Is $100,000 in stdent loans too much?

[MonikaPharmD2B]

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I am a P-1 and I am relaly worried looking ahead at my future bill for the education. I will owe close to $100,000 by the time I finish school. How much is that in student loan payments? What is an average monthly paycheck of a pharmacist after taxes, and is the student loan payoff reasonable? I am really worried, I would hate to be in debt for next 30 years... Should I try to pay it all off in a year or two, or are the payments not that painful? I guess, I just want to be sure I have moey left to enjoy myself. ALso, some people say that may be able to get my future employers to pay some of my loan. Does anybody have this experience? Is it common? If so, how much do they pay off? I am also considering residency training, but I am not sure if I have to pay tuition for that as well..

 

[Caverject]

stop worrying so damn much and enjoy it....

 

[BiOGoly]

I am a P-1 and I am relaly worried looking ahead at my future bill for the education. I will owe close to $100,000 by the time I finish school. How much is that in student loan payments? What is an average monthly paycheck of a pharmacist after taxes, and is the student loan payoff reasonable? I am really worried, I would hate to be in debt for next 30 years... Should I try to pay it all off in a year or two, or are the payments not that painful? I guess, I just want to be sure I have moey left to enjoy myself. ALso, some people say that may be able to get my future employers to pay some of my loan. Does anybody have this experience? Is it common? If so, how much do they pay off? I am also considering residency training, but I am not sure if I have to pay tuition for that as well..

If you only have $100k total in loans by the time you graduate consider yourself lucky, I hear many USC grads are coming out over 220k in the red.

 

[GatorRxGirl]

Call your lender or talk to financial aid. I'm a pharmacy student, not a loan advisor. 😀

 

[Orthonut]

My brother, the most anal retentive budgeteer on the planet had this to say when discussing student loans (I'll have somewhere around $250k when I graduate)

"Taking out a loan for one's education is never a bad idea. Student loans are an investment in your future. The only bad idea is not paying the loan back"

He had 150k when he graduated flight school-and he made about $30k a year for the first few years, teaching private pilot ground school and slowly working his way up the food chain-he's now a 747 jockey. My point here is this-it would only be a bad idea in my opinion if say you planned on working at a gas station as an attendant instead of being a pharmacist (in which case you may have difficulty paying them off)

Yeah, it's a heck of a lot of money. However, if you're smart you can do it-do you need to drive a brand new fancypants car? Do you need to live in a $450k house? Do you need to wear Manolo B shoes? Do you need to go out on the town every night and spend tons of money on dinner? Or will you be happy driving something that's 8 years old and gets 40 mpg, living in a small older house and wearing nice but inexpensive serviceable clothes, cooking dinner at home and watching whatever's on tv?

 

[greatdeals225]

haha.. .I live in Boston, MA, and a $450K house is not uncommon here!

 

[museabuse]

$100,000 is nothing, considering you'll be making 100k+ after graduation. I am 140K in debt and I have not graduated yet. Don't be afraid to take out more loans to enjoy life a little bit while in school (ie vacation or cool elctronic gadget). The last thing you want to worry about is money and credit card debt while in school.

 

[MonikaPharmD2B]

My brother, the most anal retentive budgeteer on the planet had this to say when discussing student loans (I'll have somewhere around $250k when I graduate)

"Taking out a loan for one's education is never a bad idea. Student loans are an investment in your future. The only bad idea is not paying the loan back"

He had 150k when he graduated flight school-and he made about $30k a year for the first few years, teaching private pilot ground school and slowly working his way up the food chain-he's now a 747 jockey. My point here is this-it would only be a bad idea in my opinion if say you planned on working at a gas station as an attendant instead of being a pharmacist (in which case you may have difficulty paying them off)

Yeah, it's a heck of a lot of money. However, if you're smart you can do it-do you need to drive a brand new fancypants car? Do you need to live in a $450k house? Do you need to wear Manolo B shoes? Do you need to go out on the town every night and spend tons of money on dinner? Or will you be happy driving something that's 8 years old and gets 40 mpg, living in a small older house and wearing nice but inexpensive serviceable clothes, cooking dinner at home and watching whatever's on tv?

I agree, student loan is definitely investment in my future. I was just hoping to get some concrete numbers from somebody who has been through it all to tell me how painful sturent loan repayment is. I am 32 and by the time I finish school I will be 36. My husband and I want to hold off having children until I finish school and I wold hate to not be able to afford having them. I am also concerned that it will take a long time to pay it all off and we would like to enjoy the money some time....

 

[alwaystired]

I agree, student loan is definitely investment in my future. I was just hoping to get some concrete numbers from somebody who has been through it all to tell me how painful sturent loan repayment is. I am 32 and by the time I finish school I will be 36. My husband and I want to hold off having children until I finish school and I wold hate to not be able to afford having them. I am also concerned that it will take a long time to pay it all off and we would like to enjoy the money some time....

all i know so far is this:

1 year loan: 40,000 and if i pay it off over 25 years it will cost me 120,000, so my plan is to pay it off rather quickly since i would have that times 3 and i hate giving away free money in interest rates (these are private loans with higher interest rates)

but what are the alternatives? don't go to school. nope that won't work either.

i have heard of some graduated pharmacists adding their student loan onto the home loan. I have heard of some of them working hard and paying it off, and then there are others that are slowly chipping away at it for the next 25 years. 😱 that scares me, but it's their choice

 

[acetyl]

I agree, student loan is definitely investment in my future. I was just hoping to get some concrete numbers from somebody who has been through it all to tell me how painful sturent loan repayment is. I am 32 and by the time I finish school I will be 36. My husband and I want to hold off having children until I finish school and I wold hate to not be able to afford having them. I am also concerned that it will take a long time to pay it all off and we would like to enjoy the money some time....

Show your husband the numbers, and tell him he needs to get his butt in gear! 😀

 

[pharmboy30]

i pay $750/mo for 30 yrs for consolidation of federal loans.
I also have private loans, pay around $350/mo for those 10 yrs.

 

[freshbeatschris]

Yeah, it's a heck of a lot of money. However, if you're smart you can do it-do you need to drive a brand new fancypants car? Do you need to live in a $450k house? Do you need to wear Manolo B shoes? Do you need to go out on the town every night and spend tons of money on dinner? Or will you be happy driving something that's 8 years old and gets 40 mpg, living in a small older house and wearing nice but inexpensive serviceable clothes, cooking dinner at home and watching whatever's on tv?

Driving an 8 year old car might end up costing you more in the long run in repairs than just dropping the extra dough on a new one with a warranty. I speak from experience on this one.

Same with the house. Domestic service calls are big bucks. But I agree with you on the clothes and food.

Chris

 

[Orthonut]

Driving an 8 year old car might end up costing you more in the long run in repairs than just dropping the extra dough on a new one with a warranty. I speak from experience on this one.

Same with the house. Domestic service calls are big bucks. But I agree with you on the clothes and food.

Chris

Good points Chris-you need to evaluate pros and cons of everything. I guess I forget that not everyone can work on their own cars (I love my truck) and has a neighbor that is a general contractor that trades work on our house for work on his cars by my SO.

I'm lucky-I am able to fix most things myself (or know someone that can-small towns are great) and my SO owns a tow company soooo...heheheh, the tow is free if I need it (of course, we're paying the insurance, fuel, etc so it's not really free)

You can get a perfectly serviceable new car for cheap-just not fancy (those little Kias and Neons get good mileage, but not much resale value-but who cares if you're going to drive it till the wheels fall off)

The house thing-we happen to own our house, but you can use the same analogy for renters-you could share a house with co-interns or live in a smaller apt rather than in some fancy condo or something. Sometimes you've got to dig around to find a good apt for cheap but they do exist.

 

[genesis09]

When I graduate from pharmacy school, I'll have a 7 year old car. It'll probably be fine for another couple years. Whenever that car goes, I'll probably buy, without financing, a two year old used car. At the 2 year mark, the big depreciation is over with, you've all heard the story that you drive a new car out of the dealership and it loses several thousand dollars of value, and the car should have many miles left in it.

 

[ZpackSux]

Good God...how did I finish USC RX school with $50,000 debt.....and done paid off...

Oh..I know, I worked my ass off every weekend and every summer. And my parents helped out..and my wife supported me through. 👍

 

[Fatpharm]

Easy, not everyone has rich parents or a "cash cow" that they can rely on.

 

[hcp]

Don't worry, I'm looking at a 160k loan when I'm done... Just concentrate in school, pass your classes, and get your license..... Then, think about your loan! 100k is not much.

I am a P-1 and I am relaly worried looking ahead at my future bill for the education. I will owe close to $100,000 by the time I finish school. How much is that in student loan payments? What is an average monthly paycheck of a pharmacist after taxes, and is the student loan payoff reasonable? I am really worried, I would hate to be in debt for next 30 years... Should I try to pay it all off in a year or two, or are the payments not that painful? I guess, I just want to be sure I have moey left to enjoy myself. ALso, some people say that may be able to get my future employers to pay some of my loan. Does anybody have this experience? Is it common? If so, how much do they pay off? I am also considering residency training, but I am not sure if I have to pay tuition for that as well..

 

[crossurfingers]

I'll have around $100k in debt by the time I get out in another year. I've just started seriously thinking about my budget for when I finally graduate... kinda depressing! I won't be able to move out as soon as I hoped and I definitely won't be dropping mad money on shopping sprees like I thought I would be when I was in college. I think I'm going to meet with some sort of financial advisor since I have so many questions about how to pay off loans and how to invest my savings.

Anyone have any suggestions as to how to pay off loans- as quickly as possible or dragged out over the maximum 30 years? On the one hand, if I pay as quickly as possible I won't have it looming over my head for too long, but I'll have no money saved up. If I drag it out I'll end up paying so much interest, but I'll be able to save more money for a house, car, etc.

 

[MountainPharmD]

My goal in school was always to take out as few loans as possible. To do this I worked as much as my class load would allow. Usually I worked 24 to 32 hours per week at a pharmacy and full time in the summer. I saved as much money as I could, payed for what I could and took out small loans to cover the rest.
All these poeple who say "go ahead take out all the loans you need, you will be able to pay them back" are crazy. For your student loan debt your talking $700 to $800 a mounth for 30 years. Thats if the economy doesnt go to **** and interest rates go up because you could pay alot more.

 

[genesis09]

The interest rate issue is now null because starting this year, the interest rate is fixed at 6.8%.
For most people, working more than 10-15 hours a week would be very hard. You're already in class about 25 hours a week at UIC, and most people commute, so you are easily eating up over 30 hours a week in school related activities.

 

[ZpackSux]

My goal in school was always to take out as few loans as possible. To do this I worked as much as my class load would allow. Usually I worked 24 to 32 hours per week at a pharmacy and full time in the summer. I saved as much money as I could, payed for what I could and took out small loans to cover the rest.
All these poeple who say "go ahead take out all the loans you need, you will be able to pay them back" are crazy. For your student loan debt your talking $700 to $800 a mounth for 30 years. Thats if the economy doesnt go to **** and interest rates go up because you could pay alot more.

Excellent post.. and very smart. 👍

 

[ZpackSux]

I borrowed $50,000. My payment in the beginning was about $850 per month. My last payment was around $550 per month. I was on 10 year repayment plan.

 

[Doctor M]

I finished with $87000 in school loans ( went to U at Buffalo NY). I took out the max and I pay $334/mon consolidated (2.87%)and $170/month private loan. Pay yourself first.

 

[rx1]

ok, I have to chime in here... I think that if you gave the option to any Wall Streeter to invest $100,000 over four years for a return of >$100,000 for the next 30 years he would jump all over it. That being said, I think that it is very important to be somewhat of a miser while in school. I enjoyed myself but with the debt looming over my head now I wish I had been a little more prudent with my spending.
The most important take home message from me is don't take out a long amortitization on the money if you can!!!! Pay that s*** off ASAP. Figure that the money that you are saving in interest is easily money back in your pocket and an investment. You are essentially getting paid that interest that you are saving. As a pharmacist with a $100K plus gig you will have plenty of time to "pay yourself" and having a partner with another income makes it that much easier.

Do not fear Debt but stay out of it and if you are in it get out ASAP.

What do ya think?

 

[oakland_raiders]

I met my wife while she was in pharmacy school way back in 1998. she graduated in 2000 with about $110K in loans. If the stars align I will start my Pharm D this fall ( probably about $80k after the military helps out). We did the 10 year plan for a while until the kids came. Then we re-financed over 30 years. We still make the 10 year payments, but the 30 year plan gave us some breathing room in case we had a tough couple of months and needed the expendable income. I highly recommend this route if you are discipled enough to make the extra payments directly to the principal. Just my two cents...probably worth just a penny. 😉

 

[alwaystired]

I met my wife while she was in pharmacy school way back in 1998. she graduated in 2000 with about $110K in loans. If the stars align I will start my Pharm D this fall ( probably about $80k after the military helps out). We did the 10 year plan for a while until the kids came. Then we re-financed over 30 years. We still make the 10 year payments, but the 30 year plan gave us some breathing room in case we had a tough couple of months and needed the expendable income. I highly recommend this route if you are discipled enough to make the extra payments directly to the principal. Just my two cents...probably worth just a penny. 😉

just curious...what does the interest/payment look like for 10 yr vs 30 yr?

 

[Jeddevil]

just curious...what does the interest/payment look like for 10 yr vs 30 yr?

Here, figure it out for your own situation.

https://www.theloanprogram.org/tlc/Calculators/LoanRepayment.aspx

 

[alwaystired]

thanks

 

[Jeddevil]

thanks

By the way, that site I linked you to is a great company to use for your loans. Much better than Sallie Mae and other normal lenders IMHO. Read through it and you will see why.

 

[Army Captain]

Have you considered the Army Health Profession Loan Repayment? The HPLR will pay up to $125,000 towards your student loans.