Making ends meet while in school?

[TexasTriathlete]

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How well do loans cover all your expenses? Here is my situation, in bullet points...

- Car payment + insurance: $500/month. Will have 2+ years remaining on the loan when I start school. I got a great deal on the car, however, and selling it would be ******ed, so taht is not really an option.
- Not expecting much, if any, outside help from my family
- Will need a new notebook computer when school starts

But I ran into a buddy of mine last night, and it got me thinking... he is in med school at UT-San Antonio, and he works as a paramedic on the weekends. He told me that it didn't get in the way of school, and that it is actually pretty theraputic.

I was thinking about my options. I could do one of two things:
- Teach a spin class
- Work as a trauma tech at an ER, or a CA or something.

Those are pretty much the only things I would enjoy enough to justify working during school, and obviously, I would only be able to do it on the weekends. Any thoughts?

 

[ShyRem]

Texas, that totally depends on you. I know folks who could NEVER swing working while in med school, others it works out well for. Most find it difficult during anatomy, as they need extra lab time. Also, if you have a life outside of med school (i.e. wife, fiance', children, etc.) that will pretty much eat up all your extra time.

As for your expenses: $500/mo for a CAR? Sorry, but that's just insane. Either your car is a ferrari, or your insurance rates are outrageous. I mean, DANG. That's half my mortgage payment!!!!!!! anyway, student loans will give you funds for transportation and housing, but nothing that expensive for transportation. So you can keep your car and live in a hovel, or refinance the car, or trade it for something cheaper. Or you can get personal loans during med school or work (which might be quite detrimental if you are struggling with classes).

As for the computer, most schools build in $2000 into your loan budget for a computer and PDA. So the computer thing isn't a problem.

I think this can't be answered until you find out how you adjust to med school. Perhaps working extra before school and paying off the car??

 

[TexasTriathlete]

My car is a Land Rover, and the payment on it is pretty reasonable at $325 (put down big DP), but insurance is about $150.

I may start paying about $400/month on the car note to try and get it paid down faster. Or perhaps I will look into re-financing when I go to school. Not even sure if they'll do this with a car note.

 

[Colbert]

Teach the spin class, you'll have a hard time finding time to go to the gym once anatomy gets started and if you can happen to get paid for those few times a week you have time go then thats win-win.

By the way, it's just my recommendation, but I'd suggest taking out a little more in loans and paying them back instead of working during medical school. It'll pay dividends in the end if you can get into a competitive residency by getting great grades and board scores than make an extra $100 a week.

 

[bkpa2med]

My mortgage is $600 lol

 

[ShyRem]

Wow. $150/mo for insurance. I just paid 6 months of insurance for my Nissan Maxima -- $230. And 6 months of insurance for our pickup truck is only $240. For full coverage.

Get that big overgrown hunk of steel paid off ASAP. As for a job, besides what I said above, it will also depend on what's available around your area. Some areas are VERY difficult to get a job on an ambulance or in the ER. And some areas have mo spin instructors than they can hire even if every one of them taught only one class.

Check out the FA board and see what other folks are doing who have big debts. there must be options.

 

[supervic8]

I work part time for an online tutoring company and I tutor high school to intro college physics and chemistry. It's nice cause there are no hours and I just log online whenever I want, almost anywhere I want and it's basically just talking online. It pays over $13 an hour and they're always needing physics tutors 🙂

 

[Punchap]

I work part time for an online tutoring company and I tutor high school to intro college physics and chemistry. It's nice cause there are no hours and I just log online whenever I want, almost anywhere I want and it's basically just talking online. It pays over $13 an hour and they're always needing physics tutors 🙂

Do you mind if I ask what the website is? Thanks.

 

[supersash]

i agree you should try to get the car paid off -- but depending where you live, you can't help your car insurance. shyrem--i think your at UNE, and i am sure car insurance is WAY less in ME than it is in the tri-state area. so on that note, you can't really control your car insurance, but you CAN control your car payment. if you can't pay it off, maybe you can make the loan longer, and pay less per month to make it more manageable?

as for working in med school, i dont think i could do it. i'm just a first year, and we had a crazy first block, maybe next block it will be lighter, but any free time i have, i want to spend it how i want. if you enjoy working out, teaching a spin class could be good, but again, you never know whats going in your schedule, that you might NOT want to work next week.

sorry for rambling, try and pay the car off, if not, see how school is goes before getting a job. better to take out extra loans, i think.

 

[Amy B]

depends on your other expenses and how much your school allows for cost of living. At VCOM we can borrow $25,000 on top of our tuition. That gives us roughly $14,000 every 6 months (tax free) to live on. Of course you have a huge loan when you graduate. Holding down a job while in med school is not a good idea unless you are a wiz kid and dont need the study time.

 

[IgE]

How well do loans cover all your expenses? Here is my situation, in bullet points...

- Car payment + insurance: $500/month. Will have 2+ years remaining on the loan when I start school. I got a great deal on the car, however, and selling it would be ******ed, so taht is not really an option.
- Not expecting much, if any, outside help from my family
- Will need a new notebook computer when school starts

But I ran into a buddy of mine last night, and it got me thinking... he is in med school at UT-San Antonio, and he works as a paramedic on the weekends. He told me that it didn't get in the way of school, and that it is actually pretty theraputic.

I was thinking about my options. I could do one of two things:
- Teach a spin class
- Work as a trauma tech at an ER, or a CA or something.

Those are pretty much the only things I would enjoy enough to justify working during school, and obviously, I would only be able to do it on the weekends. Any thoughts?

Your situation is very similar to mine. I have a $470 a month car payment and no family support. I also have an unfortunate amount of credit card and loan debt from the private undergrad institution I was ******ed enough to think I could afford. I think whether your loans will cover your expenses will depend on where you end up living. Kirksville is cheap, so I'm doing ok. The school pays me to tutor biochemistry. It's a pretty easy job. I study with people, so it's not like I'm doing anything that's preventing me from studying. If I were you, I would lean toward the spin class teaching idea. A few students here teach spin classes. If you are going to be working out anyway, why not get paid for it, right? My point is that you can do it. 🙂

 

[Onstarr]

Do you mind if I ask what the website is? Thanks.

oh please let me know too/PM me

 

[osli]

TT,

You can definitely work during med school if you have found yourself to get through undergrad courses with relative ease in the past when your classmates had to really hit the books. I think you will know yourself well enough to know if that is the case. I studied and hour or two before most exams in undergrad to pull an A or B on the test, longer for a couple if required. Med school steps up the pace significantly, but if you tend to get things pretty well the first time (concepts, big picture, applications...) and only need to go back and review to memorize some of the specific details, then you'll have time to work. The key is to find a job that is flexible enough to work into med school; while there is adequate time, it seems to come in spurts. You don't want a boss that demands you be there every night during final exam week. I do engineering consultation from home and the work schedule is very flexible.

As for money, if I didn't work we'd go completely broke. I know single students straight out of college can survive just fine on 15-20K a year, but that is very difficult when you are married, approach med school with car payments, a house full of furniture that doesn't fit into a tiny apartment, etc. Health insurance for my family is nearly 6K a year, and I've yet to find a good government program that works for people in our situation. We were fortunate to find a very nice house to rent for 1K/mo that is plenty comfortable for us, but you can see that funds disappear very quickly.

 

[Colbert]

I work part time for an online tutoring company and I tutor high school to intro college physics and chemistry. It's nice cause there are no hours and I just log online whenever I want, almost anywhere I want and it's basically just talking online. It pays over $13 an hour and they're always needing physics tutors 🙂

Could you PM me the website as well? Thanks!

 

[Faraaz23]

Please wait until med school starts and then see what works for you. Some of the people posting on here can manage it, but everyone is different. Starting medical school is a pretty big adjustment academically for most people. The pace you will be expected to learn material at is astounding. Also, look to see where you can reduce your costs obviously. If you're not married, look into getting a couple of roomies and moving into a 3 bedroom or maybe renting a room from someone who owns a house. On a side note, if your land rover is not still in the warranty period, watch out. They are not known for being the most reliable vehicles and when something goes wrong with any european car, be prepared to pay $$$.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

My year and model has a pretty good reputation for reliability. As long as you keep up with the maintenance.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Also, I know a few people that took out a private loan to pay off their car/buy a new car. Saved them the hassle in the long run 👍

 

[JasonUD]

At NYCOM our tuition is just under $40,000. We're allowed to borrow $45,000 for school and up to $25,000 for living expenses. That leaves you with an extra $30,000 for books, supplies, housing and whatever the hell else you want (if you want to borrow that much money).

The money is available if you need/want to borrow it. There are plenty of brand new lexuses, bmws, mercedes, etc... in the parking lot. I wonder where they're getting the money to pay for these? Sure, the ones that started school last year with the $50,000+ car got it from their parents...but the ones who had a POS last year and a sick car over the summer?? Hmmm....

 

[lilzelda2]

A broke dude with a Land Rover........


You can try finding a research position, if u can work during medical score more power to u.

 

[TexasTriathlete]

Right now I am not broke. I have a job, and I make my payments easily. However, once I go to med school, I will be living on loans, and I anticipate that things might be a little tight. But perhaps I can borrow enough that this won't be the case?

 

[NonTradMed]

I go to an MD school, not DO, but I think the two schools share similar coursework structure.

My advice would be to wait until after the first block of exams before deciding if you can handle a job on top of med school.

Your friend not withstanding, at my med school, I don't know of anyone who has a 'real' job that pays enough to make even a small dent in expenses, and I go to a public school.

Plus, most students I know don't even have enough time to get through all their classes, let alone take time out to work.

Do you go to a public or private school? Federal student loans is $38k. A public school will allow that to cover it pretty well, private schools will require you to take extra loans out. There are always loans you can take towards your education, and I recommend taking out what you need the first year and if you find that you have plenty of time to study, then take a job and save that money up so that you don't have to work as much second year.

Don't make the mistake that med school is like college and plan as if you are in college. Only a few people I've observed have found med school comparable to college in terms of intensity. If you have kids/SO, dont' plan on working, or you'll never see your family.