Does anyone know how much residents make?

[Student247]

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Is anyone aware of the salvary rage during residency? Is there a general amount a resident doctor gets paid during residency and does this amount increase with every proceeding year in residency?

Thanks ahead for your comments.

 

[md2be06]

I'd say most residents start off around 35K and slowly work their way up. You'll make more money during a fellowship, but don't expect to start paying off any loans till you're actually practicing.

 

[nochaser]

~35K is right...(now divide that by 70-90 hrs/week. Sobering, isn't it?)
I agree w/MD2b06, you probably won't be able to pay back your loans as a resident, assuming you have rent/mortgage, car note, etc. to pay. We are looking to buy some income property, now that the rates are good, in order to have a little cushion later.

 

[EpiII]

There is a family practice residency here in Modesto, CA that is affiliated with UC Davis, but the residents are employees of Stanislaus County and see county patients. The first year residents are paid about 36K, the second years are paid about 40K and the 3rd years are paid about 44K.

 

[lilycat]

This is amusing...

ON AVERAGE, most residents' salaries will fall between $30,000-35,000 per year. Fellows usually make between $40,000-45,000. The FRIEDA website gives actual resident/fellow averages: http://www.ama-assn.org/cgi-bin/freida/freida.cgi?form_name=MAIN&act_specialty=yes

Keep in mind when looking at these numbers that they are a little higher than what you will see as a resident because they include the averages for the fellows.

As for paying back your loans, sorry to break it to you guys but you have to start paying them back during residency. I'm not sure where the vast misconception began that you could defer loan repayment all through residency but it's a myth. If there are severe hardship circumstances, you can try to work something out with your lender, but for the most part, you are expected to begin repayment 6 months after graduation. Also, pay close attention to your repayment schedule options when selecting a lender -- some will let you operate on a sliding scale, ie, you pay in proportion to your income, but others will just set a standard amount for the 10 or 15 years it takes to repay, so in theory, you could be making $1000-1500/month loan repayments, and your take-home pay is just under $2000 as a resident. Cheers!

 

[gooloogooloo]

can you please tell me, what is a fellow? what is the difference w/ fellow and resident?

 

[none]

Well, the Central Vally of CA, of which Modesto is part, is HUGELY underserved, so it's understanable rates would be a bit higher there.

 

[jargon124]

A fellow is a doctor who has completed a residency but has chosen to specialize further. For example, after completing an internal medicine residency (3 yrs), one might opt for a fellowship in infectious disease. The length of the fellowship varies - but most specialties are about 2-3 years.

 

[Weeble]

I have a friend who is deferring his student loans during his Internal Medicine residency. Also, it depends on whether you're in a three-year residency or something like a seven-year Neurosurgery residency. They'll come after you faster if your chosen residency is long.
I believe with some loans you can consolidate after a while, which also buys you a few years.

 

[Ranger Bob]

It IS possible to defer loan repayment during residency, though this probably depends on the type of loan and financial institution. In fact, my wife, who recently completed her residency, is still defering her repayments because she is unemployed right now.

 

[lilycat]

Originally posted by Ranger Bob:
•It IS possible to defer loan repayment during residency, though this probably depends on the type of loan and financial institution. In fact, my wife, who recently completed her residency, is still defering her repayments because she is unemployed right now.•

If your wife is unemployed, that clearly constitutes a financial hardship situation that I alluded to in my post. However, most lenders do not consider being in residency alone to not constitute a valid reason to defer loans. However, some more unscrupulous lenders will consider it because it makes the situation better for them and worse for you -- it is generally in the resident's best interest to begin paying off their loans during residency -- otherwise you are adding extra tens of thousands of dollars onto your interest unnecessarily.

 

[lilycat]

Originally posted by Weeble:
•
I believe with some loans you can consolidate after a while, which also buys you a few years.•

Consolidation usually allows you to spread out the length of repayment (ie, instead of the standard 10 years, you can move it out to 20 years), but when you consolidate you typically lose the option to defer.

 

[girl]

Lilycat,

When you have to begin repayment depends on your lender. At Northwestern, the school determines your need-loans, and the repayment on those begins 36 months after you graduate from med school. Another great thing to look into is that some schools will pay your interest on your need based loans while you're still in med school, so they don't start accruing/compounding until after you graduate. Of course this depends on your individual school, but it's worth asking about!

 

[lilycat]

girl,

I am in med school and all the information I'm disseminating comes from my financial aid office and entry loan interviews upon beginning medical school. The length of the grace period is determined by the TYPE of loan you take out and not by your lender -- you can have the same lender for your private, school-based loan, and for your Staffords. Stafford loans have a grace period of 6 months. Staffords are typically what most med students start out with. If you take out "alternative" loans, they can have varying grace periods (ie, the 36 months that you were talking about), but typically Staffords, if you are eligible for them (and most students are) are the way to go for the bulk of your loans. As for the interest on need-based loans being paid for while you are in med school, that is pretty standard, and not what I was talking about in my previous posts. Subsidized Stafford loans are essentially the need-based Staffords and the interest is paid for by the government while you are in med school. However, once you are earning a salary, they stop paying your interest, ie when you are in residency.

 

[md2be06]

Just a clarification about what I initially said. I know that most lenders require you to start making payments during your residency years; however, what I meant to say is that the salary you'll be bringing in during those years in training (residency and fellowship) won't enable you to make a serious dent into a 150-200K debt. Obviously, you'll have to wait until you're practicing before you can completely pay off your med school loans. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[girl]

lilycat,

Thanks for the info!

 

[baylor06]

A couple of additional facts re: med school loans. I'm married to a resident and here's how it works for us.

1) If you have took a Stafford loan before 1993 and have not paid it off--you can DEFER your Direct loans (Stafford) in residency for up to 48 months. (As usual unsub collect interest, subsidized do not). But this is probably n/a for most folks don't have a pre 1993 Stafford.

2) You can always FORBEAR your Stafford loans in residency if you won't make payments (this is not economic hardship deferment). Of course, the loans will collect interest in forbearnace & the accrued interest is capitalized.

3) Economic hardship deferment for Direct Loans info is on the Direct loan website. Basically for a resident you must meet 2 criteria

a. Federal postsecondary loans in repayment must be equal or greater than 20% of adjusted gross income (AGI).

b. And, after deducting the total amount of annual payment of all federal postsec. lonas in repayment from your AGI, your inocme must be less than 220% of either the Federal minim wage rate ($5.15/hr) or the poverty line for a family of two.

4) One addition to the Federal consolidation loan program. Right now the rates can be locked at 6% a good deal for those in residency now. The repayment can go out as far as 30 years (I think someone mentioned 20yrs in another post). But as someone pointed out you lose your deferrments (sub. loans don't collect interest). However, you can still forbear most of the time (but the interest collects).

Note I'm only talking about federal loans, since SOM loans and private loans have different policies. I think the key to gov't loans is to understand the difference between deferment, forbearance, and economic hardship deferment and when each is applicable. Good luck! 🙂