how much student loans did you finish with?

[xiphoid2010]

Me and my girlfriend were talking about student loans today, and how much the monthly payments will be, and how it sucks that we won't be able to deduct interest in our taxes because of the high income.

So:

(1) what's the projected/actual student loans when you graduate(d)

(2) what's the school

(3) how fast are you able/plan to pay it off?

(4) what's your strategy for minimizing cost/interest? or what you wish you had done to cut cost earlier.

To start off:

(1) my girlfriend (who's my classmate) and I are looking at $80K a piece.
(2) Ohio State University. It would have been $60K if we were in-state the first year.
(3) pay it off in 3 year ($4500/mo combined) or 5 years ($3200/mo)
(4) wish we hadn't spent as much loan money partying the p1 year, and started working as an intern at the beginning of p1 year rather than the end of it. Could have each graduate with about $10K less if we did that.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[type b pharmD]

Me and my girlfriend were talking about student loans today, and how much the monthly payments will be, and how it sucks that we won't be able to deduct interest in our taxes because of the high income.

So:

(1) what's the projected/actual student loans when you graduate(d)

(2) what's the school

(3) how fast are you able/plan to pay it off?

(4) what's your strategy for minimizing cost/interest? or what you wish you had done to cut cost earlier.

To start off:

(1) my girlfriend (who's my classmate) and I are looking at $80K a piece.
(2) Ohio State University. It would have been $60K if we were in-state the first year.
(3) pay it off in 3 year ($4500/mo combined) or 5 years ($3200/mo)
(4) wish we hadn't spent as much loan money partying the p1 year, and started working as an intern at the beginning of p1 year rather than the end of it. Could have each graduate with about $10K less if we did that.

80k? that's nothing! I think im looking at about 170k (including some undergrad loans).

plan to pay it off in 4-5 years at $4000 or so per month. I take pride though in being able to live very happily off of basically nothing.

 

[HaloKing]

1: 85,000.. but i kinda lost count of the interest...

2: the public university north of you... (UT)

3: wait til i graduate in may to answer that one

4: natty light!! skip the expensive stuff... all work and no play makes jack a very dull boy... without the partying you probably would have gotten burnt out and quit..

 

[bigpharmD]

80k? that's nothing! I think im looking at about 170k (including some undergrad loans).

plan to pay it off in 4-5 years at $4000 or so per month. I take pride though in being able to live very happily off of basically nothing.

You should talk to a financial planner. Depending on the interest rate (and granted the economy is bad now) it might be better to put all that money into 401k. You may never have an interest rate as low as you do now on those loans.

 

[type b pharmD]

You should talk to a financial planner. Depending on the interest rate (and granted the economy is bad now) it might be better to put all that money into 401k. You may never have an interest rate as low as you do now on those loans.

think the market is ready for a turnaround? and do you think most financial planners would be able to pull something like that off? the general rumor has it that people should try to be debt free as soon as possible. i am aware that such alternative schemes exist, but im just not sure if i would trust the market or an advisor with all that money hanging over my head.

 

[FORTLIVINGROOM]

70K

Consolidate the loans. (assuming consolidation doesn't make u ineligible for other cost savings)

E-bills...reduce rate by 1/4-1/2%

Pay on time everytime...some places will drop the interest a point or two after X months of on time payments

Best place to look is your state...see if they have any programs like this. (usually only for Stafford loans)

 

[FORTLIVINGROOM]

You may never have an interest rate as low as you do now on those loans.

?

Bush fixed the fed loans at 6 and 6.8%

 

[bigpharmD]

think the market is ready for a turnaround? and do you think most financial planners would be able to pull something like that off? the general rumor has it that people should try to be debt free as soon as possible. i am aware that such alternative schemes exist, but im just not sure if i would trust the market or an advisor with all that money hanging over my head.

I have been out and I am just telling you what most planners will tell you. Lock in a low interest rate and pay on time. Put your money in retirement and a house and you will be sipping on cocktails at 65. The general rumor for debt free is typically high interest rate debt. This would be cars, and credit cards, etc. Also private loans might fall into this as well. You could put that extra 3000 dollars a month into an IRA and earn 4-10% interest on it. I think once you get out you will find that plowing 4000 bones a month into student loans will be verrrrry difficult.

 

[Glycerin]

$190,000

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

$190,000

Out with $50,000. Paid off in 10 years. Started at $830 per month then around $500 per month for a while then it progressively decreasd towards the end.

 

[Vitamin K]

I'm P4 and I'll leave with about $150,000 (including 2 years of out-of-state tuition as an undergrad)

I go to a state university.

I plan on making double payments (~2500/mo from what I've calculated), but I haven't done the math to see how long that'll take. Also, my fiance is a writer, and any book $$ he gets will go toward our debt in lump sum since we have no problem living off of my salary.

Edit: We plan on living on 50% of our net income, with 25% going to savings and the other 25% going to debt repayment (not incl house payment - that's in the 50% part).

 

[stevephhs016]

$190,000

I think I can top that I haven't even added all my loan totals yet...

With interests and all those good stuff. Hopefully, I'll figure it out after I'm finished with my last two rotations.

Anyways, so I don't even know how'd you will manage to do $4000/month. That barely leaves anything for basic living necessities. Some people can do it I guess.

I think $2500/month seems more managable.

1. Unknown amount, prolly very high
2. USP
3. Would try to pay it off asap (<5years?)
4. Probably consolidate the federal loans. And try to pay off the private loans (which are the bulk of my loans).

 

[jetblack]

wow .. and i freaked out when i saw my cumulative to be ~72K$. about to graduate in may, i started paying back some.. have 58K to go! gonna try to get it repaid in a year..

 

[type b pharmD]

I think I can top that I haven't even added all my loan totals yet...

With interests and all those good stuff. Hopefully, I'll figure it out after I'm finished with my last two rotations.

Anyways, so I don't even know how'd you will manage to do $4000/month. That barely leaves anything for basic living necessities. Some people can do it I guess.

I think $2500/month seems more managable.

1. Unknown amount, prolly very high
2. USP
3. Would try to pay it off asap (<5years?)
4. Probably consolidate the federal loans. And try to pay off the private loans (which are the bulk of my loans).

after taxes, it's not unreasonable to think that you will be making 6k a month as a pharmacist either by working in a high demand location and making $60/hr or by picking up an extra shift or two per month. (personally i plan on moving to a rural area). How anyone cannot live on $2,000 a month is beyond me. This is somewhere around the equivalent of making $15/hr, which in my experience working construction has been dang easy to get by on. Isn't 30k somewhere around the average or median us salary??

But then again where i'm from, decent houses go for 120k and nice apartments for $600-650/month.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

after taxes, it's not unreasonable to think that you will be making 6k a month as a pharmacist (personally i plan on moving to a rural high demand area). How anyone cannot live on $2,000 a month is beyond me. This is somewhere around the equivalent of making $15/hr, which in my experience working construction has been dang easy to get by on. Isn't 30k somewhere around the average or median us salary??

But then again where i'm from, decent houses go for 120k and nice apartments for $600-650/month.

But unlike the 30k guy, you dont get medicaid, social security/pension, AND a 10k tax return at the end of the year.

 

[type b pharmD]

But unlike the 30k guy, you dont get medicaid, social security/pension, AND a 10k tax return at the end of the year.

There are still people out there getting pensions??

I didnt think medicaid applied to people making more than 15k a year or so, 20k with families.

And how could you get 10k back in taxes as a $15/hr employee?? At that point you would have to have some pretty egregious errors in your withholdings, seeing as how making $15/hr only leaves you with a total yearly tax burden of around 5-6k.

 

[Priapism321]

I have been out and I am just telling you what most planners will tell you. Lock in a low interest rate and pay on time. Put your money in retirement and a house and you will be sipping on cocktails at 65. The general rumor for debt free is typically high interest rate debt. This would be cars, and credit cards, etc. Also private loans might fall into this as well. You could put that extra 3000 dollars a month into an IRA and earn 4-10% interest on it.

Good advice from someone who rents an overpriced condo so you can live on a swanky island. I say move to the dorms and pay the loans off quick......

 

[xiphoid2010]

Here are some useful links for those who wants some estimate about loan payments.

take home pay calculator

debt repayment calculator (works for student loans too)

Basically, for a pharmacist, working 40hr week, paid $50 an hour. After contributing the max to 401K (15%), you are looking at roughly $1150 per week (about $4600 per month) take home pay.

Trying to pay off your loans at $4K/mo is unrealistic (unless you got a sugar daddy/mommy). Paying $2.5-$3K/mo is quite possible as long as you live like a student during that time.

At $2500 per month, $100K Stafford loan will take almost 4 years to pay off (46 months). At $3K a month, it takes a little over 3 years (38 mo).

One thing to keep in mind: at pharmacist's salary level, student loan interests are NOT tax deductible. So you are paying the full 6.8%. So student loans are not quite the "good" debt that some people say it its.

Another thing: contribute to 401(K) as much and as early as you can, even in this crappy economy. When you are young, time/compounding are the biggest driving forces behind your investment. Delaying that by 5 years (based upon 7% annual return) you reduce your retirement wealth by 40%.

 

[Markovnikov]

I'm finishing my undergraduate degree from in-state school and already will be 20k in debt. I am thankful that I am going to an in-state pharmacy school but it is still expensive. The cost is $16k tuition each year and I am paying $7200 each year for rent (includes utilities). So $92,800 left to go for four more years, which does not even include textbooks, food, gas, etc. Although I do have a job and support from parents that mostly covers the textbooks, food, gas, etc.


I know a PhD student at the college of pharmacy who is only graduating with 30k in loans (which also includes his undergraduate loans)

 

[xiphoid2010]

I'm finishing my undergraduate degree from in-state school and already will be 20k in debt. I am thankful that I am going to an in-state pharmacy school but it is still expensive. The cost is $16k tuition each year and I am paying $7200 each year for rent (includes utilities). So $92,800 left to go for four more years, which does not even include textbooks, food, gas, etc. Although I do have a job and support from parents that mostly covers the textbooks, food, gas, etc.


I know a PhD student at the college of pharmacy who is only graduating with 30k in loans (which also includes his undergraduate loans)

You should strive to work enough to cover all your living expenses. Except my first year (out of state) tuition, I was able to cover the living expense by working about 16 hr/week. This is very doable by itself, but trying to do that and making a GPA above a 3.7 isn't.

Alot, if not most, Ph.Ds don't pay tuitions. They get paid instead. Their education mainly revolves around working for the professor, either as a research assistant or teaching assistant (or both). For that, their tuition is waived, and they get paid about $1.5K a month. Of course most of them don't make as much when they graduate and job markets are usually more saturated. So that's the trade off.

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

There are still people out there getting pensions??

I didnt think medicaid applied to people making more than 15k a year or so, 20k with families.

And how could you get 10k back in taxes as a $15/hr employee?? At that point you would have to have some pretty egregious errors in your withholdings, seeing as how making $15/hr only leaves you with a total yearly tax burden of around 5-6k.

Oh yeah... government workers still gets pensions. You can qualify for medicaid easily if you know how to mess around with the system (Off the books, dependents, etc). Even if you are making 30k on the books, you wont have to pay a dime going to the ER because you have nothing to lose if they chase after you. On the other hand if you are making 120k, you can be sure they will hunt your ass down to get their money.

Yes, you can get back 10k regardless of your tax burdens. The government gives out "credits" to low income families.

The point is no matter how technical you get, you cant say if a guy can support a family on 30k, I dont see how you can not live off 20k...

 

[Allure]

I know someone who got his hours cut down to 32 from 40. Currently making 21K a year with his wife being a full-time student and she doesn't work. They have 2 kids both under the age of 10. Went and applied for foodstamps and medicaid. Got rejected for medicaid. So I don't know how you can mess around with the system to get it.

 

[codep1nk]

180,500
thanks to little bit of undergrad + out of state pharm tuition.

no plans yet...

 

[Aznfarmerboi]

I know someone who got his hours cut down to 32 from 40. Currently making 21K a year with his wife being a full-time student and she doesn't work. They have 2 kids both under the age of 10. Went and applied for foodstamps and medicaid. Got rejected for medicaid. So I don't know how you can mess around with the system to get it.

Tell him to reduce his hours and work some off the book. http://www.health.state.ny.us/health_care/medicaid/#qualify

If he is in ny, he is definitely elgible for family healthcare plus. (He pays very little or no copay for physicians and a few bucks for RX). http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/fhplus/who_can_join.htm

For tax credits, he qualifies for earned income credit, child credits, etc... and like you said, food stamps.

Regardless of how technical you guys are, I was trying to make a point. Comparing a family making 30k to us is pointless because they have unlimited government benefits with nothing to lose versus us.

If I was to go to the ER right now, you can bet I will recieve a bill for 10k and be held accountable for it. On the other hand, nothing will happen to your friend. If I want to pay for my insurance (CVS insurance sucks), I have to pay hundreds each month and still have to pay high copays with limits (~1k a day in the ER).

Hence, living with 20k a year after paying back 50k is not enough!!!! Its going to be really hard if you do!

 

[FORTLIVINGROOM]

OK, let's say that, hypothetically speaking, your interest on 100K was ZERO percent.

Now assuming 0%, wouldn't it be ideal to pay the lowest amount possible every month?

Wouldn't inflation work in your favor so that, over time, your inflated dollars are paying down the dollars at the value you originally took the loan out for???

Is there any incentive to pay off that debt? I can't imagine it would harm your credit if all the payments are on time.

 

[RNtoPharmD]

(1) What's the projected/actual student loans when you graduate(d)
I am only a P1 so it is difficult to predict. It will depend on my employment status and the increase of private school tuition. ~$50,000 or less (if I keep working 24 hr/week and get the expected financial help or tuition reimbursement). ~140,000 (if I don’t work or work very little for the next 3 years) – private school tuition L
(3) How fast are you able/plan to pay $ it off?
No payment on loan for 2 years, if I am lucky enough to find residency. Then, if I am lucky enough to find a job, I will contribute whatever amount left from 35,000 of net income to pay the loan (I need at least $35,000 to have a decent life)… If I owe ~50,000, I will be at least 35 before I can pay it off
(4) what's your strategy for minimizing cost/interest? or what you wish you had done to cut cost earlier.
-Pay full interest on the loan every year if I can afford while being a student
-Ask relatives if they can loan me the money with 0% interest even if it will be a small portion
-empty my saving account and paid the tuition L
-work : (
- no private apartment. Planning to live in either dorm or sharing house/room/apartment
-pay off other things that have higher interest rate ASAP (car, credit cards)
- entertain myself in an economical way. ( playing music, seeing movie etc and limiting out-of-state trip)
-claim tuition on income tax and get a little tax return.

 

[xiphoid2010]

delete, double post

 

[xiphoid2010]

^ you might want to make sure the dorm is cheaper than apartments. Over here, it cost about $100 more to live in the dorm even after accounting for all the amenities.

Also, unless you have over $20K in income, you probably won't be able to deduct student loan interest since (1) it's probably less than standard deduction and (2) the $2000 life-time-learning credit is worth more and you can only have 1 or the other.

 

[Shakeitfast]

I'll be finishing up with about 200K in student loans come May. 100k tuition, 100k "living expenses" spread over 3 years. Good times.

Funs over now...$2300/month x10yrs. Using a home equity loan to pay them off is a good idea since the interest on them is tax deductable. Consolidating is a good option for any private loans with higher apr's. Getting married will turn your loan into "our" loan, but is being married really worth it?? nope

 

[Vitamin K]

Funs over now...$2300/month x10yrs. Using a home equity loan to pay them off is a good idea since the interest on them is tax deductable.

No, getting a home equity loan is a HORRIBLE idea. What happens if you get sick or lose your job and can no longer make that payment? You can defer student loans for hardship, but you're f*cked if you can't make your house payment.

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

No, getting a home equity loan is a HORRIBLE idea. What happens if you get sick or lose your job and can no longer make that payment? You can defer student loans for hardship, but you're f*cked if you can't make your house payment.

Who has $200,000 home equity these days?

 

[Vitamin K]

Who has $200,000 home equity these days?

True story.

 

[Shakeitfast]

Not too worried bout losing my job as a pharmacist. Buying a home later this year and hope to have enough equity after 5 years to pay off the remaining 100k it student debt. Who really knows though...just an idea if it ever presents itself.

 

[ItsOverZyvox]

Not too worried bout losing my job as a pharmacist. Buying a home later this year and hope to have enough equity after 5 years to pay off the remaining 100k it student debt. Who really knows though...just an idea if it ever presents itself.

I don't know your situation nor do I know where you're going to buy. But I do believe Real Estate value will further decline for the next 2 years and we have not seen the bottom yet. I also don't see real estate will appreciate that much where your equity will grow to 100K in next 5 years unless you're buying a $1 million house and it will appraise at $1.1 million.

The reason for the explosive real estate/stock market/commodity growth past 10 years (2002-2006 for real estate) was due to large bubbles created by low interest rate and subprime fiasco which put the world into a recession.

I understand you wanting to tie student loan into a real estate amortization to write off taxes. But remember, home equity interest payment may not be 100% deductible.

If you can pull it off, it's a good deal. Hopefully BarryO will reverse Reagan's decision to tax the educational loan interest.

 

[ValeRx]

I'll probably go ROTC to continue my military service when I start pharmacy school and have no student loan debt to speak of, aside from what loans I take out for living expenses.

 

[xiphoid2010]

I'll be finishing up with about 200K in student loans come May. 100k tuition, 100k "living expenses" spread over 3 years. Good times.

Funs over now...$2300/month x10yrs. Using a home equity loan to pay them off is a good idea since the interest on them is tax deductable. Consolidating is a good option for any private loans with higher apr's. Getting married will turn your loan into "our" loan, but is being married really worth it?? nope

You might try to sign up with a company that offer student loan repayment/forgiveness as part of the benefit package.

 

[spacecowgirl]

I don't even want to write it out. Denial works for me.

I'm making the minimum payment and am paying electronically and automatically which decreases my rate. After 36 consecutive payments (on time) I will drop another 1%. Right now my rate is 4.3%ish so I'm trying not to stress too much about it. The future hubs was laid off for a long time so we're still figuring things out.

 

[Hels2007]

This is very doable by itself, but trying to do that and making a GPA above a 3.7 isn't.

I disagree, based on my and my friends' experience.

I graduated with almost $50K, have paid off about half of it. Should have it paid off in another year or so. I could have taken some $10-15K less loans (as I went to my state school & got some scholarships), but I didn't want to cut my travel budget nor limit my rotation choices.

 

[gaba101]

(1) $40K (from undergraduate years and then later pharmacy school years)
(2) public school in one of them big busy highly-populated cities
(3) sooner than later but significant other says to spread it out
(4) ?

Me and my girlfriend were talking about student loans today, and how much the monthly payments will be, and how it sucks that we won't be able to deduct interest in our taxes because of the high income.

So:

(1) what's the projected/actual student loans when you graduate(d)

(2) what's the school

(3) how fast are you able/plan to pay it off?

(4) what's your strategy for minimizing cost/interest? or what you wish you had done to cut cost earlier.

To start off:

(1) my girlfriend (who's my classmate) and I are looking at $80K a piece.
(2) Ohio State University. It would have been $60K if we were in-state the first year.
(3) pay it off in 3 year ($4500/mo combined) or 5 years ($3200/mo)
(4) wish we hadn't spent as much loan money partying the p1 year, and started working as an intern at the beginning of p1 year rather than the end of it. Could have each graduate with about $10K less if we did that.

 

[pinkyrx]

(1) $40K (from undergraduate years and then later pharmacy school years)
(2) public school in one of them big busy highly-populated cities

Same here... I graduated with about 40K in loans from one of the public state schools. I'm a non-traditional student and my husband already had a successful career so we were able to get through school without many loans. I think I had them paid off within a couple of months.

I have several friends that graduated with 150K and are paying them off gradually. The payments suck, but at least it was a good investment in your future.

 

[kdt110]

I owe just over 40 k. Not too bad.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I am going to owe 110k(Undergrad +Pharm). When I graduate I will decide how I want to approach my loans. I am still thinking about a residency or PHS. Most likely just setup the 10 year payment plan but try to get it paid off in less time.

For now I am just enjoying my time in school and figure out what the hell I want to do afterward.

 

[njac]

I think I'll have about $80K? That seems high but who knows what it is with interest now.

I haven't decided how I'll do it.

 

[Prepharm1214]

60k for Undergrad, 160k for Pharmacy School. 220k-ish total.

Haven't thought too much about how i'm going to pay it off, other then realizing it will take forever. I should also note I basically have an interest free loan as my parents were fortunate enough to fund my college.

 

[aboveliquidice]

60k for Undergrad, 160k for Pharmacy School. 220k-ish total.

Haven't thought too much about how i'm going to pay it off, other then realizing it will take forever. I should also note I basically have an interest free loan as my parents were fortunate enough to fund my college.

This may sound nieve (spelled rong???) but I honestly don't care how much in the hole I am.

I am hoping for a gov't bailout...

~above~

 

[stevephhs016]

This may sound nieve (spelled rong???) but I honestly don't care how much in the hole I am.

I am hoping for a gov't bailout...

~above~

I'm to graduate this May. To be honest, I never thought about how much of a hole I was/am in. The more I thought about it, the more worried I got...the more worried I got...the more I didn't studied. So, I just focused on getting though these 6 years and figure out everything afterward.

Let me be clear though, $150k loan for a student that have never even made more than a couple thousand dollar job, its pretty daunting. Especially during times in school when you were struggling. Man...

 

[aboveliquidice]

I'm to graduate this May. To be honest, I never thought about how much of a hole I was/am in. The more I thought about it, the more worried I got...the more worried I got...the more I didn't studied. So, I just focused on getting though these 6 years and figure out everything afterward.

Let me be clear though, $150k loan for a student that have never even made more than a couple thousand dollar job, its pretty daunting. Especially during times in school when you were struggling. Man...

150K - as long as you get a job (you may have to work on that part) and you set for yourself a reasonable budget - you will have no problem paying off that debt.

It wont be quick, it wont be as small as some other people - but it is well within your financial means... Keep the faith brotha (or sista)

~above~

 

[atticus27]

I'm looking at about 220k (undrgd+Rx school) plus interest. I just pretend I'm from NYC and say "Ehhhhhhh fuget about it!"

 

[fhx06]

For those of you working off your loans, are you paying the private loans off first or paying both private and federal loans off at the same time?

 

[dangerdog]

For those of you working off your loans, are you paying the private loans off first or paying both private and federal loans off at the same time?

pay off the loan with the highest interest rate first (which is probably private loans), do minimum payment on the lower ones.

the federal loans have several advantages, such as forbearance and loan forgiveness under certain conditions.