I can only speak to Virginia located FP practices, but I know that, currently, the Roanoke, Virginia region offers FPs 40,000 in tuition assistance in addition to a more modest sign on bonus. Roanoke is a small area, but not rural by any means. Most of the positions for FP in Virginia offer a one year salaried/employeed type job and then switch to an RVU based salary. Starting out in this area, most are in the range of 180-215 depending on whether or not you take on inpatient responsibilities, nursing home call, how many patients you see, the percentage of deadbeats your group sees, etc. Also, of course, whether or not procedures are involved in your day to day. Some things to look into would be 1) would the tuition/loan assistance be taxed as income and 2) are their any strings attached such as a mandatory length of contract, etc. My girlfriend recently graduated PT school and was offered 20K tuition assistance; however, it was with a 4 year contract, with steep interest penalties for breaking it. I grew up in Richmond, Virginia and I can say that they do VERY well there (275K-300K); however, I've yet to hear of loan offers like that in that area. Finally, if you have THAT big of a loan burden and you're trying to save money any which way you can, I may suggest you consider taking a job in a state w/o state income tax after residency (options include Nevada, Florida, Tenn, Wyoming and a few others). If any of those states even remotely appeal to you, it would be a way to save a decent amount of your income from going to Uncle Sam and instead toward knocking off your loan debt.