The OP said:
I assumed he meant a total of $180K borrowed. I'm not sure how this could be interpreted otherwise.
Then, when I pointed out that he might need to revise the figure upward, I was refering to:
a) interest accrued during medical school and residency (before the debt is capitalized), and
b) annual increases in borrowing due to tuition increases and cost of living increases.
In my experience on these boards, pre-meds sometimes assume their total capitalized debt (which does not include 30 years of interest paid during repayment, obviously) can be estimated by multiplying MS1 borrowing by four. This figure is typically too low by about 30% or more, depending on how long your residency is. So if you borrow $45K as a MS1, a total capitalized debt of roughly $250-275K is probably about right. Again, this figure does not include the interest paid during the repayment period. Using your way of thinking, if you borrow $45K as a MS1, you will shell out $630K during repayment, but most people don't refer to this figure as the total debt, because if you were able to pay if off quicker, you'd save a good bit of that interest.
Splitting hairs here, I guess.
But while I'm at it, one more thing: at current interest rates, a $700 payment over 30 years will service roughly a $100K debt. This corresponds -- again, roughly -- to $20K in first year borrowing. In any case, a $100K capitalized debt is significantly lower than the OP was estimating.
Clearly, I don't have enough to do today.
