Army Army 2 year HPSP

[happyosborne]

I’ve talked to a recruiter and am in the process of applying for the 2 year HPSP scholarship with the Army. The payback is still 3 years. Financially, is this still a good “deal” per se as far as paying back loans in a timely manner. I’d still have 2 years of my tuition to cover myself which will be about 200k. I know I’m late in the game and that I could’ve applied for the 4 or even 3 year, but the deadlines have already passed of course. If I don’t take the scholarship, I’d be sitting at 400-500k in loans.

Is the 2 year scholarship with 200k loans better than nothing with 500k at this point?

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[Lankers]

Depends how debt adverse you are. There is a new repayment plan available (SAVE). Apparently, minimum monthly payments are reduced, and your total balance doesn't grow from interest if you pay the minimum monthly payment. I would read up and that and understand the ins and outs. If you are still averse to the payments / debt, then the scholarship might be better than nothing.

Read around to get an idea of what being an active-duty Army dentist would entail.

https://www2.ed.gov/policy/highered/reg/hearulemaking/2021/idrfactsheetfinal.pdf

^^ new repayment plan info

 

[LFA20]

I’ve talked to a recruiter and am in the process of applying for the 2 year HPSP scholarship with the Army. The payback is still 3 years. Financially, is this still a good “deal” per se as far as paying back loans in a timely manner. I’d still have 2 years of my tuition to cover myself which will be about 200k. I know I’m late in the game and that I could’ve applied for the 4 or even 3 year, but the deadlines have already passed of course. If I don’t take the scholarship, I’d be sitting at 400-500k in loans.

Is the 2 year scholarship with 200k loans better than nothing with 500k at this point?

I think I would still take the scholarship for the following reasons:

1. You'll come out with roughly around 200k debt and your starting salary in the army would probably be around $6.5k-$7.5k NET per month(depending on BAH zip code) which equate to around $110K+/year gross in the civilian world. This salary is guaranteed and being in the military will 'sort' of force you to live frugally(due to rural location of most of the bases) which will make it easier for you to tackle your remaining debt. There are also other hidden benefits such as no malpractice insurance/health, etc.

2. Your starting salary in civilian practice will vary based on location/speed and most will probably be in the $120K-140K range but this is not guaranteed. You can go rural such as Alaska/New Mexico to make more but let see if you still have the same mentality once you graduate. Most people don't have the discipline to do this.

 

[Special Delivery]

Don't take the military scholarship. The autonomy you lose is not worth the money if it were a good deal... and it's not a good deal from the financial side. From the medicine side, DHA taking over military medicine has been godawful.

 

[jiataoy]

Imo if you're interested in specializing you should take it. You can get GI Bill benefits, it would boost your application especially with recs from mil specialists, and you have opportunity to apply to military specialty programs as well. I've read army OS is especially relatively easier to get into just based on the demand for military OS.

If not, financially it probably works out to be a wash considering the extra year in service is really a loss of the most productive (3rd) year.