Current Medical Students

[Mansamusa]

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It's unrealistic for those who want a life duh... I think I made my disclaimer of "having no life" already.

I already doubled my current spending from 12k to 24 k... That's pretty leanient as is. I'm sure in the 24k allowance (which again is just my current expenses... Doubled. ) it will cover a cell phone - (get those pay as you go, I personally rarely talk - mostly text; and there's wifi almost everywhere), insurance (usually your employer covers the majority of it), utilities is included in my 600$/month rent (yeah it will change a lot if you end up in Boston or something). And yes, i lived as a professional before med school so yeah it's hard but it's do-able.

By those numbers - which yes - are simplified, you can pay if off in 2 years; but I said "5 years"... Which means an extra 3 years to pay it off should you decide not to live like a homeless person (3 years is another extra 150-300k that could've gone to tuition debt).

Now if you were really gun-hoe about this all - you can always work during med school and cut your loans down to 100-120k total; then pay off some during residency --> 5 years post-residency = super easy to do; even with a life.

People can't do it because they want to buy a house, a car, get married, have kids, etc - Which is all reasonable. If they want to take 30 years to repay it at 10-15% of their salary and allow interest to add on in exchange for living "happier" - that's fine. Nothing wrong with choosing a quality life. Get that newest car/phone/whatever other toys you want - I just don't want to hear those people complaining about how long it takes to pay off their debt. You made your decision - don't complain. And vice versa - I'm not going to be complaining when I pay the majority of my income towards my debt.

I'm sorry, but 1st you said that $200K is a reasonable estimate for med school cost when I know my state school alone would put me over $300K (the estimated cost is $325K, but I know I could pull that down by living more cheaply). Then you said that working can pull the cost down to $100-120K. It's hard to work in med school, but making $80K-100K after tax, I would say is impossible. That's how much I would make after taxes in 4 years of working full-time.

The things you are saying are possible but you are underestimating every number by a large amount and then overestimating how much you can make by working in school. And this is coming from someone who is going to try to live on $12K/yr during school (only possible because of medicaid, which you won't have in residency or as an attending), so I'm no crazy spender

 

[moisne]

I'm sorry, but 1st you said that $200K is a reasonable estimate for med school cost when I know my state school alone would put me over $300K (the estimated cost is $325K, but I know I could pull that down by living more cheaply). Then you said that working can pull the cost down to $100-120K. It's hard i never said it was easy to work in med school, but making $80K-100K after tax I hope you are not referring to med school jobs - but afterwards, the average is 189 = 100+ k after tax, I would say is impossible. That's how much I would make after taxes in 4 years of working full-time.

The things you are saying are possible but you are underestimating every number by a large amount and then overestimating how much you can make by working in school It does vary from person to peron - and how many hours you can dedicated to work. And this is coming from someone who is going to try I'm not going to try - I am. to live on $12K/yr during school (only possible because of medicaid, which you won't have in residency I also doubled living expenses estimation after med school or as an attendingmost employers provide insurance or partial insurance cost), so I'm no crazy spender

You must be going to a crazy expensive school or out of state (which i guess 40% of people or so are that); random google search said avg debt is 166k for medical students. Yes, I'm aware this means many students have more than this and many students less.

General physicans (according to frobes) average 189k/year. 28% tax (2016 tax bracket) - I am not including any tax write off --> 136k take home.

Tuition: 36k per year (let's just say 38 so my numbers are nicer lol)
Living expenses 12k per year
(My actual expense is actually less than 1k/month - it's closer to 800$; but at one point, I had an expense of 400$/month in undergrad - I just didn't want to share a room with 2 other people while in med school)
Total = 50 k per year

Coming into med school, I had a decent savings (took several years off) - but I see some of my out-of-state classmates living in better apartments, and eating out lavishly more than me. Don't be them - and you will cut your cost down.

Without working = 200k loans. Without medicaid; I'd proably just go un-insured (and get fined but being fined < cost of insurance lol) but had I got it through an alternate source = 220k loans. Many places (ie. Starbucks) will cover part/all of your medical insurance should you choose to work part time.

Currently I'm working 20 hours a week or so and also have "passive" income (property managing - I realize not everyone can get this). After step in a few weeks - I'll be moving home (so I realize not everyone can do this either).

I realize loans for some students (such as yourself) are higher due to tuition, and I realize some people don't want to hold a job (everyone CAN... Just most don't want to) so I just used an average loan and average income for GP; This ALSO assumes no interest in the 3 - 6 years of residency but... It also assumed you didn't pay any of your loans during residency - which I think it's dumb.

In summary my points are:
1. The financial cost is less worrisome than the opportunity cost you are giving up for med school.
2. You CAN pay off your debt (loan forgiveness, brute force and not living lavishly in short amount of time, or pay less over time) - the way you do it is personal preference.
3. Don't let the "seemingly" impossible potential debt be the determining factor of going to med school.

The rest is just details - which is different for every person.

 

[TBV]

When you decided to apply to medical school, how did you process the financial side of things such as amount of debt that you would accumulate? It is very admirable to hear someone say they want to go into medicine because they want to serve and the financial costs are not a serious issue, but frankly it is not logical. There has to be some serious consideration for the financial side especially because the costs are so high. What factored into your decision to still pursue a career as a physician even with these costs?

Thanks for the help!

It's kind of like when you go bungee jumping and they make you sign a waiver. You could sit there and flip the pages but at the end if you don't sign, they wont let you jump. I wanted to be a doctor so I signed for the debt because that was the only way to make it work. Now I'm theoretically in debt, I say that because it's not real yet. Some day off in the future I'll just feel like I'm screwed into paying the government a ton of money... but aren't we all? It'll get paid off eventually and then I'll be living lavish (Provided I avoid having kids)

 

[deleted600623]

It's kind of like when you go bungee jumping and they make you sign a waiver. You could sit there and flip the pages but at the end if you don't sign, they wont let you jump. I wanted to be a doctor so I signed for the debt because that was the only way to make it work. Now I'm theoretically in debt, I say that because it's not real yet. Some day off in the future I'll just feel like I'm screwed into paying the government a ton of money... but aren't we all? It'll get paid off eventually and then I'll be living lavish (Provided I avoid having kids)

That's a good analogy! I'm to the point where I am not worried about paying off the debt over 25 years because it will be a small amount out of a very large paycheck that I will receive every month and will still allow me to buy that big pickup truck or home or... both.