Advice Paying off Loans :(

[Danalittle]

Hi everyone! Sorry if this has already been answered, but I’m interested to hear other people’s opinions/experiences with different debt relief programs. I’m a current first year so I still have time, but my debt is already adding up lol. Does anyone have experience with the army or their health professions scholarship? I’m also interested in how it works at hospitals who offer debt relief packages. Is it worth it to work at a corporate hospital with loan payment options? I really want to pursue a rotating internship and residency, but I want to make sure I can afford that. Thanks in advance!!

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[MixedAnimals77]

Hi everyone! Sorry if this has already been answered, but I’m interested to hear other people’s opinions/experiences with different debt relief programs. I’m a current first year so I still have time, but my debt is already adding up lol. Does anyone have experience with the army or their health professions scholarship? I’m also interested in how it works at hospitals who offer debt relief packages. Is it worth it to work at a corporate hospital with loan payment options? I really want to pursue a rotating internship and residency, but I want to make sure I can afford that. Thanks in advance!!

In regards to debt relief packages by practices as it currently stands CARES is limited to 5250/year, anything else offered by an employer, to my understanding, would be considered taxable income. I would say at least for me that amount while helpful was not a make it or break it amount when deciding where to work. Depending on your desired speciality PSLF may be the way to go depending on your amount. I have nothing to offer regarding army/HPS.

 

[Danalittle]

In regards to debt relief packages by practices as it currently stands CARES is limited to 5250/year, anything else offered by an employer, to my understanding, would be considered taxable income. I would say at least for me that amount while helpful was not a make it or break it amount when deciding where to work. Depending on your desired speciality PSLF may be the way to go depending on your amount. I have nothing to offer regarding army/HPS.

Ah okay thank you!

 

[battie]

1. Don't go the army route if you're not committed to joining the military. That's a *long* commitment for something of that nature. There is an army vet that used to come in here frequently. I'll see if I can figure out who that was and tag them.

2. Be wary of anyone, corporate or privately owned, who guarantees a loan payout with a time stipulation. Not a whole ton of people stay in their first job long term.

3. If you have access to VIN, there are a ton of resources there. @VIN-Foundation do students have access?

4. Seriously consider discussing your situation with a financial planner. NerdWallet has a ton of resources on finding the right one for you.

5. Simplest answer is to take out the least amount of loans you need. I took out about 60% of the loans offered for cost of living in vet school.

6. When you're actually paying your loans, consider paying a small amount every week rather than a large amount monthly. It helps beat the interest.

 

[battie]

Looks like the account for the army health professional recruiter won't tag them.

 

[Danalittle]

1. Don't go the army route if you're not committed to joining the military. That's a *long* commitment for something of that nature. There is an army vet that used to come in here frequently. I'll see if I can figure out who that was and tag them.

2. Be wary of anyone, corporate or privately owned, who guarantees a loan payout with a time stipulation. Not a whole ton of people stay in their first job long term.

3. If you have access to VIN, there are a ton of resources there. @VIN-Foundation do students have access?

4. Seriously consider discussing your situation with a financial planner. NerdWallet has a ton of resources on finding the right one for you.

5. Simplest answer is to take out the least amount of loans you need. I took out about 60% of the loans offered for cost of living in vet school.

6. When you're actually paying your loans, consider paying a small amount every week rather than a large amount monthly. It helps beat the interest.

Thank you, I’m not totally sure about joining the army so I think I needed to be told this. I have reached out to a recruiter so hopefully I’ll be able to learn more. I’ll definitely look into those resources. Thanks!

 

[VIN-Foundation]

You don't need to be a VIN member to access the VIN Foundation's resources. (Although VIN membership is free for students.)

Student Debt Center - VIN Foundation

The VIN Foundation Student Debt Center is a mobile-friendly comprehensive resource helping pre-veterinary students, veterinary students, veterinarians, and those who support them reduce their costs as well as manage student debt through school and beyond.

vinfoundation.org

 

[Danalittle]

You don't need to be a VIN member to access the VIN Foundation's resources. (Although VIN membership is free for students.)

Student Debt Center - VIN Foundation

The VIN Foundation Student Debt Center is a mobile-friendly comprehensive resource helping pre-veterinary students, veterinary students, veterinarians, and those who support them reduce their costs as well as manage student debt through school and beyond.

vinfoundation.org

Thank you so much!!!

 

[battie]

Thank you, I’m not totally sure about joining the army so I think I needed to be told this. I have reached out to a recruiter so hopefully I’ll be able to learn more. I’ll definitely look into those resources. Thanks!

When you speak with them, specifically request to get contact information for the office that manages the veterinary core.

 

[Teepster87]

I'm ok track for PSLF from working for the government. But it's kind of similar to what Bats said about joining the army. It's a long road to travel for forgiveness, and if you're not sold on the job it might not be that enjoyable. At least on the federal (USDA) side of things, you don't make nearly as much as we're worth the first few years. I'm ~4 years in now and I'm comfortable, but I'm not making anywhere near what my classmates are

 

[JaynaAli]

In regards to specializing, salary can vary widely between specialties, but in general, most specialists are going to have an above-average salary which often makes it a little easier to pay loans off. But I would not recommend someone specialize just to make more money and pay loans off…specialize because you truly love the topic and want to do it for life. The money is just a nice benefit.

During your internship and residency years most people are going to go on an income based repayment plan and pay nothing or very little. In the past that has meant that balances grew during residency and then you could more aggressively pay them off after becoming boarded. With the newest repayment plan that has an interest subsidy that should help keep costs a bit lower during the training years by limiting your compounding interest.

Most academic internships/residencies will qualify as PSLF years but you’d need to stay in academia or find a nonprofit job for like 6 years after residency for that to pay off. And if you really crunch the numbers and loan payoff is your ultimate goal, you have to decide whether it’s better to make less in academia, pay less in total dollars, and get PSLF or if it’s financially better to just go into private practice and use the significantly higher private practice salary to just aggressively pay down your full balance. It’s not uncommon for private practice specialties to be 50-125k/year higher than in academia, so if you put all that difference towards your loans for a couple years it may be better/faster than staying in academia a total of 10 years for PSLF. But if you love academia and always envision yourself there, the PSLF is a nice perk especially given the lower salaries.

Some specialists may still do income based repayment and traditional forgiveness down the line, but I pretty quickly made enough that I no longer qualified for income based repayment. I owed less than average but paid them off in just over two years after becoming boarded and making my specialist salary. It would have taken longer if I’d owed more, obviously, but I didn’t have to worry too much.

 

[Danalittle]

In regards to specializing, salary can vary widely between specialties, but in general, most specialists are going to have an above-average salary which often makes it a little easier to pay loans off. But I would not recommend someone specialize just to make more money and pay loans off…specialize because you truly love the topic and want to do it for life. The money is just a nice benefit.

During your internship and residency years most people are going to go on an income based repayment plan and pay nothing or very little. In the past that has meant that balances grew during residency and then you could more aggressively pay them off after becoming boarded. With the newest repayment plan that has an interest subsidy that should help keep costs a bit lower during the training years by limiting your compounding interest.

Most academic internships/residencies will qualify as PSLF years but you’d need to stay in academia or find a nonprofit job for like 6 years after residency for that to pay off. And if you really crunch the numbers and loan payoff is your ultimate goal, you have to decide whether it’s better to make less in academia, pay less in total dollars, and get PSLF or if it’s financially better to just go into private practice and use the significantly higher private practice salary to just aggressively pay down your full balance. It’s not uncommon for private practice specialties to be 50-125k/year higher than in academia, so if you put all that difference towards your loans for a couple years it may be better/faster than staying in academia a total of 10 years for PSLF. But if you love academia and always envision yourself there, the PSLF is a nice perk especially given the lower salaries.

Some specialists may still do income based repayment and traditional forgiveness down the line, but I pretty quickly made enough that I no longer qualified for income based repayment. I owed less than average but paid them off in just over two years after becoming boarded and making my specialist salary. It would have taken longer if I’d owed more, obviously, but I didn’t have to worry too much.

Thank you for the response- this was really helpful! Right now I’m really interested in pursuing a specialty because I work in a specialty hospital and I’m passionate about it. I’m not too passionate about academia, but I’m trying to be open minded as I progress. It’s a relief knowing there are different options for paying them off

 

[WhtsThFrequency]

Most academic internships/residencies will qualify as PSLF years but you’d need to stay in academia or find a nonprofit job for like 6 years after residency for that to pay off. And if you really crunch the numbers and loan payoff is your ultimate goal, you have to decide whether it’s better to make less in academia, pay less in total dollars, and get PSLF or if it’s financially better to just go into private practice and use the significantly higher private practice salary to just aggressively pay down your full balance. It’s not uncommon for private practice specialties to be 50-125k/year higher than in academia, so if you put all that difference towards your loans for a couple years it may be better/faster than staying in academia a total of 10 years for PSLF. But if you love academia and always envision yourself there, the PSLF is a nice perk especially given the lower salaries.

Some specialists may still do income based repayment and traditional forgiveness down the line, but I pretty quickly made enough that I no longer qualified for income based repayment. I owed less than average but paid them off in just over two years after becoming boarded and making my specialist salary. It would have taken longer if I’d owed more, obviously, but I didn’t have to worry too much.

Yep - unless they co-enroll you as a MS or PhD student (for the OP, some residencies are combined programs with these degrees attached), that can mess with the status because you are considered a student as well as employed. Boooo. Such a dumb rule.

Question though - how can you not qualify for income-based repayment? I didn't think there was any income cutoff. Admittedly I am currently in academia and doing PSLF so that automatically puts me on IBR (SAVE). Was it because your IBR payment would have been higher than your traditional payment because of high salary and low loan balance or something like that?

I will also say this about academia - the benefits are amazing. Yes, I could be making more in industry and I do grumble about that sometimes. I make about 145k as a boarded specialist with a PhD as well in medium/low COL area - if I went into industry I could definitely be hitting 180-200k easily.

But my health insurance is absolutely baller, they match 8.5% for my retirement contribution (which is almost double the average employer 401k match), and I have a lot more general work-life balance and flexibility than I would have in other areas. And of course, qualifying for PSLF easily. Of course, academia comes with all the boring BS that it does, but there are definitely benefits to counteract the lower specialist salaries

I love academia (I get to teach, do clinical stuff, and bits of research on the side so a little bit of everything) and it also drives me batsheet crazy at the same time. I suppose you could say that about any job though.

 

[JaynaAli]

Question though - how can you not qualify for income-based repayment? I didn't think there was any income cutoff. Admittedly I am currently in academia and doing PSLF so that automatically puts me on IBR (SAVE). Was it because your IBR payment would have been higher than your traditional payment because of high salary and low loan balance or something like that?

Yes, exactly…my “income based” payment would have been more than the 10-year standard repayment. My servicer at the time said when that happens they just put you back on the 10-year and that’s that? They give bad info all the time but that’s what I was told. And since I was paying them down aggressively it didn’t matter either way.

 

[allygator13]

Yes, exactly…my “income based” payment would have been more than the 10-year standard repayment. My servicer at the time said when that happens they just put you back on the 10-year and that’s that? They give bad info all the time but that’s what I was told. And since I was paying them down aggressively it didn’t matter either way.

This is probably going to end up being my case too when I re-certify next year, interested to see what shakes out. It's all so confusing to me haha