Future M1 Seeking a Little Perspective

[Dedikated2liftn]

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Hey all, let me begin by saying that I'll be matriculating into medical school this fall and had a couple of questions for individuals beyond the medical school phase of their lives (since the majority of pre-meds and medical students seem to be a bit unconcerned/naive with what I'm about to ask). Secondly (before someone comments on it), let me say that I know that medicine is something that I want to do, and I'm not going into it to make millions upon millions. Primarily, the biggest question/concern I have for you all is concerning repaying the large amount of debt accrued over the course of your medical education. Have you had any problems with obtaining deference/forebarance? Does the large debt greatly affect your lifestyle as a resident? If you could hit the resest button, would you choose another profession (for financial reasons)? Any comments on a military scholarship?? Anyway, those are just a few of the questions I have going into this process; I'm grateful in advance to those who take the time to respond (feel free to send me a PM too).

BTW I will be attending a private university (had no choice...both of my two acceptances came from private schools) and will be around 250k in debt by the time I graduate.

 

[zinjanthropus]

currently, residents are eligible for economic deferment during residency. so, no, the debt doesn't affect quality of life because you don't have to pay your loans and the federal govt continues paying your interest on the subsidized loans. the college cost reduction act almost saw the end of this type of deferment but it was saved at the last minute by strong lobbying. now there is a bill to make it permanent that you can support (S.2303 http://capwiz.com/aamc/issues/alert/?alertid=11186091&PROCESS=Take+Action)

My understanding is that there is bipartisan support for the bill and it is likely to pass. If it doesn't, you still have forbearance as an option during residency - but your interest will accumulate during that period. Either way, if you want to pay on loans there is income sensitive repayment and, under the college cost reduction act, that amount would be 15%.

Finally, if you want to go in the military then the military scholarship is fine. This is not a way to pay for medical school for a person not already planning to join the military - you would be miserable.

 

[mlw03]

as my esteemed colleage noted, the effects are not so much during residency when you can defer or forbear on your loans. rather, afterwards is when you'll be forced to make a hefty monthly payment towards your debt. i'm told that one can opt to stretch out one's loan to drop the monthly payment, but that leads to you paying even more money in interest. for example, going to a state school i have around $140K in debt, and on a 10 year repayment that'll come to around $2K/month. that's a big chunk of your income if you're only making $85K per year doing primary care, but it's not too bad if you're making $250K per year as a dermatologist. companies will work with you to find loan terms you can deal with, but realize that to extend a loan to 30 years and drop the montly payment to around $1000, you'll end up paying far more in interest than you took out in principal. at your stage, you simply can't anticipate all that will happen. know that eventually you'll pay off your debt, but that it may take a long time. like the rest of us you'll have to examine your financial situation and decide what's best for you and your family. personally, i think it's worth the expense to pay a few hundred dollars every now and then to a financial consultant to help you go through your various financial options and let you know what's out there at least, since we in medicine are often ignorant when it comes to these topics.

 

[nattygann01]

currently, residents are eligible for economic deferment during residency. so, no, the debt doesn't affect quality of life because you don't have to pay your loans and the federal govt continues paying your interest on the subsidized loans. the college cost reduction act almost saw the end of this type of deferment but it was saved at the last minute by strong lobbying. now there is a bill to make it permanent that you can support (S.2303 http://capwiz.com/aamc/issues/alert/?alertid=11186091&PROCESS=Take+Action)

My understanding is that there is bipartisan support for the bill and it is likely to pass. If it doesn't, you still have forbearance as an option during residency - but your interest will accumulate during that period. Either way, if you want to pay on loans there is income sensitive repayment and, under the college cost reduction act, that amount would be 15%.

Finally, if you want to go in the military then the military scholarship is fine. This is not a way to pay for medical school for a person not already planning to join the military - you would be miserable.

Are fellows also eligible for deferment??

 

[Winged Scapula]

Are fellows also eligible for deferment??

Depends on the length of your training, but generally fellows have to go into forebearance.

 

[DarthNeurology]

Hey all, let me begin by saying that I'll be matriculating into medical school this fall and had a couple of questions for individuals beyond the medical school phase of their lives (since the majority of pre-meds and medical students seem to be a bit unconcerned/naive with what I'm about to ask). Secondly (before someone comments on it), let me say that I know that medicine is something that I want to do, and I'm not going into it to make millions upon millions. Primarily, the biggest question/concern I have for you all is concerning repaying the large amount of debt accrued over the course of your medical education. Have you had any problems with obtaining deference/forebarance? Does the large debt greatly affect your lifestyle as a resident? If you could hit the resest button, would you choose another profession (for financial reasons)? Any comments on a military scholarship?? Anyway, those are just a few of the questions I have going into this process; I'm grateful in advance to those who take the time to respond (feel free to send me a PM too).

BTW I will be attending a private university (had no choice...both of my two acceptances came from private schools) and will be around 250k in debt by the time I graduate.

I think physicians don't like the idea of being in debt, and it does certainly weigh on you in medical school, especially weird when you are not being taught well on clinicals, essentially working to help run the hospital these days with decreased resident work hours, and the fact that 95% of what you learn in the first two years anybody with a thousand dollars and a biology college degree could buy the same books and learn the same material WHILE doing a low-stress part time job and paying for their rent. . . (the not included 5% you can't get by reading in years 1 and 2 is gross anatomy). . . . If I had it to do again I would work in allied health prior to medical school to save up at least some money, and go to a school with lower tuition so I could afford to do charity work in US or abroad more easily. . . a lot of people working in private medical schools are support staff for the students, but don't really do much but organize "residency fairs" and yell at students about using too many copies in the library, essentially they are on a medical student paid vacation, i.e. we are paying their salary as students, but we don't get anything in return, except the MD degree, which is really what they are selling, not the education value per se