DPT debt

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Are you counting student loan amounts above tuition cost?

Tuition at my school is $30,000 for the 3 years. A couple thousand more for books and fees.

For me, I plan on living on about half my salary when I get my first job and using the other half to pay off student loans quickly.
 
Generally you want your total debt to be what you expect to earn annually. According to the bls, the average annual salary is ~73k/year.
 
johncronejr said:
Are you counting student loan amounts above tuition cost?

Tuition at my school is $30,000 for the 3 years. A couple thousand more for books and fees.

For me, I plan on living on about half my salary when I get my first job and using the other half to pay off student loans quickly.
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Jeez 30k total for 3 years? Mine is gonne be $33k per year...they said to think of it as $60k/year with living expenses and books. yikes!
 
Part of the reason I chose my school is the bang for the buck, so to speak, that I think I'm getting!! 50k total program tuition so about 75 k with everything. I feel that I couldn't spend more than I could make a year in tuition, but I also have no money in the bank to fall back on. I think I'll live like a pauper the first few years and get my debt paid for.
 
I finally got all my W2s today and am in the process of doing FAFSA, arguing with my dad about claiming me as a dependent as we go (It'll save me $200 if I'm independent, and save him $500 if he claims me - but he's retired and has a paid off mortgage and paid for health insurance, and I'm poor and need the money!)

I'll have to see how much money NU will give me...I'm officially in at UIC now, so it may really come down to the money. I'll know more in February. I just don't know when UIC will require me to send in a deposit if that's how I go (I haven't gotten the packet in the mail yet).

Looking into the option of selling my kidney on eBay...I only need one. And maybe part of my liver. That should pay for about a year of school 😛
 
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Hey danncer-
I'm still waitingfor one of my w2s to come in and am anxiously waiting to do my FAFSA! Congrats on Uic officially. I was sold by the visit I had there and even though i liked NU so much, I just felt like UIC was more me. Money wasn't the only factor-- just a fantastic perk. Good luck with your choice! The uic deposit was only $300 and they gave me Roughly a month to pay so I think ud be close to NUs deadline!! Best of luck on your choice 🙂
 
DancerFutureDPT said:
I finally got all my W2s today and am in the process of doing FAFSA, arguing with my dad about claiming me as a dependent as we go (It'll save me $200 if I'm independent, and save him $500 if he claims me - but he's retired and has a paid off mortgage and paid for health insurance, and I'm poor and need the money!)
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Dancer - When I was first done with my undergrad I had the same issue with my parents - who should claim me? What we did is I had my parents claim me since they would receive more money than I did as a refund, and then we split the extra. so in your case, your dad would get $300 more than you, so split that between you. In terms of FAFSA it doesn't matter because as a grad student you're automatically independent and your parents income doesn't count. Hope this helps!
 
"How much is too much" is a personal question. What I recommend doing is setting up a budget year-by-year of how much you'll need to take out on loans. If you worked this past year, you might not get the maximum Subsidized amount. Fill in the remaining Unsubsidized and Grad Plus/other loans for the amount you need above and beyond tuition and set the interest rate for 8.5% (standard for Grad Plus). Then you'll figure how much you need for school.

Then this handy website will estimate your monthly payments out of school. Enter in your anticipated starting salary and it will tell you how much will be flying out of you bank account each month for the next 10+ years and the percentage based on your income. 😱

http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/sla.jsp

I think this helps in determining how much is too much. Can you afford to still pay rent or mortgage after graduation? Car payment? Will you have another source of income to help defray the student loans? At least this is the approach I'm taking right now as I compare the programs before my final decision and am finding it helpful.
 
Kyra4dpt-

Thanks so much for that link! I calculated my projected loans out and if i make a starting salary of 55k, i'll be paying back 15% of my income in student loans. The calculator said that this was the max. you should be paying since it will "become burdensome" beyond that point.

Just makes me thankful that I did end up choosing my state school! 15% is definitely a lot but I think its manageable.

Honestly, the DPT seems like robbery if you go to a private school, IMO. I loved the private schools i looked at, but I just could not do it! Its so unfortunate for the profession that the debt overshadows the salary to such a degree.
🙁
 
if I'm reading correct, Temple is $110K out-of-state for the full program?!?! 😕 If so, then it is more than several private programs I'm looking into.

Cost is a huge issue with the DPT! Now the cost is hitting home for me...

But FYI, Obama I think passed a bill where your loan payments can't be more than 10% of your income (you don't pay if you make less than 33K/yr) and remaining amount is forgiven after 20 years, not 25 as it was. Something to investigate (I'm not sure if it was approved or just on the table for vote) and consider as well.

I'm planning on applying for scholarships, but not sure how much opportunity there is for that kind of thing... 😕
 
Kyra4dpt said:
if I'm reading correct, Temple is $110K out-of-state for the full program?!?! 😕 If so, then it is more than several private programs I'm looking into.

Cost is a huge issue with the DPT! Now the cost is hitting home for me...

But FYI, Obama I think passed a bill where your loan payments can't be more than 10% of your income (you don't pay if you make less than 33K/yr) and remaining amount is forgiven after 20 years, not 25 as it was. Something to investigate (I'm not sure if it was approved or just on the table for vote) and consider as well.

I'm planning on applying for scholarships, but not sure how much opportunity there is for that kind of thing... 😕
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So maybe i'm missing something here, but if you cant pay more than 10% of your income monthly and the rest is forgiven after 20 years, then taking a 80k loan or a 200k loan would be the same end result financially? because you'd still be paying 10% until the 20 years run out?
 
PTstudent11 said:
So maybe i'm missing something here, but if you cant pay more than 10% of your income monthly and the rest is forgiven after 20 years, then taking a 80k loan or a 200k loan would be the same end result financially? because you'd still be paying 10% until the 20 years run out?
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Thanks! Solid point: thanks for the perspective! I'm just in freak out mode right now. I just get this sick feeling when thinking about taking 150K or more in loans to cover school if I were to go to a more expensive program. Mainly because 20 years will put me at 60 years old when the rest is "forgiven." 😱 I just find this daunting. But if this holds true, then it wouldn't matter where I went to school, assuming the tuition is over 80K or so.

But now to play devils advocate with myself, LOL... Couldn't the government take this away at a later date and screw us? I want to know more about this before forging ahead with a more expensive program. Luckily, I have a few weeks to wait for the final responses and to investigate this some more prior to my decision deadlines.
 
PTstudent11 said:
So maybe i'm missing something here, but if you cant pay more than 10% of your income monthly and the rest is forgiven after 20 years, then taking a 80k loan or a 200k loan would be the same end result financially? because you'd still be paying 10% until the 20 years run out?
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I think the current idea is whatever principle + interest that is owed at that time will be forgiven but taxed as income.

I wonder how reliable this program is. Twenty years is a long time away. Whose to guarantee that this program will be available when you need it? I like the idea of my loans being "forgiven" but the reality is someone is paying. This someone is the taxpayer. Also if it starts becoming the norm for people to start relying on this program, why not increase tuition even more? How sustainable is this system? I'd rather see policy makers concentrate on lowering total student loan debt and providing opportunity to pay it off rather than forgiving loans that really aren't "forgiven." Get prepared for the student loan crisis.
 
Just some helpful tips (I guess). On top of tuition, room and board, most of us need to have medical insurance for PT school. Usually around $700/semester x 8 semesters = $5,600 for the duration. I'm 22 and got dropped from the rents insurance, so I was worried about the extra fees. However, I was told that most hospitals that pt students do their clinicals at give benefits to part-time workers, say as a rehab aide or pt tech. This coverage will obviously count as having your own medical insurance. Benefits of working part time at the hospital during school include; extra money for room and board (possibly $300 a paycheck), medical coverage, and some offer tuition assistance, advancement, and discounts. I know if you go to Chatham and work part time at UPMC during school you get a 20% tuition discount. Money you never have to pay, just taken off your bill. Its just something to look into. Call your school and see if they have any corporate payment plans that have discounts or assistance for working for certain companys, especially in larger city schools.
 
Yeah, I would never trust that my loans would just 'go away'.

Besides, taking a lower loan means lower monthly payments and i can pay it down faster and prevent tons of interest from accruing.

Because even if they forgive your principle, you still have a TON of interest on a HUGE loan. So you will be paying mostly interest in the beginning and not even tap into your principle for a few years..

Am I thinking about this incorrectly or would there really be no difference between a 200k loan vs 80k loan if this loan forgiveness agreement is really legit?

any finance double majors out there?
 
Here's the website

http://www.ibrinfo.org/what.vp.html

It looks like whatever principle as well as interest you'd owe after 25 years would be forgiven, but whatever this amount is would be taxed as income. So if you owe 50k in principle as well as 50k in interest when your loan is forgiven then it'd be like you earned 100k on top of salary. So it looks like a though tax year.
 
I definitely like the idea of loan forgiveness, even if it is 20+ years down the road.

I got my UIC packet in the mail yesterday and it looks like it'd save me $13,000 per year (PTStudent11 is that how you calculated it too? When I originally added up tuition on UIC's website it looked like it was $23-24k/year, but in the packet it was only like $19k.) It's definitely hard to argue with that.

But, I did that loan calculator thingy you guys posted and it looks like I'd be paying 15-18% of my income, if I went to the more expensive school which isn't too bad (I may have over estimated the salary a bit, but I took what I know one of our PTs makes who is in the first few years of working with the company).

Also I've heard conflicting things - one PT I talked to told me to take out literally all the loan money I can, and save the money I've saved for other things, like paying it back (and letting it make interest while in school, even though the interest rates now are lower on savings than they are on loans), or buying a house/car/rent after graduation. Other people have told me I should spend everything I can from my savings to avoid taking out loans, and just save like $5000 for an emergency. Thoughts?
 
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If you don't take out loans, you will save a TON of money in interest. Maybe you should consult Suze Orman on this one lol (she actually has some great advice on this specific issue of paying down debt versus keeping a savings in her book The Money Book for the Young Fabulous & Broke)! But seriously, you will end up paying much more for your education if you take out loans. I don't think you will have a difficult time finding money for buying a house/car/rent after graduation if you have a PT salary and no loan debt! Taking out loans that are accruing interest to pay back later, with the money you already have, doesn't really make much logical sense. It's like saying "I could pay $20 for this item, but, ya know, I would really rather pay $50." Doesn't make much sense, imho. Avoid taking out loans, pay much less in the long run, and keep a bit for an emergency.
 
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Climber,
And where does the extra money come from, so you don't have to take out loans? Parents, grand parents, dirty uncle? haha
 
rlw237 said:
Climber,
And where does the extra money come from, so you don't have to take out loans? Parents, grand parents, dirty uncle? haha
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I think Climber was replying directly to my post.

I have about $28,000 in savings....almost enough to pay for a full year of tuition at Northwestern. I will obviously take out the $8500/year interest-free (until after graduation) in subsidized stafford loans. I just don't know how much of that 28k I should set aside for tuition and such. I know I need to use at least some of it, but I don't want to spend all of it on school/living expenses/etc to the point where I'm left with nothing at graduation. I still have to see how much money I can get from the feds, but I figured if I take out at least that 8500, and then put 8500 in savings to get interest in the mean time, then I can pay back all the subsidized loans before the grace period ends, I will have earned interest on what I had in savings, so in the end it's like free money. Then it's an issue of do I accept all the money/loans I receive or do I decide to spend 5-10,000 of my savings per year on tuition.
 
DancerFutureDPT said:
I think Climber was replying directly to my post.

I have about $28,000 in savings....almost enough to pay for a full year of tuition at Northwestern. I will obviously take out the $8500/year interest-free (until after graduation) in subsidized stafford loans. I just don't know how much of that 28k I should set aside for tuition and such. I know I need to use at least some of it, but I don't want to spend all of it on school/living expenses/etc to the point where I'm left with nothing at graduation. I still have to see how much money I can get from the feds, but I figured if I take out at least that 8500, and then put 8500 in savings to get interest in the mean time, then I can pay back all the subsidized loans before the grace period ends, I will have earned interest on what I had in savings, so in the end it's like free money. Then it's an issue of do I accept all the money/loans I receive or do I decide to spend 5-10,000 of my savings per year on tuition.
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I see, when you said "to avoid taking out loans" I was under the impression you meant you would not have to take out any loans. Regardless, you should take out as few loans as possible. The truth of the matter is, you will need money for tuition and related costs, as well as living expenses, throughout your PT education. The money that comes from your savings will not accrue interest. That way, the items you use your savings money on will cost face value. The items you use loan money on will cost much more than that. I also have a substantial amount of money saved, and I intend to use it during my PT education in order to reduce the total amount of debt I will incur the the process. Just look at how much you would owe in the long run if you covered all your expenses through PT school with loans, as opposed to reducing that debt by $20K or so. The difference in interest on $20K is huge, worth using your savings for. I do agree that you should keep your money in the bank as long as possible, though, as long as the loans are subsidized and you do end up paying them before they start accruing interest.
 
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