Loans and Interest

[howdysir]

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If a student gets a 4 year loan to pay for dental school what would be the interest on it? Say the cost is 350 k over four years for a Canadian going to an American school.
Anyone can answer except for avingupta with his bombast remarks. If you must know avingupta I'm inquiring about this in case I decide to save my parents some money and pay off the tab myself. Not so spoiled after all eh?

 

[3rdMolarRoller]

My gov't loan is 2.82% and my private loan is 3%.

Private loan is 1% below current prime rate with a max of 8%.

I have Sallie Mae

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

Those rates only apply if you are an American citizen or permanent resident....but for a Canadian, you must have a US co-signer to get those rates....otherwise you must get private loans in Canada at high interest rates and in Canadian dollars...not a pretty scene!

 

[howdysir]

is that so avingupta? So if a Canadian went to the states without a US co-signer how much interest would you say they'd have to pay for a 4 year 330 k loan?

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

I wouldnt know this because I have a greencard (dont laugh), so I will be getting US loans....there are many other Canadians on this board that should be able to tell you more about Canadian loans and their interest. I know CANhelp is a big one so do a google search on that one.....you could also search on these forums, because past threads have been made regarding this issue

 

[Dr.BadVibes]

This is for howdy or anyone else that may be interested. A great resource for financial aid information for Canadians AND Americans can be found on this page:

http://www.internationalstudentloan.com/

This tells you all about the CANhelp loan program. From what I read, I gather that a Canadian student pays prime + 1% plus a guarantee fee. If you sign for the loan yourself (which I assume most of you would) you need to pay an additional 7.5% fee on the loan you get. The current rate of prime is 4%, so you would be paying a 5% interest rate plus the guarantee fee of 7.5% every year for the four years you are in dental school.

For American students, we must pay the 91-day Tbill rate + 1.7% with no guarantee fee. The current 91-day Tbill rate is 0.91% so our interest would be 2.61% and thats it! ANd plus, the US gov't will pay the interest for $8000 of our loan each year.....now thats a pretty sweet deal!

I just want Canadian students to realize that although dentistry is well paying, you aint gonna be living the high life anytime soon, and you should highly consider costs when choosing a school to attend. I believe that US students have a bit of freedom when choosing a school and can choose a school due to many factors such as cost, location, NBDE scores, etc. However, it would be my advice for Canadian students to choose a school purely on the lowest cost....otherwise you will get screwed.

For instance, many Canadians at my university blindly goto the Caribbean for medical school cause they think its the easy way, and its guaranteed....but they dont do their research and find out that they were misinformed and that they were idiots.

As president of my predental club, my advice constantly to Canadian students is to PLEASE sort out your finances before considering going to an expensive school. Dont just blindly goto dental school cause you are gonna be a doctor.......so you graduate and have a medical degree and think you are the big man....big deal...you will be paying student loan payments until your 50 if you dont properly plan.