How good is my financial aid package?

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newdoc2013

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Hi Everybody --

I made an [updated and more bug-proof] spreadsheet to calculate future indebtedness both after medical school and after a self-determined #of years in residency. It makes some big assumptions (like your financial aid package will carry the same proportion of unsubsidized loans, subsidized loans, to what you will be receiving your first year -- which in reality is pretty bunk, but its the best we can do at this point I think). Further, I tried to give an estimate of monthly payment in residency to just take care of interest and gave an estimate of monthly take home pay based on a 45k/yr salary. I wasn't a finance major so I would appreciate if someone who has more expertise would make sure that the calculations are right!

If something needs to be improved, do it and post it back up!

NOTE: Use the sheet called "school 2" I was editing that sheet and its the actual correct one (<-no longer relevant) -- If you have multiple packages, just copy that sheet the number of times you need it.

A more updated version has been posted below
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=8110226#post8110226
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  • MSAidEvaluatorByNEWDOC2013.xlsx
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old excel version? can't opennnn... :(
 
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sweet, thanks!!

Just glancing through (to bask in its awesome-ness), I noticed that on the first sheet ("school 1") the heading of "Third year projections" was doubled onto the fourth year as well--so change the second third year projections to fourth year, peeps.

I can't wait to start playing with this thing, and yet I'm terribly afraid of what it will tell me... *runs away from loans*

Thanks, OP!
 
Why the rate is 4.9% for the federal sub and unsub loans? It should be 6.8%, right?
 
I don't think you should be deducting the grant amount from your total debt calculation.

Otherwise it looked okay.
 
well. now i know that i will graduate with 312K of debt...
 
Very cool, and much more neater than the one I made (I didn't use any formulas - I put down every single step in calculating everything which was annoying and can be hard to follow). I'm not an accountant so my #'s could be wrong, but..

Are you accounting for the fact that unsubsidized loans don't capitalize until you start repayment? Subsidized loans don't accrue interest, unsubsidized loans do accrue interest but isn't capitalized. Thus I believe the final numbers in the sheet (after correcting the interest rates to 6.8%) are an overestimate. I could be wrong, but your sheet shows an additional ~$20k of debt after graduation compared to what I had originally calculated using my sheet.
 
RoadRunner17 said:
Very cool, and much more neater than the one I made (I didn't use any formulas - I put down every single step in calculating everything which was annoying and can be hard to follow). I'm not an accountant so my #'s could be wrong, but..

Are you accounting for the fact that unsubsidized loans don't capitalize until you start repayment? Subsidized loans don't accrue interest, unsubsidized loans do accrue interest but isn't capitalized. Thus I believe the final numbers in the sheet (after correcting the interest rates to 6.8%) are an overestimate. I could be wrong, but your sheet shows an additional ~$20k of debt after graduation compared to what I had originally calculated using my sheet.
Click to expand...

I was not aware of that and to tell you the truth, I don't really even know what that means? Does that mean that interest does not compound upon previous interest? I can post an update if we can reach a consensus.
 
ar2388 said:
well. now i know that i will graduate with 312K of debt...
Click to expand...

Don't get too down.. the first year will probably have the worst financial aid package because you don't have as high of a debt load as you will in say the 3rd year. I would say this sheet provides a "worst case scenario." I think its important as incoming students to have an idea of what we are getting ourselves into -- hope that this sheet helped you out in that respect!
 
This is the most updated version - mistakes changed:

(1) the subtraction of grants in the final debt calculation
(2) the interest rate of unsubsidized loans was changed to 6.8%
(3) the old version said that it was calculating a salary based on 45k but some versions had a 40k salary. it was changed to 45k.

Please scroll down for the most updated version
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=8110226#post8110226
 

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  • MSAidEvaluatorByNEWDOC2013.xls
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Last edited:
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Wait, so we become eligible for more and more FED Subsidized loans each year?
 
newdoc2013 said:
I was not aware of that and to tell you the truth, I don't really even know what that means? Does that mean that interest does not compound upon previous interest? I can post an update if we can reach a consensus.
Click to expand...

Correct. The principals are accruing interest (6.8% annually) but that interest isn't being capitalized into the principals until repayment begins. So while in school, the principals themselves aren't changing on a semester to semester basis. I can't really recommend any ways to change the formula to reflect this, though... maybe multiply that interest by the # of years remaining for each semester's loans? I never took an accounting class or anything like that (damn my engineering background) so I can't really help.
 
RoadRunner17 said:
Correct. The principals are accruing interest (6.8% annually) but that interest isn't being capitalized into the principals until repayment begins. So while in school, the principals themselves aren't changing on a semester to semester basis. I can't really recommend any ways to change the formula to reflect this, though... maybe multiply that interest by the # of years remaining for each semester's loans? I never took an accounting class or anything like that (damn my engineering background) so I can't really help.
Click to expand...

got it. ill work on a fix tonight.
 
This is currently the most updated version

Hi all --

I changed the interest calculation from compound interest during medical school to simple interest per RoadRunner's suggestion. Also, the newest version accounts for the max loan rate of $8500 for the federal subsidized loan in each of the 4 years (I think this is pretty standard anyways). The money that was originally tagged (inappropriately) to this loan was put into the unsubsidized federal loan.

The values didn't seem to change much, but for completion its worth updating these areas.
 

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  • MSAidEvaluatorByNEWDOC2013.xls
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You're the man. Seriously. Thanks so much.
 
GoSpursGo said:
I'm gonna assume this was meant for pre-allo, not school-specific... moving there :)
Click to expand...

Just flexing, aren't ya? lol...

BTW, the subsidized loans' rates is still 4.9%, not the 6.8% it should be.

Also, can someone chime in on whether the interest is accruing monthly or annually? The formula the OP uses seems to be computing the simple interest monthly, but I thought it was annual.
 
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Wait, shouldn't the during school rates for subsidized loans be zero (since subsidized loans don't accrue interest during school)?
 
RoadRunner17 said:
Just flexing, aren't ya? lol...

BTW, the subsidized loans' rates is still 4.9%, not the 6.8% it should be.

Also, can someone chime in on whether the interest is accruing monthly or annually? The formula the OP uses seems to be computing the simple interest monthly, but I thought it was annual.
Click to expand...

I thought I used simple interest accruing annually. For the compound interest I used monthly. If this is incorrect, let me know.

For clarity, which loans should have what rates? I was a bit confused with this. (I'll do some searching tonight to find the rates with website citations, but if you already know where to find this information it would be helpful..)

I'll post updates nightly based on the activity of the thread with what seems to be the consensus of the day.
 
ngkats said:
Wait, shouldn't the during school rates for subsidized loans be zero (since subsidized loans don't accrue interest during school)?
Click to expand...

Yes. I am on a Linux machine without open office right now so I cant check my work -- but rest assured, if there is an error with this I will fix it tonight. Whoops!
 
newdoc2013 said:
I thought I used simple interest accruing annually. For the compound interest I used monthly. If this is incorrect, let me know.

For clarity, which loans should have what rates? I was a bit confused with this.

I'll post updates nightly based on the activity of the thread with what seems to be the consensus of the day.
Click to expand...

Stafford loans are all 6.8%.

Ok looks like you're right, gotcha.
 
The compounding interest can be monthly, every 3 months, or longer depending on the loan.

Also, I think there is a small mistake when you are calculating the monthly interest payments for residency. You use the "Post Residency Debt (with no payment)" - "Ending Debt" but that isn't quite right because the former had compounded interest added in the total. The person paying the interest in residency would not have that extra principal.
 
RoadRunner17 said:
Stafford loans are all 6.8%.
Click to expand...


It seems that Stafford Loans are all (Sub and Unsub) 6.8% now. I'm just looking over my undergrad loans, and the ones from earlier than 2006 seem to be at 4.21%. I'm not sure that I'd necessarily change it in the spreadsheet, but it's probably worth being aware that if your older, or might be taking out loans in the future that rates change, which could have dramatic results.
 
This PDF was posted by RSAgator in Chemist0157's thread containing a similar spreadsheet, and it fits the numbers that come out of my sheet. I'm not sure what's happening with the sheet that was posted in this thread but we need to try to identify what's being done differently.

The assumptions might help, it seems like interest will capitalize annually but I'm not sure how often interest is accrued.. I've been operating on the assumption that it was annually but richse seems to suggest otherwise. I'm really not sure what to make of it.
 

Attachments

  • repaymentsummary.pdf
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RoadRunner17 said:
This PDF was posted by RSAgator in Chemist0157's thread containing a similar spreadsheet, and it fits the numbers that come out of my sheet. I'm not sure what's happening with the sheet that was posted in this thread but we need to try to identify what's being done differently.

The assumptions might help, it seems like interest will capitalize annually but I'm not sure how often interest is accrued.. I've been operating on the assumption that it was annually but richse seems to suggest otherwise. I'm really not sure what to make of it.
Click to expand...

very cool - will be taking a look later.
 
Mattabet said:
It seems that Stafford Loans are all (Sub and Unsub) 6.8% now. I'm just looking over my undergrad loans, and the ones from earlier than 2006 seem to be at 4.21%. I'm not sure that I'd necessarily change it in the spreadsheet, but it's probably worth being aware that if your older, or might be taking out loans in the future that rates change, which could have dramatic results.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure that the rates change every July 1st (heard from my Mom, haha). Hopefully this year they will be going down!
 
lol, after looking at this, I'll definitely take the money my parents have to offer. haha
 
TMP-SMX said:
Don't worry when they get old and have dementia they are moving in too.
Click to expand...

hahaha, looks like a win-win situation for our parents - you'll always be indebted to them and they get to spend more family time with you when they get old. :laugh:

btw, many thanks for the spreadsheet, newdoc. It's very handy to have a general idea of how much you owe when the dust settles. :thumbup:
 
Hey...sorry if this is a stupid question..but why is the post residency debt so much higher than the ending debt..I thought post residency would be lower bc we start paying back after graduation..?
 
Because the rate of accruing interest is typically greater than the rate at which you are able to pay back, during those years.

Piston95 said:
Hey...sorry if this is a stupid question..but why is the post residency debt so much higher than the ending debt..I thought post residency would be lower bc we start paying back after graduation..?
Click to expand...
 
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