How much is too much?

[yadayadadude]

In light of the recent (interesting, but ultimately degenerated and closed) thread regarding very high student debt, I've been wondering: is there any amount of debt that would make you think twice about attending medical school? What if medical school tuition was $75K/year? Is $500K in total debt too much? $800K? Heck, would you borrow a million dollars for the chance to become a doctor?

I'm perhaps more debt averse than most, but I personally would not borrow more than $200K to attend medical school. At that price, I'd do something else with my professional life. (On the other hand, reserving the ability to work part-time or opt out completely is very important to me and high debt does limit your freedom considerably.)

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[Doctor Bagel]

I'm going to borrow around $240k for medical school, which feels like a ton, but based on all the calculations I've run, it's doable without being crippling. I've done the calculations based on an assumption that I'll make $150k/year (I figure that's a conservative, realistic estimate, especially since I'm not interested in the high paying fields). I'm also planning on stretching my Stafford loans out over 25 years, and I'd go for 30 if I were younger -- figured it'd be a good idea to get rid of them by the time I turn 65. My plan now is to pay all my GradPlus loans off within 10 years, but who knows. I will say I have zero plans to work parttime.

But I didn't go to medical school just to make lots of money, and I've been living a pretty modest lifestyle for a long time. Even with the loan payments, I'm coming out ahead of most people. If I pushed it to $300k, I'd say that paying any of the loans off in 10 years wouldn't be doable unless I wound up making more than that $150k/year. Anything above $300k would make me very uncomfortable.

 

[rgerwin]

For us,it's 265K + interest. So, it really depends on if you defer or attempt to pay some of the interest during residency, which will be another 18-19K a year, at least, for at least 3, possibly 5-6 tears. It could be almost 400K by the time all is said and done, and this isn't uncommon anymore.

 

[MDapp2205]

My significant other and I are applying at the same time and considering a very expensive private school because it gives us the best chance to be together which is uber important to us. We will be looking at about 450K between the two of us for the whole enchilada. Is this going to be feasible or will the debt crush us?

Anyone speaking from experience (or knowledge) please feel free to reply.

Thanks

 

[Doctor Bagel]

My significant other and I are applying at the same time and considering a very expensive private school because it gives us the best chance to be together which is uber important to us. We will be looking at about 450K between the two of us for the whole enchilada. Is this going to be feasible or will the debt crush us?

Anyone speaking from experience (or knowledge) please feel free to reply.

Thanks

Personally I wouldn't look at it as $450k because you're going to have two salaries to pay it off. It's more like $225k per person, which is doable. I'd only look at it as combined debt if one of you is planning on not working or working parttime.

One thing to note is that you can probably reduce it a decent amount by living together and cutting costs. Neither of you should need to borrow the full amount allotted to you for living expenses if you do this.