Lets talk financial options

[dental555]

I feel like this is something that is under discussed, even though it can have life long implications. From my limited experience, I know of the following options for paying for dental school:

In state tuition: This is personally what I'm trying to go for. If you can get a good deal your loan won't be to bad and you can just work to paying it off over time without too much worry.

Out of state/private school tuition: This is where I start to get worried. A $300,000-$350,000 loan can turn in to double or more of that over time with interest. As I believe one post mentioned before, if you make $120,000 a year right out of dental school you may only end up bringing home $55,000 or so after taxes and student loan payments. I'm not planning to go in to dentistry just for the money, but I'm not planning on working my ass off to make that kind of money either.

Payment options I know of for a large student loan include IBR, which I originally thought I would strongly consider. A federal program that caps your yearly payment to 10% of your income and it being absolved as taxable income after 20 years sounds great. However, it could be one of those too-good-to-be-true sort of things, whether that means the loan is not guaranteed and if the government cuts or changes the program you could be 40 years old with a $1,000,000 in debt. Even if not, having to pay the tax on that at the end of the 20 year period isn't fun either.

The other option I'm considering is a military scholarship were they pay for your tuition and give you a stipend but you commit 4 years to them after school. I'd rather do this than be in debt probably, but I also don't like the idea of essentially pledging away my youth, being 30 years once I finally end this commitment, although again being debt free is an awesome idea.

The way I see it is your only really good option is a cheap (relatively) in-state tuition. I thought that grinding to get in to dental school, putting in the work there for 4 tough years and then grinding to set up a successful practice while paying a reasonable amount of loans would be enough, but it seems as though if you play your cards wrong all that hard work may not pay off if you set yourself for an insurmountable or crippling amount of debt. What other options do you guys know of? What are you going for? Is forgoing any loan repayment options and going to an out of state school and just paying off the loans with a normal repayment plan a viable option? I think a serious discussion on this is important so people know what they are getting themselves in to.

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[Brachyury]

I feel like this is something that is under discussed, even though it can have life long implications. From my limited experience, I know of the following options for paying for dental school:

In state tuition: This is personally what I'm trying to go for. If you can get a good deal your loan won't be to bad and you can just work to paying it off over time without too much worry.

Out of state/private school tuition: This is where I start to get worried. A $300,000-$350,000 loan can turn in to double or more of that over time with interest. As I believe one post mentioned before, if you make $120,000 a year right out of dental school you may only end up bringing home $55,000 or so after taxes and student loan payments. I'm not planning to go in to dentistry just for the money, but I'm not planning on working my ass off to make that kind of money either.

Payment options I know of for a large student loan include IBR, which I originally thought I would strongly consider. A federal program that caps your yearly payment to 10% of your income and it being absolved as taxable income after 20 years sounds great. However, it could be one of those too-good-to-be-true sort of things, whether that means the loan is not guaranteed and if the government cuts or changes the program you could be 40 years old with a $1,000,000 in debt. Even if not, having to pay the tax on that at the end of the 20 year period isn't fun either.

The other option I'm considering is a military scholarship were they pay for your tuition and give you a stipend but you commit 4 years to them after school. I'd rather do this than be in debt probably, but I also don't like the idea of essentially pledging away my youth, being 30 years once I finally end this commitment, although again being debt free is an awesome idea.

The way I see it is your only really good option is a cheap (relatively) in-state tuition. I thought that grinding to get in to dental school, putting in the work there for 4 tough years and then grinding to set up a successful practice while paying a reasonable amount of loans would be enough, but it seems as though if you play your cards wrong all that hard work may not pay off if you set yourself for an insurmountable or crippling amount of debt. What other options do you guys know of? What are you going for? Is forgoing any loan repayment options and going to an out of state school and just paying off the loans with a normal repayment plan a viable option? I think a serious discussion on this is important so people know what they are getting themselves in to.

Hey, I was scrolling down to the Internal Medicine forum, and I saw your post. I'm a M3 who's stuck at my parents house for Christmas, so here is some general, non-dental advice.

IBR is unlikely to go anywhere: IBR was passed with bipartisan support (it was signed into law by President Bush), and it was created to address the rising cost of higher education. Basically, instead of creating legislation to control the rapid increase in the cost of higher education--say, like creating a board similar to California's insurance board that approves yearly increases in insurance policy rates--Congress wimped out and decided IBR would step on fewer toes. What might go away is the 10-year loan foregiveness program, but usually the government grandfathers individuals who are already participating in government program into the program once congress has scraped them (sorry the wording is gauche). Point is, if you start IBR with intention of doing loan forgiveness, you are unlikely to be dropped from the program even if Congress dissolves the loan forgiveness portion of IBR.

In terms of other options, there is the National Health Service Corps, which will pay for dental school and give you a small stipend in exchange for serving in an under-served area (either rural or urban) for four years. However, the NHSC scholarship is very competitive: to qualify, you usually need to be from a rural or urban area that is medically under-served and/or low-income. Another alternative is after dental school, you can apply to land a job through the NHSC loan repayment program. On top of your salary, the NHSC will give you 60k in loan repayment if you serve in an area that needs a dentist. You can also extend your service with NHSC and receive more loan repayment money the longer you serve, up until 10 years, at which point your loans would be cancelled through IBR. Unlike the NHSC scholarship program, almost anyone with a pulse can qualify for the NHSC loan repayment program.http://nhsc.hrsa.gov/loanrepayment/index.html#calculator

Good luck

 

[AwesomeTeeth]

I
Payment options I know of for a large student loan include IBR, which I originally thought I would strongly consider. A federal program that caps your yearly payment to 10% of your income and it being absolved as taxable income after 20 years sounds great. However, it could be one of those too-good-to-be-true sort of things, whether that means the loan is not guaranteed and if the government cuts or changes the program you could be 40 years old with a $1,000,000 in debt. Even if not, having to pay the tax on that at the end of the 20 year period isn't fun either.

IBR has brainwashed you. It's not a way of getting out of your student debt unless you went to NYU for a liberal arts degree and end up with a 30K salary. Every year you're paying only 10% of your income, the interest builds and builds. No one is going to give you a loan for a house, car, new practice, whatever when you have a million dollar debt and have been making essentially minimum payments on it. I don't think it should be viewed as a serious option for dentists or doctors unless you're absolutely drowning in debt.

The other option I'm considering is a military scholarship were they pay for your tuition and give you a stipend but you commit 4 years to them after school. I'd rather do this than be in debt probably, but I also don't like the idea of essentially pledging away my youth, being 30 years once I finally end this commitment, although again being debt free is an awesome idea.

You already pledged away your youth when you decided to become a dentist and had to go through 4 years of undergrad and 4 years of dental school. Doctors don't get out until they finish their residency after 3+ years on top of med school. Committing yourself to the military isn't as terrible as you make it sound if you come out debt free. And you get a salary on top of your loan repayment. It's definitely an option, not for everyone though.

What other options do you guys know of? What are you going for? Is forgoing any loan repayment options and going to an out of state school and just paying off the loans with a normal repayment plan a viable option? I think a serious discussion on this is important so people know what they are getting themselves in to.

Another option would be National Health Service Corps or Indian Health Service. You work in an undeserved area or Native American reservation for X number of years in exchange for loan repayment. The problem is that it might be in the middle of nowhere.

Honestly, the loan isn't going to destroy your life. A 400K loan will be 4K a month for 20 years with interest included. You might not live lavishly like you want over those 20 years but you will have a life. If you wanted to do it over 10 years, you'll be eating ramen but you'll pay less. And you're forgetting that your income as a dentist will increase over your lifespan. You're not going to make 120K for your entire life. As it increases, you'll definitely be better off.

Don't worry about loans too much unless you're paying something insane. It's worth having a career. And always pick the cheaper school

 

[dental555]

Thanks for the advice. I don't think the IBR has brainwashed me, I understand the risks and as I said it sounds too good to be true the way some people present it. And as far as the comment about pledging away my youth, that may have been an exaggeration but an additional 4 years of my 20's isn't any minor commitment either. Lastly, $4000 a month for a year is docking $50,000 or so off your salary per year for 20 years, again, a serious commitment. I'm definitely going to the cheapest school available, it just kind of sucks that I basically have 1 shot at getting in to a significantly cheaper in state school.

It seems to me that most students forego any loan forgiveness and just handle the debt regardless of out of state or in state and I guess I was wondering if that's true. If students are paying $50,000 a year in loan payments, do you guys realize that while you may be expecting a 6 figure salary this could be closer to $50,000 out of school? I do understand that your salary increases over time. I know it probably varies practice to practice based on different growth, but is there a sort of baseline salary growth you can expect year to year, like 1% or 2%? I really have no clue just throwing out numbers.