HELP! Should I work in dental school?!

[SxyDentalDiva]

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I really need advice! I am a first year dental student at an expensive private school...I took out approximately 95,000 this year for tuition & living expenses. I am trying to work on my credit so that I will be able to purchase a practice in a few years after dental school.

I have about 4,000 worth of debt to pay off. Some are more urgent than others...i.e. unpaid parking tickets. I don't think that I have enough money to live off of & pay down my debts.

What can I do?! I have considered getting a part-time job but I feel as if this would cut into my financial aid & I honestly don't know if I have time to work & study.

 

[HoustonDAT]

$95k for one year?

I don't think there is any part time job out there (besides the world's oldest profession) to make enough money to put a substantial dent into your loans while also giving you enough time to focus on school.

The best thing for you to do is to concentrate on school and make sure you graduate by 4 years. The last thing you need is the part time job to cause you to repeat a year or fail out. That would be catastrophic. It's just not worth it.

It's obviously not smart to pay a loan with a loan, but you need to stop the credit score hemorrhage. Can you ask a parent, sibling, relative for a no interest loan? There are always ways to get the $4k from living expenses. Do you live in a nice apt? Do you live by yourself? Do you have cable TV? Do you have a car? Do you drink? Do you hit the mall often? Do you spend a car note on hair, nails, makeup? Do you go out to eat? Do you buy starbucks every morning? Planning on making trips with classmates?

 

[SxyDentalDiva]

Thank you for the response.

Unfortunately, none of my immediate family members are in a position to help me right now. Also, I could answer yes to almost every question you asked except for the hair & nails...I tend to do my own groomimg. So I suppose there is room for me to cut back...I just don't know if it will be enough to put a substantial dent in my financial obligations.

 

[omaralt]

wow.. this is f*cking ridiculous.. sorry it's not your fault; but to burden students with over $400K of student loans should be a crime.. by the time you add in all the interest accumulating over 4 yrs, plus the tuition increases that will come your next 3 yrs; you'll be will over $400K.. i cant believe they're allowing schools to charge this much..

 

[tinman831]

Unless you are a shopaholic, there is no reason why you can't budget enough money from your student loans to pay off your debt. What city are you in and how much are you allotted for living expenses? Have you maxed out on the loans you can take out yet?

 

[Insipidipisin]

If you are as your username implies, there are fast ways to make cash that involve tables and tips. Otherwise, focus on school, at least for the first two years...

 

[SxyDentalDiva]

I agree that they are gouging us for tuition but I am really enjoying the program. It's a great school & I'm not really stressed at all like my other fellow dental students at other schools. With that being said, I am certainly paying for it.

I haven't maxed out on my loans and I am in the East Valley of AZ...so cost of living is relatively inexpensive compared to other places.

Let's see...tuition & fees is approximately 65,000 so that leaves 30,000 a year for living expenses. Which sounds like a lot right? But not when you factor in rent, car note, insurance, food, gas, utilities, etc. Argh!

Maybe I should just join the Army, National Health Service Corps, or wait tables *sarcasm* Ha.

 

[yappy]

Ever thought about "dancing"? I had an X-gf that said she made ~7k per month doing that. 30k does seem like alot to live off of as a student IMO.

I agree that they are gouging us for tuition but I am really enjoying the program. It's a great school & I'm not really stressed at all like my other fellow dental students at other schools. With that being said, I am certainly paying for it.

I haven't maxed out on my loans and I am in the East Valley of AZ...so cost of living is relatively inexpensive compared to other places.

Let's see...tuition & fees is approximately 65,000 so that leaves 30,000 a year for living expenses. Which sounds like a lot right? But not when you factor in rent, car note, insurance, food, gas, utilities, etc. Argh!

Maybe I should just join the Army, National Health Service Corps, or wait tables *sarcasm* Ha.

 

[tinman831]

I agree that they are gouging us for tuition but I am really enjoying the program. It's a great school & I'm not really stressed at all like my other fellow dental students at other schools. With that being said, I am certainly paying for it.

I haven't maxed out on my loans and I am in the East Valley of AZ...so cost of living is relatively inexpensive compared to other places.

Let's see...tuition & fees is approximately 65,000 so that leaves 30,000 a year for living expenses. Which sounds like a lot right? But not when you factor in rent, car note, insurance, food, gas, utilities, etc. Argh!

Maybe I should just join the Army, National Health Service Corps, or wait tables *sarcasm* Ha.

700 average for rent
150 for utilities (overestimation
700 for a decent lexus and insurance per month (less if you buy a more economical car)
400 for food (gross overestimation if you cook for yourself)
=23400 for 12 months.

That leaves 6600 for school related purchases and travel expenses and occasional fun. Now I'm only pulling numbers out of the air here but 30k is more than enough for a years worth of living in Arizona. I am assuming you are maxing out on school loans here. Budget well and you should be able to take out less loans.

 

[PhoebeAZ]

First I figured you're probably at NYU, 'cause that's about how much it costs here, but I'm a bit shocked to see that you're having this much trouble when you're in Phoenix. The sucky thing about living off of loans is that it makes it difficult to figure out a budget. It isn't like "I make x amount after taxes every month so I can spend y amount on rent." Basically you have to decide at what income level you can live comfortably. I wouldn't try to work in school, it'll be better in the long run to take out loans than to sacrifice study time for a part-time job and risk failing courses, repeating a year, or worse dropping out.

Last bit of advice, read this book: All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan by Elizabeth Warren. This tells you exactly how to budget your money in a really easy, simple way. It will help you figure out where you're overspending and how to cut back. This book is so amazing, I highly recommend it.

 

[SxyDentalDiva]

@tinman831 Thanks for the breakdown assessment. You're pretty much right on the money with my expenses...so I should have some money left over...but I don't. @PhoebeAZ Thank you! I think that this is the key for me. Budgeting a gross amount of money instead of dealing with a monthly check. I will check out the book.

I will set up a budget for myself in January so I can see where all my money is going. Perhaps the problem is not that I don't have enough money...is that I'm overspending. A budget seems to be the key. Thanks again guys.

 

[UBDent19]

To the OP, I would highly recommend not working. Dental school is a lot of work and you will be better off having time to decompress. Working a job during your free time would most likely cause you to have serious problems.

 

[ddmdds]

Agreed. None of my friends in d-school work. There just is no time. The risk of poor grades is far too great, especially with "just" $4,000 on the near horizon.
This is about the time I'd get creative and ask a less-immediate relative. Graduation in 2015 is really not that far away...

 

[KinKs]

For some people - work is not a choice but a necessity. I worked starting second year. I have buddies who have been working the entire time.

For me it was starve or work and I chose it eat

 

[Erhatstil]

For some people - work is not a choice but a necessity. I worked starting second year. I have buddies who have been working the entire time.

For me it was starve or work and I chose it eat

if you don't mind me asking, were you unable to get a loan to cover necessities or did you choose to work instead? this sounds odd to me

 

[OhioDMD]

Assuming you are single, you can drastically reduce your living expenses by working for the
school in the residence halls as an RA. They covered room and board with a relatively little
time commitment and after 3 years I landed a resident director position and had tuition plus a
monthly stipend thrown in.

 

[SxyDentalDiva]

Unfortunately, there isn't any on campus housing at my school. I think the solution would be to cut back. After much thought, I just don't think that I have the time to work while in dental school & I do believe that it affects your financial aid.

 

[dentalprodigy]

No u shouldn't

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[gryffindor]

Do you live in a nice apt? Do you live by yourself? Do you have cable TV? Do you have a car? Do you drink? Do you hit the mall often? Do you spend a car note on hair, nails, makeup? Do you go out to eat? Do you buy starbucks every morning? Planning on making trips with classmates?

HoustonDAT said it very thorougly:

Do you live in a nice apt? Move to a cheaper apt. All the real estate news I see about AZ only ever talks about how cheap it is there.
Do you live by yourself? Get a roommate. Majority of my dental class lived with a roommate or two. As long as you have your own bedroom with a door, you will survive.
Do you have cable TV? Get rid of it. You shouldn't have much time left to watch TV if you are busy with school.
Do you have a car? You probably need a car given that you are in AZ. Is it possible to live close to your school and ditch it? If you have an expensive car, sell it and drive something cheaper. No one cares what car a dental student drives.
Do you drink? Drink less.
Do you hit the mall often? Dental school is one of the only times in your life where you can schlep by with the same 6 pairs of scrubs for 4 years.
Do you spend a car note on hair, nails, makeup? Spend less and you already said you do some of this yourself.
Do you go out to eat? Eat less at restaurants and visit a supermarket.
Do you buy starbucks every morning? Brew your own cup at home and buy a travel mug.
Planning on making trips with classmates? There will be lots of opportunity for trips after dental school. Though if you cut back on all the stuff above, you may have some room in your budget to go on the trip.

$30K is a lot of money to live on as a single student in AZ. You need priorities.

 

[UltimateHombre]

Unfortunately, there isn't any on campus housing at my school. I think the solution would be to cut back. After much thought, I just don't think that I have the time to work while in dental school & I do believe that it affects your financial aid.

Ya no offense, but my wife and i used to live quite comfortably on 40K a year. And that is with 2 car payments, 2 peoples misc expenses, and we ate out pretty frequently. That was when we were living in Mesa... totally doable on 30K for one person.