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- Jun 4, 2008
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As a soon to be graduate, we had our financial aid exit counseling this week. I've always considered myself to be decently frugal (except for gadgets), not a miser by any means, but no lavish trips etc. As I've said for the past 4 years, just tack it on, what's a few extra thousand on the ol student loan total, be careful.
As you dream about that residency spot, realize that $48k isn't that much. Not when you have a $1200 per 100k borrowed PER MONTH student loan payment. 4k becomes 3k after taxes and after that you have $1800/month if you only have 100k in loans...most dont. So then you're forced into IBR. Nice right, now your 100k you borrowed, which is 150k at graduation, you pay $500/month for 4 years and then your new balance is higher than when you started residency!
I'm not a sky is falling person by any means. Being a physician is a lifelong dream, it still pays pretty well and is still universally respected. You get to see and do really cool things. But the government is trying to screw you. They posted the sheets for my instate school when I was accepted in 08. The graduating class of 08 paid ~18k/ year, we pay $26k. This year I glanced at the entering class of 2012 and they're up to $34k. In 7 years, the cost of medical school has doubled! How much have resident salaries gone up? Some, but not much. In 08, the average salary was around 41-42. Not keeping pace. My father is a physician. When he graudated in 1980, his medical school debt was equivalent to his intern salary. The average debt is 200k or 4 times higher than the intern salary.
And this is just residency. Specialists will be fine for a while, but I wonder how out of staters who do Primary Care will survive? IBR on an out of stater (300k debt) is something like 6k a month- 72k a year, and that's after tax money. Don't forget that even if you're making 150 a year, you take home 95 (if you're lucky, don't forget, you're rich now). So then you're living on 25k a year, just like you did in residency. You're in your mid 30's, with 12 years+ of post high school training.
Ignoring political views, the modern medicine machine is changing. Point being, it's not 1987 where everybody is KILLING it. Doctors aren't starving. But it's not like it used to be. Be smart with your money. Stay in state. I know my state school is NOT worth it to be out of state, and I can't imagine that many are. I know this is SDN where all the future Dept Chairs are, so yes, go to the prestigious institutions- I'll give you that it will give you a leg up in residency slots. Otherwise, if you want to be a normal doctor and work for a living, stay in state. This **** is expensive.
As you dream about that residency spot, realize that $48k isn't that much. Not when you have a $1200 per 100k borrowed PER MONTH student loan payment. 4k becomes 3k after taxes and after that you have $1800/month if you only have 100k in loans...most dont. So then you're forced into IBR. Nice right, now your 100k you borrowed, which is 150k at graduation, you pay $500/month for 4 years and then your new balance is higher than when you started residency!
I'm not a sky is falling person by any means. Being a physician is a lifelong dream, it still pays pretty well and is still universally respected. You get to see and do really cool things. But the government is trying to screw you. They posted the sheets for my instate school when I was accepted in 08. The graduating class of 08 paid ~18k/ year, we pay $26k. This year I glanced at the entering class of 2012 and they're up to $34k. In 7 years, the cost of medical school has doubled! How much have resident salaries gone up? Some, but not much. In 08, the average salary was around 41-42. Not keeping pace. My father is a physician. When he graudated in 1980, his medical school debt was equivalent to his intern salary. The average debt is 200k or 4 times higher than the intern salary.
And this is just residency. Specialists will be fine for a while, but I wonder how out of staters who do Primary Care will survive? IBR on an out of stater (300k debt) is something like 6k a month- 72k a year, and that's after tax money. Don't forget that even if you're making 150 a year, you take home 95 (if you're lucky, don't forget, you're rich now). So then you're living on 25k a year, just like you did in residency. You're in your mid 30's, with 12 years+ of post high school training.
Ignoring political views, the modern medicine machine is changing. Point being, it's not 1987 where everybody is KILLING it. Doctors aren't starving. But it's not like it used to be. Be smart with your money. Stay in state. I know my state school is NOT worth it to be out of state, and I can't imagine that many are. I know this is SDN where all the future Dept Chairs are, so yes, go to the prestigious institutions- I'll give you that it will give you a leg up in residency slots. Otherwise, if you want to be a normal doctor and work for a living, stay in state. This **** is expensive.
