licensed psychologists at the community mental health site where I interned and was later employed. $55,620/year. For perspective, I'm guessing that the average debt of newly-graduated unlicensed PsyDs at my agency is north of $200k. Next I considered am income-based repayment plan--an option that most of my peers take: pay an income-based amount for 20/25 years, then have the rest forgiven (but don't forget the “tax bomb”). For a great take on these options check out: Psychologists Are Rising in Popularity...and So Are PsyD Student Loans | Student Loan Planner. Things I didn’t seriously look at but would recommend others research would be loan forgiveness with National Health Service Corps and/or similar state programs.
But carrying debt for so long (and watching it balloon) isn't an option for me. So I decided to let my loans go on the standard repayment plan, which came out to $1,680/month for me--every month for 10 years. I've been able to pay about $2900/month (my take-home agency salary) toward my loans with plans to continue paying $3,000/month for the time being (at this rate I would have it paid off in 4 years). Of course, I hope to pay more if the money is there, but we'll see. I'm hoping to finally move out from under my parents' roof next year and in with a partner (living in a major metro area means that it costs about $2k-$3k/month for a one-bedroom apartment). I wouldn't move out unless I knew I could split costs with a partner. Other impacts of debt: there will be no saving for a down payment on a house anytime soon and children are also being put off till the debt is paid down. Oh, I also had a find a partner that didn't balk when I said "by the way, I'll have $150k+ in debt that's going to affect both of our lives for years to come!" And my retirement planning? Uh, marry well, play catch-up later, pray I can work till I’m 70? Considering the savings I spent, the income I gave up for 6+ years, the retirement contributions I never made (and lost gains), and the debt and interest I’ll pay…well that’s some math I won’t be doing, but it’s safe to say it easily adds up to over a half a million dollars. Perhaps I’ll check-in in another 6 years and let you all know how it’s going.
Some final thoughts for now: I originally thought that I would owe $110k with interest taking me into $120ks (and I tried to be a clear-eyed realist). But costs were more (and grew faster) than I anticipated and I didn’t live as frugally as I could have. Unknowns about internship and having to potentially move away for a year or two had me holding on to my savings and using more loan money for tuition. I hoped that I would match to a local internship and thankfully I did, but three quarters of my classmates had to move (often across the country) for internship. Luckily my internship site hired me on as an employee after internship, helping me get my final hours for licensure quickly and paying me a decent salary with benefits. Other peers are still cobbling together hours in far flung locales and/or at group practice(s), often with no benefits. Doing one’s internship in, say, Ohio and then moving to, say, Florida to join a group practice for post-doc hours was not at all unusual, in my cohort at least. Speaking of my cohort, I graduated in 5 years (of the 29 students in my first-year cohort, 16 graduated with me—5 dropped after the first year, 2 transferred to other programs, and 6 took an extra year). And a piece of advice: don’t take an extra year to do yet another practicum to be “more competitive” for internship (a couple of peers got burned doing this). Imagine taking an extra year, working for free somewhere, and then not benefiting come match day. You’ll miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.
I tried (way back in 2013) to go into this clear-headed, but I also knew I didn’t know what I was getting into. I know a lot more now, and I hope some of this was useful to you. I’m happy to answer any questions others may have.
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