Loans...

[Lests55]

I put this into a loan calculator:

$180,000 loan
paid off over 15 years
6% Interest Rate
$1518 per month (~$18,000/year) for a total of $273,000

If you start paying this off in 2014 (graduate from med school in 2011 and do a 3 year residency) you will pay it off in 2029. 2029. Wow.

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[BigKurz]

Yea...it's pretty sweet. My strategy is to close my eyes and pretend my future debt doesn't exists. But it could be worse--imagine no residency/economic hardship deferral!

 

[Nomemory]

My strategy is to close my eyes and pretend my future debt doesn't exists.

Amen!

 

[TleilaxuMD]

Yea...it's pretty sweet. My strategy is to close my eyes and pretend my future debt doesn't exists. But it could be worse--imagine no residency/economic hardship deferral!

How does delaying the payments in residency even matter or help? The interest just keeps on adding?

 

[armybound]

How does delaying the payments in residency even matter or help? The interest just keeps on adding?

probably because you dont have to drop $1,500/mo on loans when you're only making $3,000/mo

 

[BigKurz]

It helps/matters because we'll only be making roughly 3-4k/month before taxes, and $1500 is a pretty huge chunk of that.

 

[TleilaxuMD]

probably because you dont have to drop $1,500/mo on loans when you're only making $3,000/mo

It helps/matters because we'll only be making roughly 3-4k/month before taxes, and $1500 is a pretty huge chunk of that.

Well dont you make about the same after residency? 65k a year/12 months=5k per month post resdency...not that much more.

 

[armybound]

Well dont you make about the same after residency? 65k a year/12 months=5k per month post resdency...not that much more.

$65,000/yr after residency? I don't think many people would be as interested in medicine if you get paid that much.

I don't know if I've ever seen a physician listing for under $100,000/yr. Specialists like surgeons often start around $150,000 or more and quickly get up over $200,000.

 

[BigKurz]

Maybe they're talking about a fellowship?

Even so, the economic hardship delay probably still applies--I *believe* it is valid so long as your loan payment is > 20% of your income. But that might not be accurate...it's pretty foggy in my mind.

 

[TleilaxuMD]

$65,000/yr after residency? I don't think many people would be as interested in medicine if you get paid that much.

I don't know if I've ever seen a physician listing for under $100,000/yr. Specialists like surgeons often start around $150,000 or more and quickly get up over $200,000.

wow. Doctors make that much starting out? Why then does everyone complain about being in debt. 18k a year to pay for loans brings your income to a measly 132k a year. That seems pretty good to me.

 

[armybound]

wow. Doctors make that much starting out? Why then does everyone complain about being in debt. 18k a year to pay for loans brings your income to a measly 132k a year. That seems pretty good to me.

it's a mental burden more than a financial one, I'm sure.

 

[Lests55]

it's a mental burden more than a financial one, I'm sure.

Yeah, that's certainly true. You will be walking around for 7 years with $200,000 worth of debt. What if something happened such that I couldn't practice medicine? Yikes...

 

[armybound]

Yeah, that's certainly true. You will be walking around for 7 years with $200,000 worth of debt. What if something happened such that I couldn't practice medicine? Yikes...

definitely.

take this from the guy who took out some major loans for his undergrad degree, thinking it would be fine because he'd go to medical school, but didn't get in

definitely had to kick it into gear.

 

[NDESTRUKT]

You silly pre-medders... =)

Don't worry about loans, you'll pay them off eventually.

Doctors start out at least 100K (usually more but sometimes less depending on specialty and place). Pediatricians who make the least in general get paid minimum around 100K.

Pay back what you can during residency...then pay back bigger chunks in practice - you'll be done with it in 3-5 years out of residency. Seriously don't let it get to ya!

 

[Lests55]

definitely.

take this from the guy who took out some major loans for his undergrad degree, thinking it would be fine because he'd go to medical school, but didn't get in

definitely had to kick it into gear.

I can't even imagine having the undergrad stuff piled on top. Luckily parents were able to help in that department. I had a friend who got a scholarship for undergrad AND medical school. We all hated her. Lucky duck!

 

[Nomemory]

wow. Doctors make that much starting out? Why then does everyone complain about being in debt. 18k a year to pay for loans brings your income to a measly 132k a year. That seems pretty good to me.

Dude. That's 18k after-tax dollars and 150k before-tax dollars. So basically you're in the bend-over tax bracket for the years you lived as an impoverished student AND for present when you're only seeing a fraction of your actual income because of your student loan payments. And let us not forget the 8 years of school with zero income and the 4 years of residency where you're making a pittance AND accruing intrest on around 160k-200k. That totals 12 years of work culminating in not a nice little nest egg but the equivelant of a mortgage...minus the house.

Now before anyone goes flip-out on me: Is it worth it? Yeah. But in the end are primary-care docs making fat bank they haven't earned every penny of? Not in my opinion.

 

[GeauxMD]

I put this into a loan calculator:

$180,000 loan
paid off over 15 years
6% Interest Rate
$1518 per month (~$18,000/year) for a total of $273,000

If you start paying this off in 2014 (graduate from med school in 2011 and do a 3 year residency) you will pay it off in 2029. 2029. Wow.

Your loans won't be at 6% unless you are with a company that cuts the interest at repayment. Also, if you borrowed 180,000 in medical school, some of your loans would be private or grad-plus because you can only get 38,500/year.

 

[Lests55]

Your loans won't be at 6% unless you are with a company that cuts the interest at repayment. Also, if you borrowed 180,000 in medical school, some of your loans would be private or grad-plus because you can only get 38,500/year.

getting better all the time

 

[Captain Fantastic]

My wife made, check this, $7 too much her intern year to qualify for a deferment. She had to begin repayment during residency. We consolidated at 3.4% fixed and amortized over 30 years. That's a killer in the long-run (30 years!) but at the time it was the only way to keep the payment manageable.

I'm only mentioning it because you can't count on a deferral during residency as we found out.

 

[bretticus]

getting better all the time

$40,500 now. Not much more, but every little bit helps

 

[indo]

When you get to medical school you're going to notice that a lot of students didn't pay for undergrad. You're also going to notice that a lot of students are not taking on the full 180k in debt. I would say that about half the students in my class have parents who are doctors and receive copious amounts of financial support. This means they don't pay rent, heat, clothing, or food. So, that leaves tuition. I suspect that at least a portion of the tuition is paid by mom and dad while maybe half is left to the student. So all of this cuts their debt in half. 60k in debt when you come from a family that lives in a 3 million dollar house isn't that much.

For everyone else, we have to cut corners all the time in order to save every last loan dollar. You have to eat out less, no starbucks (i recommend buying your own espresso machine because you are able to make better coffee anyway), live in a ****ty apartment with the heat turned down to 50 degrees, buy generic everything, and be the designated driver almost always because you can't get drunk on 8 dollar martinis anyway.

 

[Nomemory]

When you get to medical school you're going to notice that a lot of students didn't pay for undergrad. You're also going to notice that a lot of students are not taking on the full 180k in debt. I would say that about half the students in my class have parents who are doctors and receive copious amounts of financial support. This means they don't pay rent, heat, clothing, or food. So, that leaves tuition. I suspect that at least a portion of the tuition is paid by mom and dad while maybe half is left to the student. So all of this cuts their debt in half. 60k in debt when you come from a family that lives in a 3 million dollar house isn't that much.

For everyone else, we have to cut corners all the time in order to save every last loan dollar. You have to eat out less, no starbucks (i recommend buying your own espresso machine because you are able to make better coffee anyway), live in a ****ty apartment with the heat turned down to 50 degrees, buy generic everything, and be the designated driver almost always because you can't get drunk on 8 dollar martinis anyway.

 

[jaboyak]

When you get to medical school you're going to notice that a lot of students didn't pay for undergrad. You're also going to notice that a lot of students are not taking on the full 180k in debt. I would say that about half the students in my class have parents who are doctors and receive copious amounts of financial support. This means they don't pay rent, heat, clothing, or food. So, that leaves tuition. I suspect that at least a portion of the tuition is paid by mom and dad while maybe half is left to the student. So all of this cuts their debt in half. 60k in debt when you come from a family that lives in a 3 million dollar house isn't that much.

For everyone else, we have to cut corners all the time in order to save every last loan dollar. You have to eat out less, no starbucks (i recommend buying your own espresso machine because you are able to make better coffee anyway), live in a ****ty apartment with the heat turned down to 50 degrees, buy generic everything, and be the designated driver almost always because you can't get drunk on 8 dollar martinis anyway.

 

[bretticus]

Loans? I won't have any loans. Med school is free!

*Fingers in ears* La-la-la-la-la I can't hear you!!

 

[kdburton]

I put this into a loan calculator:

$180,000 loan
paid off over 15 years
6% Interest Rate
$1518 per month (~$18,000/year) for a total of $273,000

If you start paying this off in 2014 (graduate from med school in 2011 and do a 3 year residency) you will pay it off in 2029. 2029. Wow.

I'm going to take as long as possible to pay off my school loans since the interest rate is lower than what I could get on a house, car, etc, etc, it just makes sense

 

[mshheaddoc]

moving to financial aid forum where you can discuss it there