Debt prior to med school

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

musashi

Ninja Paramedic
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2006
Messages
111
Reaction score
27
Okay, I hope you guys can shed some insight. I searched the forums but was unable to find any post related to my question. As it stands right now, I have around $50,000 in loans, which come from 1 year studying abroad in Japan and then two years of grad school following that year. I know it sucks huh, but it is what it is! Anyways, I’ve started looking in to maybe doing an SMP do help strengthen my med school application. Most of the programs I’ve been looking at such as Midwestern, Drexel, Wake Forest, Boston University etc. all cost somewhere in the 20k-30k range for the 1 year of the program. I found out today that the most a med student can borrow is 138k. Is this true? I know there are plenty of students who start med school with significant debt i.e expensive undergrad and/or grad schools. According to my math if I already have 50k in debt and the max amount is 138k then that leaves 80k-90k left to borrow for the 1 year SMP program (wherever that is) and then 4 years of medical school.

I’m 34 and have no one to help me with $$, will not be able to find a cosigner, and my credit is well let’s say, not that great. How do people who already have 50k+ in debt before they start med school pay for EVERYTHING? I keep hearing about people graduating med school with 250k in debt give or take. I’m not discouraged about having a crap load of debt post residency, because I’m single and plan to stay that way, don’t want to have children and am totally okay with living like a resident for a few years when I’m an attending. I feel really good about being able to get in to an SMP somewhere and the subsequently admitted to med school. I don’t mind getting a bit shafted with interest rates etc, but is there any advice to someone like myself who is a) already in a good amount of debt and b) who has no cosign option and bad credit? Isn’t there someone who realizes that lending to a med student is a good idea, because they know they will get there money back plus some? Looking forward to your advice and thanks everyone for taking time out of your busy schedules to answer my question. I really appreciate it!

Members don't see this ad.
 
I found out today that the most a med student can borrow is $138K. Is this true?

No. That's the Stafford limit. You can borrow via GradPlus up to your school's cost of attendance. Your "not that great" credit may or may not affect GradPlus borrowing, I'm not sure.

The more relevant question, to me at least, is: should you? It's more than possible that you may end up in your mid-40s $500K or more in debt with zero savings for retirement while simultaneously facing decreasing physician reimbursements. Heck, we could have single-payer healthcare in the US by then. Pretty risky, in my (admittedly unsolicited) opinion.

I apologize if this post is offensive; that's not my intention. It's just that I'm perinneally surprised by how nonchalant my fellow students are about debt, and I worry that in a few years, a lot of us are going to be in serious trouble. Any chance you could knock out the $50K before starting medical school? And/or skip the SMP? The numbers you're talking about are pretty daunting, especially given that you've already missed the 10 best years for retirement savings.

Anyway, best of luck to you.
 
I would second the concern being expressed by yadayada. At the very least, I would suggest taking your application year as an opportunity to take a job that will help pay back some of that 50k. Perhaps you might want to look into doing a part time postbac instead of an SMP to get a little grade bump and not incur a horrible amount of debt. That is the path that I took and it is working out relatively well for me.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Thank you both for your replies. I just found out that aggregate $$ amount for medical students is 189K and that ammount amount is calculated from how much $$ one has borrowed as a grad student. More than half of my 50K is from when I was an undergrad and going to school in Japan. Seriously though, if I could pay off 50K in a year I wouldn't be trying to go to med school and would instead be a finance wiz with one of the big brokers. Who (that visits this forum) can pay off 50k in a year? I will be a paramedic when I matriculate and so had planned on picking up a shift here and there. I'm also a TX military veteran who has up to 130 hours I can use for ANY state school I get in, which would cover the 1st 2-3 years of tutiton at any school here in TX. I have started to look at SMP's though as a way to bolster my application and we only have 1 here in TX. So I guess I need to convince either a med school and/or the SMP at UNT to open the door for me.

Lshapely, I have 3 classes left and all my prereqs for med school will be done. So I really appreciate your advice but I'm essentially done with the post bac journey. It's either SMP from here or right in to med school.
 
Just adding that the stafford lifetime limit for med students is actually $189k.

Just found out from the Director of Financial at my local med school that the aggregate limit was just raised a couple of weeks ago to 229k.
 
The schools that have the SMPs will probably be able to get you loans.
Same with med school.
Running out of lending options usually isn't the big problem; it's paying them back when you are done.

As for the SMP. Have you already applied and been rejected?
SMPs are a risky option for some people. You may be better off just taking some UG classes or applying DO if your stats are close to competitive.
 
Top