Loan repayment options if joining group practice?

[shahseh22]

Hi,
I wanted some advice. I finished my child fellowship and have been doing various locums since I graduated this June. I was thinking about doing the PSLF and joining VA full time to do so, but I enjoy working with CAP population too much. I have heard that I could do private practice and do better than I would if I work for someone, but I don't think it's feasible in my area (Southern California). I have about $240k in Student Loans and about 5.5 years more of PSLF. I have looked into some options with working with bigger organizations (like Kaiser) but honestly didn't feel like a good fit for me. I was wondering if anyone knows of group practices that would pay up loans up front with one signing a 3-5 year contract? I'd even be ok with a lower salary but want health benefits. I'm just looking to see what options I have. I've seen some options where people give bonuses (like $15-40k a year), but I really want someone to honestly just take care of my student loans so I don't have this burden following me for the rest of my life.

Thanks in advance.

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[Bartelby]

I don't think anywhere is likely to offer that (though would be very interested to hear if I am wrong). Imagine the nightmare of trying to re-collect the money from you if you choose to back out of the contract! And from your end, imagine committing yourself to work for that group No Matter What because they repaid your loans, no matter what kind of abuse they might heap on to you.

$240,000 is a lot of money, but one option would be to join a private practice or hospital practice and to live well below your means, applying the extra to your loans. That might turn out to be similar to what you are looking for (getting rid of your loans on a 5-year timeline but accepting a lower salary in the meantime).

 

[nexus73]

For child psych, maybe there is a large health system somewhere (probably a big non profit) that would agree to pay off loans over several years. Like at best maybe 30k per year (maybe more) for 8 years or however long it takes (or until you get PSLF if non profit). This I imagine would be the best possibility. But this money is still taxed so it’s not a total solution, but definitely better than no money. I doubt a private practice group could come close to this.

but make sure you ask for the money. We had someone hired here who has loans and we told him there was a loan repayment benefit, but he never asked and now administration says they can’t approve once already hired. Claiming part of the rules require it be used as a hiring incentive so if your already hired and don’t negoatiate loan repayment as part of your contract they’re not able to offer it after the fact.

 

[clozareal]

I agree with Bartleby. Live like a resident for a few years. You can still give yourself a salary increase of about 20-25% of your resident salary, which would offer a comfortable increase in the qualify of life, and still save up to pay off your loans within a few years even before you would do PSLF. It's a win-win.

In terms of whether PSLF vs refinancing would be worth it, just take how much would be forgiven and divide that by the number of years it would take to get PSLF. Add that on to how much you would be making (post-tax since the forgiven amount if untaxed) and that would be the difference you would need to break even.

For example, if you would be given $200k at the end of 5 years, then you should need a $40k post-tax difference in salary when comparing a PSLF-qualifying job to a group practice. The difference is that at the end of that payment period, you'd start at a higher income than you would at a PSLF-qualifying job and thus your cash flow would be much higher after you pay off your loans.

If you decide not to do PSLF anymore, you should refinance.