At What Point Does Medical School Not Make Financial Sense?

[DrRobert]

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Having recently finished residency with $250K of student loan debt (luckily I had no debt from undergrad), I'd have to say that with today's tuition it wouldn't make financial sense to become a physician.

In my opinion, anything over $250K is too much of a risk. Physician salaries are on the chopping block and sooner or later the axe will come down on us.

I just don't see how people can feel comfortable carrying around that much debt without a guarantee that you will be able to pay it back.

And it's worth mentioning that you can't default on student loans, even if you declare bankruptcy or disability.

I'm somewhat amused at people who say they'll just live like a resident their entire lives... old car, small apartment, no vacations, cheap food, etc. All that hard work and liability for that lifestyle?

With medical school tuition continuing to skyrocket with no end in site, at what point does it become economically unfeasible to become a physician?

I think we're almost there.

 

[TobiasFunkeMDFACS]

It probably depends on whether physician salaries do indeed get reduced. It's a hard call, but currently I'm working between my year off. And the job market pickings are pretty slim, with a 35k income I am living like a resident as it is. As a pre-med it makes more sense for me to go to med school next year despite the 60k/year sticker price, than to stay at my current job.

I guess it depends on the options that I person has once he/she's out of college. My friend (not a premed) just signed on as a marketing consultant for 70k. For him, I guess it makes more sense to stay in his job.

 

[medapplicant88]

I hope salaries don't get cut beyond the point where someone will have to be managing their school debt for the rest of their life. I could live comfortably without many amenities. I don't need much to be happy. I guess medical school doesn't make financial sense when you see that after twelve plus years of school you can't see the end of the debt tunnel. Everyone in this country will see reduced salaries higher taxes especially healthcare. In order to reduce the deficit the country will have to adopt painful austerity measures like Europe which means less disposable income and less spending. Right now the country continues to live above the means with risky borrowing.

 

[hiphaupt]

I'm working right now and this was a big decision I had to make (Accepted class of 2015). Luckily I have no undergrad debt and I'll be able to enter medical school with nothing but my wife's student loans as a liability between us.

Fiscal austerity measures aren't going to bring the axe down on physicians the way some people seem to be predicting. No matter what happens with ObamaCare or how slippery you think the slope is, the death of the multipayer system in America is far far away. Stop watching Fox News and your world/career outlook might change substantially.

 

[swaffles]

Fiscal austerity measures aren't going to bring the axe down on physicians the way some people seem to be predicting. No matter what happens with ObamaCare or how slippery you think the slope is, the death of the multipayer system in America is far far away. Stop watching Fox News and your world/career outlook might change substantially.

I don't think the death of the multipayer system is the issue. Rather, it's how the resources are being allocated. Also, just because there are fears doesn't mean that one subscribes to Fox News prophecies. I volunteer at a healthcare law firm and I see all the various healthcare options available and it'd be surprising if salaries didn't go down at some point in the future, albeit I agree that it won't be a significant amount. However, that's assuming that there are enough doctors and from what i've read, we are going to experience a shortage of doctors by 2020. Which means that high demand should offset any potential disappointments.

I initially wanted to go to medical school but I felt like my interest in the field wasn't enough to justify the costs. I didn't love it as a lot of other med school applicants do. Medical schools really need to re-organize their supply chain to lower the costs of medical school, such as grouping together for orders, etc. I don't know how it works right now, but hopefully they can work on making distribution of materials more efficient somehow. Oh, also maybe stop gyping the students on everything from textbooks to a simple stethoscope.

I really hope this becomes a bigger issue soon, so that we will be compelled to fix it.

 

[YouISee]

Not.

If you owe more than 100K after medical school, you are in a deep hole that will be hard to climb out of.

For 10 year repayment plans with 6.8% interest rate:

$100K 1100 per month
$200K 2300 per month =


Don't just take med school advisors advice. They want to help fill the seats. Talk to an independent financial planner who will put your situation in context. For example, you got kids and a stable job in the 75-100K range, you are losing A LOT by jumping to med school.

Being a doctor doesn't buy you a great lifestyle. Haters or idiots will tell you otherwise since they never experienced hard work day in day out. People have no idea what they are getting into, and to some degree you acclimate but I'd take a desk job right now and chill in my Civic not sweating about a lot of crap all day. People just do excess crap with their excess money. You will learn the hard way in med school what really matters more in life...certainly not the career.

 

[Reirrac]

250K sounds bad enough!

If I were to go to a private dental school, I would be looking at around 400K in debt assuming I graduate in 4 years without any kind of financial support. Although I would love to be trained and practice oral health care, getting into 400K in debt really sounds like a very bad idea.

Perhaps I should reconsider my options for the future.

 

[abcabc1]

Having recently finished residency with $250K of student loan debt (luckily I had no debt from undergrad), I'd have to say that with today's tuition it wouldn't make financial sense to become a physician.

In my opinion, anything over $250K is too much of a risk. Physician salaries are on the chopping block and sooner or later the axe will come down on us.

I just don't see how people can feel comfortable carrying around that much debt without a guarantee that you will be able to pay it back.

And it's worth mentioning that you can't default on student loans, even if you declare bankruptcy or disability.

I'm somewhat amused at people who say they'll just live like a resident their entire lives... old car, small apartment, no vacations, cheap food, etc. All that hard work and liability for that lifestyle?

With medical school tuition continuing to skyrocket with no end in site, at what point does it become economically unfeasible to become a physician?

I think we're almost there.

I agree that we're near the tipping point. The key is that we're trending rapidly towards the direction that Medicine is NOT worth the debt and time.

I also agree that while, one can honor their loan obligations by leaving a very frugal and meager life after becoming an attending, there is no justification to put in the effort and money to become a physician just to barely make ends meet. Why would anyone sacrifice so many years after College (which would be quite enjoyable otherwise) and borrow so much money so that they could live such a modest existence in the future?

While I don't think Medical students are as smart or exceptional as many of them think, most are certainly capable of supporting themselves and living comfortable lives without spending all the time and borrowing all the money required to become a doctor. While it's not easy, it's certainly possible to find a job making $65K+/annum by one's late 20s without the accumulation of massive debt. Some may not even need College (i.e. trade school, small business, etc), while others may need undergraduate degrees and others will need other graduate degrees (some of which requite little, if any, out-of-pocket costs).

I'm very curious to see how this plays out. The cost of Education keeps rising, while reimbursements keep falling. I'm surprised that there aren't vacancies in medical schools already. I don't think aspiring physicians know how bad it is; once they realize this, medical schools will start to have trouble filling their seats.