Help! Non-trad struggling with amount of loans needed.

[nudent]

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I need some major advice. I'm a 34 year old female and was just accepted to a private dental school. I estimate I will need to take out around $300k for loans. I don't think I'm interested in the military scholarship. I currently make around $105K a year and I'm finding it hard to fathom taking out that much in loans. I really want to be a dentist and don't think it would be a hard decision if I got into my state school, but the amount for private schools is freaking me out. My concern is I'm not 22, like most applicants, and won't have the extra 10-12 years to pay back / start my own practice, like a lot of the applicants. Also reading that new grads are only making $65-90K as some posts have stated is very concerning. Is this an accurate figure for new grads? What should I do? I know I make a good income now, but I'm not in love with my current career. How hard is it to find a job with loan repayment after graduation?

Some more info:
I'm single
Don't plan on specializing
Have $20K left from undergrad/grad
No other debt

Any advice from others in similar circumstances / practicing dentists / new grads / or anyone with a good plan would be greatly appreciated.

 

[UCSFx2017]

I recommend you repost this in the dental subforum of SDN or in the dentaltown forum where the audience is primarily practicing dentists. You'll need to make an account.
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/forumdisplay.php?f=138

http://www.towniecentral.com/Dentaltown/SiteDefault.aspx

 

[Jbrowndds]

Beware! Dentaltown will make you even more worried more than anything. Trust me I know.

Sent from my LG-LS970 using SDN Mobile

 

[Bobby Fischer]

I need some major advice. I'm a 34 year old female and was just accepted to a private dental school. I estimate I will need to take out around $300k for loans. I don't think I'm interested in the military scholarship. I currently make around $105K a year and I'm finding it hard to fathom taking out that much in loans. I really want to be a dentist and don't think it would be a hard decision if I got into my state school, but the amount for private schools is freaking me out. My concern is I'm not 22, like most applicants, and won't have the extra 10-12 years to pay back / start my own practice, like a lot of the applicants. Also reading that new grads are only making $65-90K as some posts have stated is very concerning. Is this an accurate figure for new grads? What should I do? I know I make a good income now, but I'm not in love with my current career. How hard is it to find a job with loan repayment after graduation?

Some more info:
I'm single
Don't plan on specializing
Have $20K left from undergrad/grad
No other debt

Any advice from others in similar circumstances / practicing dentists / new grads / or anyone with a good plan would be greatly appreciated.

I'll be 40 when I graduate. I am deeply concerned about the exact same thing.

At the risk of offending those who are and will graduate at 26-ish (the majority): one thing the older crowd has going for it is I believe we will be taken a little more seriously right out of the gate by patients and practicing dentists alike: if only because we look older. Of course, life experience is what it should be called.

Still, I cannot stress enough how concerned I am about my future with the size of loans I am going to have to take out. Its insanity.

I am fairly upset at the baby boomer generation who I feel has really dropped the ball protecting the next generations and/or out and out is partaking in the financial rape of the next generations. Their hollow excuses are certainly not worth 350,000 dollars it costs for the ball and chain to be welded to our ankles. In fact, sometimes thinking about it all makes me less upset at the notion that all these older people are going to be left without quality healthcare under Obamacare. Cry me a river ye old people who did this to us.

 

[dentistmom]

I worry about the debt, too. I just turned 40, and will be in the class of 2017. Luckily, I got into my state school, where the financial aid is looking pretty decent. Also, I have a partner who will help out financially.

When I crunched what numbers I could find, I figured my loan payments to amount to about 1k/mo per 100k borrowed. I compared that against various possible salaries, and decided I could make it work.

There are student loan repayment calculators online. I used the Job Outlook Handbook for salary info. I researched insurance costs, then added on a healthy margin of error for what it might cost to be a dentist (as an employee). Try to crunch the actual numbers as well as you can. Have you thought about flat out asking a couple of recent grads what they make?

With the cost of education skyrocketing, it makes no sense to assume the debt will be worth it! At least we're old enough (I hope) to know better than to sign on the dotted line, before doing our research!

 

[Member902507]

Though I can't say much about the loans and all, because I'm kind of unfamiliar with it myself, but hats off to all of you who posted above and are undertaking this journey now!! Seriously an inspiration to stay committed to your dream. 🙂

 

[JrZyBud]

I am 31 and a member of the class of 2017. I am was fortunate enough to receive the Army HPSP. I personally could not justify the expense otherwise. I'm sure there are people on here that have crunched numbers and could tell you if it is actually worth it.

If you want to look at it through rose colored glasses, even with the expense and the debt, you will be doing something that you love and have the satisfaction of knowing that you accomplished your goal of becoming a dentist.

 

[dentalWorks]

I need some major advice. I'm a 34 year old female and was just accepted to a private dental school. I estimate I will need to take out around $300k for loans. I don't think I'm interested in the military scholarship. I currently make around $105K a year and I'm finding it hard to fathom taking out that much in loans. I really want to be a dentist and don't think it would be a hard decision if I got into my state school, but the amount for private schools is freaking me out. My concern is I'm not 22, like most applicants, and won't have the extra 10-12 years to pay back / start my own practice, like a lot of the applicants. Also reading that new grads are only making $65-90K as some posts have stated is very concerning. Is this an accurate figure for new grads? What should I do? I know I make a good income now, but I'm not in love with my current career. How hard is it to find a job with loan repayment after graduation?

Some more info:
I'm single
Don't plan on specializing
Have $20K left from undergrad/grad
No other debt

Any advice from others in similar circumstances / practicing dentists / new grads / or anyone with a good plan would be greatly appreciated.

And.... here it comes....
It gets even worse.... the interest rate on most those loans will start the instant it gets dispersed 🙂eek🙂

Not only are you borrowing 300k to pay off dental school (and there is an addition 50k of interest from those 4 years), you are also losing 100k income each of the 4 years. So in a nutshell, your dental education's cost is around 700-800k (again 😱)

however....

The income of newly graduates isn't as low as you've seen. 50-90k sounds like the type of income you hear from HEAVILY populated cities (LA and NYC come to mind) but ~ as an example ~ here in Michigan.... alot of newly grads are pushing 100-120k a year, and these are fresh off the boat grads. Dentistry income as our beloved Armoedshell would say "is zipcode dependent". You may need to relocate to obtain better / higher paying options.

NHSC approved sites, in my opinion, are a good deal AS LONG AS YOU FIND A SITE that initially pays well.... The way this works is, you find a location that pays (say for example 120k a year) and at the end of 2 years (minimum) they will award you 60k tax-free money to pay off school tuition. This is relatively a good deal AS LONG AS THE STARTING SALARY IS something decent (120k+.... a dime below that and its not worth it as the yearly interest rate on that dental loan is 25-30k)

Some associate jobs are good too (but this one you will most likely need to relocate).... I've heard a few graduates from last year (from my school) get jobs at around 150k a year, but they moved to Illinois.