Fin Aid... MyRichUncle.com

[gringotuno]

Hey All. I just heard an NPR segment about an interesting organization. Their site is myrichuncle.com and offers a new idea about how to fund schooling... including medical school.

Here's how it works:

Basically, people invest in your education (and earning potential) instead of something like the stock market.

The organization can give you a loan for your education and instead of having to pay back a daunting sum of money, you have a certain percentage taken out of your income for 10 years after you finish school. (Rates start at 0.1% for every 1000 loaned) So, if you take out $100,000, you pay 10% of your salary for 10 years.

For someone like me who is considering Tufts and $200,000 in debt, a situation like this would allow me to pick a specialty that is truly best for me instead of picking one that makes a ton of cash so that I can pay off all of my debt ASAP. It makes General Practice do-able with a ton of debt.

The only thing that I am unsure of is if residency counts in my 10 years of paying back debt. I will let you all know what I find out.

And, if it does count, this might be something to consider for people that want to go into a specialty with tons of training like Surgery. You can take out a ton and only have 10% deducted from a good salary for a few years at the end after you finish your training.

The reason this exists is cause they are hoping that you end up landing a large salary and that the percentage they take out over 10 years is more than how much they origionally gave you.

Just thought everyone might want to know a little abuout this. At least it is an intersting idea.

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[CCHieb's]

Hi
This is so crazy...but I recently heard about this organization as well, on the news. But the report i recieved was not very positive. It basically claimed that because of the economic crisis going on, organizations like "my rich uncle" are begining to prey on college students, rather that stupid professions.
So, while i don't claim to believe everything i hear on the news, and to be honest i wasn't listening very completely, I would definatly recommend doing some MAJOR research on any group before getting involved. IE: look up who runs the org. and check out their background. Look for marks, such as was their brother or wife every convicted or charged with a "tax fraud" ect...
Medical school is an investment, and you will be able to pay off you loans eventually, just be careful. Don't sign anything before reading the fine print.
Specifically, you may need to do the math, and figure out exactly how much 10% of you salery is for 10 years, plus the interest, and figure out if it is really worth it.

 

[wolferman]

It's like deja vu all over again. I had an idea for a service just like this when I was going through my first undergrad, but I figured it was way too crazy to work, i.e. too much speculation not enough security. But apparently someone is trying to make it work. It'll be interesting to see if they're still in business after a few years.