loans paid back??

[martymoore]

Just a quick question. I'm interested in going into pediatrics, and I've heard that by practicing in an underserved area you can sometimes get your school loans paid back as part of the incentive to take the job. I've also heard that even if you don't practice in a truly rural area, you can always use the idea of loans being paid back in negotiations for a job. Has anyone else heard of this, and if so, is it very common to get a city job and get loans paid back? I'm trying to decide whether or not to pay a portion of my loans back now (3rd year med school) or wait until I get a job and might not have to. Thanks.

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[Polypeptide]

If you make a commitment to the National Health Service Corps (nhsc.bhpr.hrsa.gov), you can get placed in an underserved area, but it is only for general speciaties, i.e general peds, general internal, FP, etc. For every year your work (min of 2) you get a yearly loan repayment up to 25K and up to 35K after the 2 year min.

As far as job negotiations, I have in-laws who are involved in recruiting/hiring clinicians for a state-wide clinic system. If they are pursuing someone for a particualr specialty needed in a certain town they will use incentives like loan repayment, finding employment for spouse, finding housing, etc. But while this sort of thing does happen, it is certainly not something you can plan on or expect.