How much debt is too much debt (including private loans)?

[hopefulblackpremed]

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Say I take out 200k in federal unsubsidized loans and 280k in private loans, is that insurmountable? So 480k for all 4 years. Would that mean living as a resident till my 40s? 50s? 60s? Would that mean no retirement. Say I go into primary care is that survivable? Or do I have to go into a high paying specialty? I know it ain’t easy to match into top specialties. Thoughts?? I’ve read about refinancing and all that stuff, still very confusing.

 

[Taddy Mason]

I graduated with just shy of $400k in debt, went into a mid paying specialty, and am 2.5 years out of training. I’ll have my debt paid off in full in about 3 more years.

 

[RangerBob]

Here is a good article to read:

Dave Ramsey Medical School Debt-to-Salary Ratio | White Coat Investor

Here's how to determine the maximum amount of student loan debt that your future earnings can support AND what to do if you already have too much.

www.whitecoatinvestor.com

Thankfully math is math. Take your figures (load amounts, interest rates) and enter them into a spreadsheet (or ChatGPT). Figure out how much you’ll owe at the end of med school as the loans will keep growing due to interest. Odds are they’ll keep growing quite a bit in residency as well as most residents make the minimum IBR/SAVE (or whatever it is now) payment each month.

Then take that now much larger number at the end of residency (it may easily be well over $100k above what you borrowed) and calculate your monthly payment. Ask yourself if you can really pay that off and live the way you want to with the salary you expect from your top choice specialties.

If you can’t, you either need to work harder, find a different specialty, live somewhere cheaper, change your expectations, pursue PSLF, join the military, etc, etc.

The math will work. You can get by. Whether it’s worth it or not is in the eye of the beholder.

 

[bunkina]

I would still recommend med school, even having to borrow almost 500K. While it's possible to pay off any amount, by going into a high-paying specialty (easier said than done), and by living very frugally and moonlighting as early as possible, there are a lot of good reasons to keep borrowing to a minimum.

First, you really do not want to wind up with a lot of debt, and with no medical degree, if you find that you have to drop out, for whatever reason. That is the worst case scenario. Second, the debt is not low interest, the interest will compound, and you will wind up paying off much, much more than you borrowed. Third, life comes at you - marriage, children, etc, with all the higher expense that entails, and the debt can really be a millstone around your neck.

Still, I would never recommend not going to med school because of the debt. Done right, you can pay it off pretty quickly. "Done right" means live as frugally as you can during med school and residency. Avoid the attitude of "I deserve it "(because I'm going to be studying so hard, because some day I'll make a great living so why not treat myself now, because a higher income lifestyle is a human right). Certainly, apply to schools that will be cheaper for you, but of course, nowadays, it's so hard to get into any MD school, your only option might be the one where you'll come out >400K in debt. Hopefully, you'll get a reduced tuition scholarship, and if you do, you probably want to take that school's offer. But even if you have to borrow nearly 500K, it can be worth it, especially if you go into a higher-paying specialty. Even lower paying specialties can wind up bringing in high income, if you learn how to run your own practice, and keep your overhead low.

I've been flabbergasted by the questions I've seen posted in the past (when the only limit on federal borrowing was how much the school would approve as cost of attendance), where applicants would ask how generous a particular school's cost of attendance approval was, because the applicant wanted to live well in med school, with a high standard of living, entirely on federal loans!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

In case you haven't read it

The OB3 Effect: How Loan Caps Hit Health Students

What is the OB3 effect on future doctors, dentists and vets? HPSA survey data reveals funding gaps and who is hit hardest.

www.studentdoctor.net