How long to pay back loans?

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helprosie

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Hi so I want to know how long do you expect or how long it took you to pay back your loans? I'm really interested in UoP because of the 3yr program, but the price is around $350K w/o including housing etc. I'll most likely be practicing in GA and staying with my parents for a couple of years.

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Factor in the housing and living and your up to almost 500k. It's doable but you will have to make some sacrifices either upfront or later.
 
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its possible as long as you are smart with your money. if youre gonna buy in audi r8 right out of dental school, then you are being dumb. just have in mind you will live comfortably you should be able to make your payments.
 
They give scholarships So that amount could be lower.
 
Eh, I mean if ur making 120k net, live off 30k, and pay 90k to student loans every year. Ur debt free in six years.

There are other places to live besides California and New York btw. And yes, you can live off of 30k/year. I live off of 15K right now.
 
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There are other places to live besides California and New York btw. And yes, you can live off of 30k/year. I live off of 15K right now.

Mad respect to you.
 
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Why would you want to pay it off in 10 years or less? Those ten years are still part of your life. Do the income based repayment program and make the minimum payments. That way you can actually save/invest/enjoy your money. At the end of 20 years, your loans are forgiven (besides paying taxes on the amount forgiven that last year), and you will have lived very comfortably while you were young while still saving for retirement. You didn't become a dentist to live in a trailer park.


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People need to realize this before signing the dotted line for loans.




Mad respect to you.

Thanks man.

It's not really all that challenging. Drive a 5k car I bought with cash, no car payments, I don't eat out a ton, and my apartment is like 400$/month.
 
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Why would you want to pay it off in 10 years or less? Those ten years are still part of your life. Do the income based repayment program and make the minimum payments. That way you can actually save/invest/enjoy your money. At the end of 20 years, your loans are forgiven (besides paying taxes on the amount forgiven that last year), and you will have lived very comfortably while you were young while still saving for retirement. You didn't become a dentist to live in a trailer park.


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It is naive to think that that loan balance will actually be forgiven in total in 20 years. I'd encourage you to stay abreast of current affairs. It turns out forgiving all of those IBR loans is going to cost much, much more than the government originally thought. It also turns out that the IBR program is disproportionately helping professional and graduate students - not the original intent of the program. There are already grumblings in Washington DC to cap it. I've already brought this up several times on these forums. (https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ibr-and-loan-forgiveness.1231197/) Long story short, if you borrowed the money expect to fully pay it back.

Big Hoss
 
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It is naive to think that that loan balance will actually be forgiven in total in 20 years. I'd encourage you to stay abreast of current affairs. It turns out forgiving all of those IBR loans is going to cost much, much more than the government originally thought. It also turns out that the IBR program is disproportionately helping professional and graduate students - not the original intent of the program. There are already grumblings in Washington DC to cap it. I've already brought this up several times on these forums. (https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ibr-and-loan-forgiveness.1231197/) Long story short, if you borrowed the money expect to fully pay it back.

Big Hoss

I've always been a proponent of the Dave Ramsey "Pay it off as soon as possible, while living off crumbs if you have to" method, the sooner that debt is out of my life, the better. The thought of having it sit for 20 years piling up in interest doesn't sit well with me
 
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Eh, I mean if ur making 120k net, live off 30k, and pay 90k to student loans every year. Ur debt free in six years.

There are other places to live besides California and New York btw. And yes, you can live off of 30k/year. I live off of 15K right now.
I hope you know the difference between gross income and net income
 
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Thanks for all the responses so far! I do want to pay the loan back as soon as possible because I don't want that to haunt me. Since I'll be living with my parents, I can put 80% of my income towards the loan. I'm also thinking of doing the NHSC for the three years here in GA.
 
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Thanks man.

It's not really all that challenging. Drive a 5k car I bought with cash, no car payments, I don't eat out a ton, and my apartment is like 400$/month.

Do you live with roomies or by yourself?
 
Do you live with roomies or by yourself?

Flying solo.

The amenities are not the nicest, but it's a generally safe area.

Also, tell people you are willing to pay cash for your purchases, apartments, cars, etc. Does wonders when you are trying to negotiate a price.
 
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Flying solo.

The amenities are not the nicest, but it's a generally safe area.

Also, tell people you are willing to pay cash for your purchases, apartments, cars, etc. Does wonders when you are trying to negotiate a price.

Do you do meal preps for the week?
 
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Factor in the housing and living and your up to almost 500k. It's doable but you will have to make some sacrifices either upfront or later.

Rule of thumb, total loans should not exceed projected 1st year income
 
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Rule of thumb, total loans should not exceed projected 1st year income
785d49584266631aefc56174a0659bde3cbf5af234fa4a609f4cd27c01b56e58.jpg
 
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omg I have so many questions now. That's such a good tip.

Do you do meal preps for the week?

It's nice to find another frugal-minded person.

I personally don't prep meals for the week. What I like to do is "bulk" shopping and do standard boring trends. So what I will generally do is have breakfast with a cup of almond milk and cereal (not too expensive, especially when you ask friends if you can go to costco with them ;)

Almond milk 12$ for 3 gallons, cereal 3-5$ for industrial sized chex, usually lasts half a month to full month.

For lunch I will have a large bag of lettuce and a choice of low salt lunch meat. I usually side with the chicken on this one, but every once in a while when Im feeling adventurous I'll do salami or pepperoni. 5 dollar bag of lettuce and 5 dollar bag of lunchmeat usually lasts me the week. I try to also grab other veggies as well; carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Problem is, these guys are expensive and go bad quickly.

For snacks, I have a bag of almonds on my desk. I usually just pop a couple in my mouth and it satiates the hunger.

For dinner, I try to go light and do low sugar yogurt mixed with a spoonful of almonds. I usually get my yogurts 4 for 4.

I treat myself on fridays saturdays and sundays, I bake skinless chicken and steam broccoli.

How about you, Any tips on how to live frugal?
 
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It is naive to think that that loan balance will actually be forgiven in total in 20 years. I'd encourage you to stay abreast of current affairs. It turns out forgiving all of those IBR loans is going to cost much, much more than the government originally thought. It also turns out that the IBR program is disproportionately helping professional and graduate students - not the original intent of the program. There are already grumblings in Washington DC to cap it. I've already brought this up several times on these forums. (https://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/ibr-and-loan-forgiveness.1231197/) Long story short, if you borrowed the money expect to fully pay it back.

Big Hoss

The article you linked to actually said Trump wants to make forgiveness possible in less than 20 years, despite the cost. Until there are actual legislative changes, all you're doing is speculating. If you get locked into an IBR, you're set. They can't breach their end of the deal. If they make it so dental students are ineligible before you graduate, so be it. There are still other reasonable repayment programs available. But for now, it's a completely viable option, and it would be ridiculous to make your spouse and kids live in poverty while a dentist. (But I guess if you're a single dude still living in his parents basement, then by all means.)


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I personally don't prep meals for the week. What I like to do is "bulk" shopping and do standard boring trends. So what I will generally do is have breakfast with a cup of almond milk and cereal (not too expensive, especially when you ask friends if you can go to costco with them ;)

Almond milk 12$ for 3 gallons, cereal 3-5$ for industrial sized chex, usually lasts half a month to full month.

For lunch I will have a large bag of lettuce and a choice of low salt lunch meat. I usually side with the chicken on this one, but every once in a while when Im feeling adventurous I'll do salami or pepperoni. 5 dollar bag of lettuce and 5 dollar bag of lunchmeat usually lasts me the week. I try to also grab other veggies as well; carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Problem is, these guys are expensive and go bad quickly.

For snacks, I have a bag of almonds on my desk. I usually just pop a couple in my mouth and it satiates the hunger.

For dinner, I try to go light and do low sugar yogurt mixed with a spoonful of almonds. I usually get my yogurts 4 for 4.

I treat myself on fridays saturdays and sundays, I bake skinless chicken and steam broccoli.

How about you, Any tips on how to live frugal?

Your a legend :thumbup:
 
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I personally don't prep meals for the week. What I like to do is "bulk" shopping and do standard boring trends. So what I will generally do is have breakfast with a cup of almond milk and cereal (not too expensive, especially when you ask friends if you can go to costco with them ;)

Almond milk 12$ for 3 gallons, cereal 3-5$ for industrial sized chex, usually lasts half a month to full month.

For lunch I will have a large bag of lettuce and a choice of low salt lunch meat. I usually side with the chicken on this one, but every once in a while when Im feeling adventurous I'll do salami or pepperoni. 5 dollar bag of lettuce and 5 dollar bag of lunchmeat usually lasts me the week. I try to also grab other veggies as well; carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Problem is, these guys are expensive and go bad quickly.

For snacks, I have a bag of almonds on my desk. I usually just pop a couple in my mouth and it satiates the hunger.

For dinner, I try to go light and do low sugar yogurt mixed with a spoonful of almonds. I usually get my yogurts 4 for 4.

I treat myself on fridays saturdays and sundays, I bake skinless chicken and steam broccoli.

How about you, Any tips on how to live frugal?
I honestly could just live off of cereal, milk, and yogurt, but my wife won't let me...
 
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I personally don't prep meals for the week. What I like to do is "bulk" shopping and do standard boring trends. So what I will generally do is have breakfast with a cup of almond milk and cereal (not too expensive, especially when you ask friends if you can go to costco with them ;)

Almond milk 12$ for 3 gallons, cereal 3-5$ for industrial sized chex, usually lasts half a month to full month.

For lunch I will have a large bag of lettuce and a choice of low salt lunch meat. I usually side with the chicken on this one, but every once in a while when Im feeling adventurous I'll do salami or pepperoni. 5 dollar bag of lettuce and 5 dollar bag of lunchmeat usually lasts me the week. I try to also grab other veggies as well; carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Problem is, these guys are expensive and go bad quickly.

For snacks, I have a bag of almonds on my desk. I usually just pop a couple in my mouth and it satiates the hunger.

For dinner, I try to go light and do low sugar yogurt mixed with a spoonful of almonds. I usually get my yogurts 4 for 4.

I treat myself on fridays saturdays and sundays, I bake skinless chicken and steam broccoli.

How about you, Any tips on how to live frugal?

You've got this under control!! Very impressive.
Your diet looks to be very healthy - you've got the dairy, the veggies, the meat, and the fruit.

I don't want to detract from the OP's purpose in this thread (my fault for veering the thread off course in the first place), so I'll continue my response to you over private message!
 
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With $500,000 in student loans, you'll have to come up with $65,000 (after taxes) every single year for the next decade of your life to pay them off. It's not gonna be pretty.

Big Hoss
10 year payment plan is fairly aggressive (in terms of financing a private dental school education). Say you make 130k a year before taxes, 28% income tax leaves you with 93,600 a year cash. Paying 65,000 a year leaves you with 28,600 a year, which you need to live off of. Would it be feasible to jump from 10 year payment plan to 20 year payment plan (no loan forgiveness, still making payments). There would be a lot more money to live off of each year although longer loan time. Also my statement about making 130k a year doesn't account for growth in income as time passes, or investment gains (or losses at that)
 
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10 year payment plan is fairly aggressive (in terms of financing a private dental school education). Say you make 130k a year before taxes, 28% income tax leaves you with 93,600 a year cash. Paying 65,000 a year leaves you with 28,600 a year, which you need to live off of. Would it be feasible to jump from 10 year payment plan to 20 year payment plan (no loan forgiveness, still making payments). There would be a lot more money to live off of each year although longer loan time. Also my statement about making 130k a year doesn't account for growth in income as time passes, or investment gains (or losses at that)

Yeah, 130k per year is like a corporate dentists base salary of ~$500 per day for 265 days per year. When you add your percentages of production on top of that, you end up making significantly more. My older brother graduated in 2014 and made over 200 last year post taxes as an associate at a private practice (granted, it was a well-established practice). If you work fast, you'll make good money. If you invest in your own practice, you'll make even more because you get a percentage of your associates' and hygienists' production as well.


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Yeah, 130k per year is like a corporate dentists base salary of ~$500 per day for 265 days per year. When you add your percentages of production on top of that, you end up making significantly more. My older brother graduated in 2014 and made over 200 last year post taxes as an associate at a private practice (granted, it was a well-established practice). If you work fast, you'll make good money. If you invest in your own practice, you'll make even more because you get a percentage of your associates' and hygienists' production as well.


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Sounds great for him! Like many have said, seems like all the happy dentists below the iceberg are busy working and the depressed ones are complaining on SDN and dental town on the visible part of the iceberg
 
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The article you linked to actually said Trump wants to make forgiveness possible in less than 20 years, despite the cost. Until there are actual legislative changes, all you're doing is speculating. If you get locked into an IBR, you're set. They can't breach their end of the deal. If they make it so dental students are ineligible before you graduate, so be it. There are still other reasonable repayment programs available. But for now, it's a completely viable option, and it would be ridiculous to make your spouse and kids live in poverty while a dentist. (But I guess if you're a single dude still living in his parents basement, then by all means.)


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What politicians say they'll do is more often than not disjointed from reality. The US is $20 trillion in debt, which amounts to more than the nation's GDP and $160,000 per tax payer. Let's not even bring up the $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities thanks to the ever expanding welfare state. America is broke. Don't expect her to bail you out of your bad financial decisions.

Think that IBR loan forgiveness is locked in and can't be retroactively capped? All the government has to do is pass a law changing the IRS rules pertaining to IBR loan forgiveness. They could simply tax all forgiven balance above $40,000 at 99%. Technically your loans were forgiven and technically the Feds get their money back.

The thought of nursing those student loans along for more than 10 years is nauseating. Have fun with that.

Big Hoss for President 2020
"God, guts, and guns made America free!"
 
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Rule of thumb, total loans should not exceed projected 1st year income

Thats just a generic rule for all grad school loans

Unless you somehow found a time machine to go back to 2002, you're going to find it tough to apply that rule to loans for most graduate programs nowadays
 
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Unless you somehow found a time machine to go back to 2002, you're going to find it tough to apply that rule to loans for most graduate programs nowadays

thats rough, things just get harder...
 
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Big Hoss' tip of the day: Go to the grocery store around 9:30 pm right before they have to throw out the rotisserie chickens that have been sitting there all day. Tell them you'll pay $1.50 per chicken. You'd be surprised by the response you get more often than not.

Big Hoss
 
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Others said it, by why you want to be debt free as soon as possible?

That just means you will work as a slave for 5-7 years of your life, need I say the best years of your life

Destroy your relationships, and put big strain on yourself and your family, and for what?
TO be debt free!

Here is a tip!

Nobody is debt free, we are all slaves to the machine!

Even millionaires are not really debt free!

The only people who are not debt free!
Are demi- gods!

They run this world and they set the debts to each one of us, you don't want to be like them, do you?

You are not superman!
 
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Others said it, by why you want to be debt free as soon as possible?

That just means you will work as a slave for 5-7 years of your life, need I say the best years of your life

Destroy your relationships, and put big strain on yourself and your family, and for what?
TO be debt free!

Here is a tip!

Nobody is debt free, we are all slaves to the machine!

Even millionaires are not really debt free!

The only people who are not debt free!
Are demi- gods!

They run this world and they set the debts to each one of us, you don't want to be like them, do you?

You are not superman!

This is stupid advice.
debt is like getting yourself stuck in a hole. Avoid the big holes and when trying to dig yourself out, get the biggest shovel you can.

And you're saying immediately after dental school are the best years of your life? I hope not.
 
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I personally don't prep meals for the week. What I like to do is "bulk" shopping and do standard boring trends. So what I will generally do is have breakfast with a cup of almond milk and cereal (not too expensive, especially when you ask friends if you can go to costco with them ;)

Almond milk 12$ for 3 gallons, cereal 3-5$ for industrial sized chex, usually lasts half a month to full month.

For lunch I will have a large bag of lettuce and a choice of low salt lunch meat. I usually side with the chicken on this one, but every once in a while when Im feeling adventurous I'll do salami or pepperoni. 5 dollar bag of lettuce and 5 dollar bag of lunchmeat usually lasts me the week. I try to also grab other veggies as well; carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Problem is, these guys are expensive and go bad quickly.

For snacks, I have a bag of almonds on my desk. I usually just pop a couple in my mouth and it satiates the hunger.

For dinner, I try to go light and do low sugar yogurt mixed with a spoonful of almonds. I usually get my yogurts 4 for 4.

I treat myself on fridays saturdays and sundays, I bake skinless chicken and steam broccoli.

How about you, Any tips on how to live frugal?


How much do you weigh? Are you female?



This is barely any food at all.
 
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For lunch I will have a large bag of lettuce and a choice of low salt lunch meat. I usually side with the chicken on this one, but every once in a while when Im feeling adventurous I'll do salami or pepperoni. 5 dollar bag of lettuce and 5 dollar bag of lunchmeat usually lasts me the week. I try to also grab other veggies as well; carrots, celery, broccoli, etc. Problem is, these guys are expensive and go bad quickly.

For snacks, I have a bag of almonds on my desk. I usually just pop a couple in my mouth and it satiates the hunger.

For dinner, I try to go light and do low sugar yogurt mixed with a spoonful of almonds. I usually get my yogurts 4 for 4.

I treat myself on fridays saturdays and sundays, I bake skinless chicken and steam broccoli.

This is barely any food at all.
Yeah I think I eat all of that for lunch on a light day.
 
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Thanks for all the responses so far! I do want to pay the loan back as soon as possible because I don't want that to haunt me. Since I'll be living with my parents, I can put 80% of my income towards the loan. I'm also thinking of doing the NHSC for the three years here in GA.
This is exactly what we're doing... but not living with parents. We're a married couple with $600k of combined student loan debt (dental school and law school) and we are hustling to pay it back as quick as we can. We paid off about $45k before our loans went into repayment. We're still a long ways to go since graduating dental school last June but we feel confident based on our incomes/willingness to not overspend. We live off about $35k a year which is not that bad in the midwest.
 
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This is exactly what we're doing... but not living with parents. We're a married couple with $600k of combined student loan debt (dental school and law school) and we are hustling to pay it back as quick as we can. We paid off about $45k before our loans went into repayment. We're still a long ways to go since graduating dental school last June but we feel confident based on our incomes/willingness to not overspend. We live off about $35k a year which is not that bad in the midwest.

You don't have to give out specific numbers, but since graduating, how is your overall NET income, after taxes? Are you able to pull in at least 120K after taxes? Could you give a ballpark in income for people living in the same place that you live, roughly?
 
Why would you want to pay it off in 10 years or less? Those ten years are still part of your life. Do the income based repayment program and make the minimum payments. That way you can actually save/invest/enjoy your money. At the end of 20 years, your loans are forgiven (besides paying taxes on the amount forgiven that last year), and you will have lived very comfortably while you were young while still saving for retirement. You didn't become a dentist to live in a trailer park.


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What is with the income based loan repayment? Could you explain that? My bro is 400k in the hole but he is starting radiology residency next year. I am applying to dent school this summer btw.
 
Unless you somehow found a time machine to go back to 2002, you're going to find it tough to apply that rule to loans for most graduate programs nowadays

Hey there's still some places/situations where that's possible! Assuming 120k starting salary, I'll be right at that mark or just below it when I graduate (not including the money I have saved that I plan on throwing at it ASAP)

So possible? Yes! Common? No.


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