Financing PT school

[rltruong]

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Hey everybody,

Now that the applying and interviewing process is over or nearly over. I just wanted to ask how do you plan on financing pt school?

Im sure theres another tread out there but since government student loans policies have changed recently, I thought it would be good to get a fresh perspective on the whole matter. If you are unaware graduate programs no longer offer students subsidized loans, meaning interest starts when the loan is disbursed, and at 6.8-8% that is quite a bit of interest being applied to the principle while we are in school.

Is your family helping you, are you planning on working part time, are you not concern with taking out the loans, eat into your savings etc.?

Does anyone have experience with any private loans i.e. wells fargo graduate stu madcap loan?

 

[jdaniels360]

I think most of us are personally no longer concerned with taking out a large amount of loan money, and realize that if this is what it takes, you gotta do what you gotta do!

Some people I know work part time but it really does depend on the situation. The advice I got was to not work the first couple of semesters and see how you do. If you're doing alright, then get yourself a part time job (ideally one where you can study while there), and go from there. To me though, this small income would barely make a dent in the amount of debt I'll be in after 3 years. So I think I'm just going to focus on school and enjoy the free time I do have.

 

[hmmmatt]

Like most of us, my family will not be helping me pay for PT school... although that would be nice! I plan on taking out the government loans (they can be consolidated into one loan for a lower interest rate, most likely... whereas private cannot... the general consensus is that you should avoid private loans if at all possible) I need for tuition and living expenses, and working part time on campus. The school I plan on attending offers all students part-time work at around $15/hour, so I figure if I work a measly 10 hours a week, that's an extra 600 per month or so. Obviously I'll have to figure it all out when school actually starts, but that's what I'm planning. I am concerned with taking out loans, adding to the undergraduate debt I already have... but like jdaniels said, we gotta do what we gotta do. This is a great and rewarding career with tons of job opportunity all over the country. On top of it being rewarding and doing something that we love, there is the potential to make a ton of money as a PT, depending on how much you want to work and where you want to live. Don't heavily increase your living expenses right after you graduate and you should be able to pay back the loans in good time. Also, there are other repayment options you should look into such as the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program and Income Based Repayment (IBR).

I'm glad you brought this up because it's definitely something I like to talk about and it's good to hear that others are going through the same thing I am with worrying about loans and paying for everything.

 

[02143]

I took loans for my tuition payments and I'm living off of my savings. Though its sad to see my savings deplete, I'd rather live off of them instead of taking a grad plus loan at 7.9% (or something like that).

 

[jdaniels360]

For most of us, loans are the only option. Don't worry about things out of your control and you'll be just fine.