Forgiven student loans

[grinley]

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Hi I am going to DMU next year. I heard that there are some ways to get your student loans forgiven. I was wondering if there was any truth to this rumor. Also, anyone going to DMU, feel free to pm me. It would be awesome to make friends!

 

[Feli]

There's no ways to get student loans completely forgiven that I'm aware of. The best you can really do to minimize debt is to get scholarships, and then keep them and pick up more scholarships by getting good grades in pod school.

The military residency in NC (I think there is one in WA now also?) will give you some student loan help in addition to salary, but you are on the loop to work with the service for some years after finishing the residency. It's fairly complicated and you'd have to look into it for full details...

There are rumors floating around about loan forgivness for working in rural areas or Native American reservations, but I think those programs are just for MD and maybe DOs. I haven't seen any such offers for DPMs...?

 

[jonwill]

There's no ways to get student loans completely forgiven that I'm aware of. The best you can really do to minimize debt is to get scholarships, and then keep them and pick up more scholarships by getting good grades in pod school.

The military residency in NC (I think there is one in WA now also?) will give you some student loan help in addition to salary, but you are on the loop to work with the service for some years after finishing the residency. It's fairly complicated and you'd have to look into it for full details...

There are rumors floating around about loan forgivness for working in rural areas or Native American reservations, but I think those programs are just for MD and maybe DOs. I haven't seen any such offers for DPMs...?

No, there actually are some programs for DPM's on the reservations in the Southwest. They are actually pretty good deals.

 

[Feli]

No, there actually are some programs for DPM's on the reservations in the Southwest. They are actually pretty good deals.

That's great news.^

I know there were are some of those programs, but I was only aware of them for rural FP docs. It's great to know that those populations are realizing the need for pods and providing student debt assistance to attract them also.

 

[densmore22]

You can always sign a contract at a multispecialty clinic or ortho group where they pay a portion (usually a significant portion) of your loans off. I've known 2 podiatrists that have done this. But there's a lot of factors involved in doing this and I wouldn't consider it the norm, but it does happen.

 

[AlleghenyPOD]

Interesting, can you provide links to these? Some substantial proof.

Much thanks.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

You can always sign a contract at a multispecialty clinic or ortho group where they pay a portion (usually a significant portion) of your loans off. I've known 2 podiatrists that have done this. But there's a lot of factors involved in doing this and I wouldn't consider it the norm, but it does happen.

In general the forgiveness of a debt constitutes taxable income. Under the right circumstances med school and perhaps pod school debts that are paid off for you in exchange for living/working in a rural area will not constitute taxable income. Have any deal that you make reviewed by a tax lawyer or CPA to make sure the debt forgiveness is exempt from income tax.

 

[iyyi]

There are definitely areas in HIGH need of DPMs within Native American communities. You can find these areas from Florida to california, Texas to Alaska. These all aren't on reservations. Actually, there are many in urban settings. Loan forgiveness is not just for MD's and DO's. DPM's, RN, MPH, DDS, etc are able to get loan forgiveness.

As Jonwill has stated these are very good deals and definitely worth checking out.