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Dental School Financially?
Started by Dvdrxop
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It's not a dumb question at all. The good thing (lately) is that most who were going into dentistry for the money alone are going different directions now. Dentistry is a life long dream of mine, so I really don't care what I have to sacrifice to meet my ultimate goal in life. With inflation stirring throughout, tuition prices have skyrocketed. For example, I was accepted to Loma Linda School of Dentistry this year and tuition alone for first year is ~45k, then you have equipment fees, ADA fees, lab fees, etc...plus, don't forget about living expenses...tack on another 13-15k, depending on where you plan to live. You get through adding up all those expenses, and you have yourself a hefty 75-80k debt per year. Don't forget, you want to take the max in subsidized loans because the government pays the interest on them while you attend school. Basically, try your best to minimize unsubsidized & GradPlus (read link) loans.
I'm actually looking at being ~325k total debt when I graduate from dental school. It all comes down to how bad you want it. You also have to look at what you'll be earning right out of school and make sure you're able to pay the minimum payments on your practice (if you choose that route). Or the other route is to work as an associate for about three or four years. This will allow you to pay off that steep student debt amount a lot faster because you will not have any overhead. The key is, to not forget that that principle is drawing a mountain of interest...so it's best not to stretch that amount into 25 years of repayment. What I plan to do is choose the 25 year repayment option (my payments will be ~$2200/month), work as an associate and pay about 90k per year to get that debt down. By stretching the payoff into 25 years, you allow yourself a little wiggle room in case you're not making what you initially thought you would right out of school. I'm married and my wife makes around 50k per year so it will be feasible for us. If you're single, you will not (probably) be able to pay back that much per year (unless you're living with mommy and daddy) because you need living expenses from somewhere.
I'll leave a link below for you. It speaks on the technicalities of taking loans out. Simply, if you love dentistry, go for it. You cannot replace happiness with any amount of money. Best of luck to you my friend.
http://dentalstudentbooks.com/financial_aid.html
I'm actually looking at being ~325k total debt when I graduate from dental school. It all comes down to how bad you want it. You also have to look at what you'll be earning right out of school and make sure you're able to pay the minimum payments on your practice (if you choose that route). Or the other route is to work as an associate for about three or four years. This will allow you to pay off that steep student debt amount a lot faster because you will not have any overhead. The key is, to not forget that that principle is drawing a mountain of interest...so it's best not to stretch that amount into 25 years of repayment. What I plan to do is choose the 25 year repayment option (my payments will be ~$2200/month), work as an associate and pay about 90k per year to get that debt down. By stretching the payoff into 25 years, you allow yourself a little wiggle room in case you're not making what you initially thought you would right out of school. I'm married and my wife makes around 50k per year so it will be feasible for us. If you're single, you will not (probably) be able to pay back that much per year (unless you're living with mommy and daddy) because you need living expenses from somewhere.
I'll leave a link below for you. It speaks on the technicalities of taking loans out. Simply, if you love dentistry, go for it. You cannot replace happiness with any amount of money. Best of luck to you my friend.
http://dentalstudentbooks.com/financial_aid.html
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check this link out as well
http://www.nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/pdf/2011nhsclrpguidance.pdf
http://www.nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/pdf/2011nhsclrpguidance.pdf
http://studentaid.ed.gov/students/attachments/siteresources/Loan_Programs_Fact_Sheet_04_2009.pdf
federal loans are not much.. i hear once the school processes your application, they give you more loans, but i'm not sure if they're still federal? looks like subsidized loan max is $8,500/yr which is very minimal...
federal loans are not much.. i hear once the school processes your application, they give you more loans, but i'm not sure if they're still federal? looks like subsidized loan max is $8,500/yr which is very minimal...
Same here...that's why I try to stay aware of my debt as much as possible. It's doable...people graduate dental school every year and seem to be doing fine. Just live modestly for a while, and if you're not from a silver-spoon family...you should be used to it. Pay off all your student debt as quickly as possible, because you're basically being pimped out by the federal government until you pay it off due to the amount of interest that will be accruing. You probably want to try and get the majority of your student debt paid off in about 5 years, give or take a year or two. Good luck and you're more than welcome!
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subsidized loans mean that your interest is paid for you while you're in school. you get less of this sort of loan than you do unsubsidized. you can get ~8500 subsidized and ~36000 unsubsidized per year. if you need more than this there are a variety of other loans you can get, can be federal or private, up to the maximum that your school allows per year. afaik unless you have very bad credit, it is basically guaranteed that you can borrow the full amount allotted by your school, if need be, and the full amount is plenty to live off of without concern.
