Living off of student loans

[NurWollen]

There are some really old threads on this topic, so I thought I'd start a new one. Forgive my audacity.

I'm kind of wondering how people live off of student loans in med school. I did it in undergrad, as my parents weren't able to help me much in undergrad. I got married while in college, and we always had enough to get by as far as paying tuition and buying groceries, but not usually enough for good private insurance (Medicaid covered my wife only during her pregnancy, and now it only covers my not-quite-one-year old son.). It also was never really enough to buy a reliable vehicle to get around in.

So, my question is this: how well can one with a small family and a stay-at-home spouse live off of med school loans, with no significant savings. I am particularly interested in regards to health insurance and cars (right now I have a junker with no AC, and I live in Arizona.)

I was hoping some current med students, with or without families, could offer some insight.

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[DrMaximus]

There are some really old threads on this topic, so I thought I'd start a new one. Forgive my audacity.

I'm kind of wondering how people live off of student loans in med school. I did it in undergrad, as my parents weren't able to help me much in undergrad. I got married while in college, and we always had enough to get by as far as paying tuition and buying groceries, but not usually enough for good private insurance (Medicaid covered my wife only during her pregnancy, and now it only covers my not-quite-one-year old son.). It also was never really enough to buy a reliable vehicle to get around in.

So, my question is this: how well can one with a small family and a stay-at-home spouse live off of med school loans, with no significant savings. I am particularly interested in regards to health insurance and cars (right now I have a junker with no AC, and I live in Arizona.)

I was hoping some current med students, with or without families, could offer some insight.

Med school loans allow for 10 months of board, rent, etc. If you don't buy ALL of the books and extra stuff, this should suffice for at least that whole time as long as you don't live extravagantly. Look at whatever med school you're applying to specifically and just break down the max loan they allow and see if you can manage with it.

Also, my school includes insurance in their budget and provides it for us.

Hope this helps!

 

[abolt18]

There are some really old threads on this topic, so I thought I'd start a new one. Forgive my audacity.

I'm kind of wondering how people live off of student loans in med school. I did it in undergrad, as my parents weren't able to help me much in undergrad. I got married while in college, and we always had enough to get by as far as paying tuition and buying groceries, but not usually enough for good private insurance (Medicaid covered my wife only during her pregnancy, and now it only covers my not-quite-one-year old son.). It also was never really enough to buy a reliable vehicle to get around in.

So, my question is this: how well can one with a small family and a stay-at-home spouse live off of med school loans, with no significant savings. I am particularly interested in regards to health insurance and cars (right now I have a junker with no AC, and I live in Arizona.)

I was hoping some current med students, with or without families, could offer some insight.

I think this is a great question to ask.

I've planned on the HPSP since the start of undergrad. As I've learned more about it from recipients of the scholarship, I'm realizing I'd probably prefer to join up AFTER school so as to avoid the risk of getting forced into a GMO tour before residency. And so because of this harsh reality, for the first time ever I've begun to think about student loans. I'm also married with my first child on the way (only 1 month to go!!!) and I've been fortunate to not have any significant loans so far. I stresses me out to imagine 300K+ of debt, especially considering that DO schools have such high tuition, and it just keeps going up. I was estimating 75,000 (assuming tuition+fees comes out to around 45K on average followed by 25-30K to live off of. I HOPE that's an over-estimation) a year, so that'd be coming out with 300,000 by the end of it.

Any recommendations on how to get specific scholarships or grants that are offered outside of those provided by each school? (I'm a white male coming from middle class family) I'm really hoping this is a possibility, as every penny helps knock down that final amount of debt.

 

[MedPR]

I for one am excited about living off loans for 4 years... Not.

 

[SLC]

The only thing i can say is tht we have been able to do just exactly that. My wife stays home with our 3 kids, and I go to school.

We dont have a ton of time to spend money so that probably helps. Also, we make it a point to find nice, but affordable digs, even if they're not super close to school.

It is not easy, but it's totally doable.

 

[UrshumMurshum]

 

[whatbout2morrow]

Scholarship-wise, pretty much HPSP/HSCP if you are interested in going into the military and NHSC if you're interested in primary care and working in underserved areas.

 

[jrporte3]

There are some really old threads on this topic, so I thought I'd start a new one. Forgive my audacity.

I'm kind of wondering how people live off of student loans in med school. I did it in undergrad, as my parents weren't able to help me much in undergrad. I got married while in college, and we always had enough to get by as far as paying tuition and buying groceries, but not usually enough for good private insurance (Medicaid covered my wife only during her pregnancy, and now it only covers my not-quite-one-year old son.). It also was never really enough to buy a reliable vehicle to get around in.

So, my question is this: how well can one with a small family and a stay-at-home spouse live off of med school loans, with no significant savings. I am particularly interested in regards to health insurance and cars (right now I have a junker with no AC, and I live in Arizona.)

I was hoping some current med students, with or without families, could offer some insight.

My wife is a current 3rd year med student (AZCOM), and while I am currently working (part time as a Bio/OChem tutor), we have mainly lived of of her loans. We have been living comfortably, nothing to luxurious obviously, but enough that we are not just scrapping by. We have never been late on payments or struggling to pay rent or anything like that. It really depends on how your family spends its money. If you and your spouse realize that when you live off of loan money its not your money, but the governments and you have to pay it all back, it makes you rethink if some purchases are really worth it.


As far as health insurance goes, AZCOM (and i'm assuming its very similar for other schools) requires that you either purchase their health insurance, which covers you and your family, or you can opt out of their insurance if you are covered elsewhere. What my wife and I did for the first year was we took out the maximum amount of loans we could, and then lived off of our budget. If we had leftover money at the end of the year, we would either pay that money back towards the interest, or bank it, and take out less the next year. While we dont have any kids, we were left with plenty at the end of her 1st year, and took out about 1/2 as much the next year.

It isn't uncommon for students to purchase new/used car, with their student loans because of the amount of driving you do your 3rd and 4th year (at least at AZCOM).

The key is as long as you make yourself a good budget, and stick to it, there is no reason why you and your family could live off your loans fairly comfortably.

 

[DrMaximus]

Bahahahaha!!