my financial situation

[Postictal Raiden]

I am about two years away from attending a medical school. I am married and have a one year old child. Currently, I am the only financial support of the family.

After doing some calculations I found that by the time I graduate from medical school I will owe $260K-$270K. Using the online loan payment calculator, I figured that my monthly payments will be $1860. Also, from what I hear and read, residents make somewhere between $2700-$3300/month after taxes.

The question is:

Assuming my wife doesn't work, how am I going to be able to make those payments and support my family at the same time?

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[ProLogic]

Rice and beans my friend..

 

[Postictal Raiden]

Rice and beans my friend..

haha...I am affraid I won't even be able to afford that

 

[Fatima41200]

that's not too bad, just live within your means.

 

[ProLogic]

haha...I am affraid I won't even be able to afford that

In that case, urge your wife to get a job.

 

[UserNameNeeded]

It's a sad, sad situation. I think the people saying "live within your means" and "rice and beans" have no clue how hard it's going to be-- even for a single person the basic essentials to live and function in American society is very high and with student loan repayment taking out a significant chunk of income, it's damn near impossible.

The original poster just said he'll have $1,000 a month to live on after taxes and student loan repayments. I'd really like to see people live off that amount with housing, utilities, car payments, maintenance, car and health insurance, gas and a little thing called food-- and that doesn't even cover a professional wardrobe, licensing exam fees and so many other incidental but necessary expenses that happen along the way.

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

I am about two years away from attending a medical school. I am married and have a one year old child. Currently, I am the only financial support of the family.

After doing some calculations I found that by the time I graduate from medical school I will owe $260K-$270K. Using the online loan payment calculator, I figured that my monthly payments will be $1860. Also, from what I hear and read, residents make somewhere between $2700-$3300/month after taxes.

The question is:

Assuming my wife doesn't work, how am I going to be able to make those payments and support my family at the same time?

The answers are right there in your post:

1. Don't borrow so much money (go to one of your state schools)
2. Your wife can work
3. Cut down on expenses as much as possible

Also, I don't believe that you NEED to make repayments as a resident. While you can't defer your loans, you can request a forbearance. I'm pretty sure that is the case with Stafford loans, but since you will be going way above the Stafford loan maximum with the amount that you are thinking about borrowing, you'd have to look into whether that is true for PLUS loans as well....

 

[yadayadadude]

You won't have to make $1800 monthly payments on a resident's salary. That would be essentially impossible, even for a single person. To anyone who says otherwise, I'm curious to see how you thing that could work. Anyway, OP, you'll have two options:

1. Forbearance: no payments, but interest accrues on all you loans, subsidized and unsubsidized; and
2. Income based repayment: your payments are 15% of your AGI above 150% of the federal poverty line ... around $300-350/month. The benefits of going this route are two-fold. For one, any interest that accrues on your subsidized loans in excess of your monthly payments is covered by the feds for the first three years. And for two, there are forgiveness options associated with income based repayment -- after 10 years if you take a public service job; after 25 years otherwise. Your years in residency will count toward those forgiveness terms. My guess is that your debt will be paid before 25 years of income based repayment payments, unless you take a low paying primary care job, but I'm not sure of that. There are cool calculators at finaid.com and at ibrinfo.com.

 

[Postictal Raiden]

You won't have to make $1800 monthly payments on a resident's salary. That would be essentially impossible, even for a single person. To anyone who says otherwise, I'm curious to see how you thing that could work. Anyway, OP, you'll have two options:

1. Forbearance: no payments, but interest accrues on all you loans, subsidized and unsubsidized; and
2. Income based repayment: your payments are 15% of your AGI above 150% of the federal poverty line ... around $300-350/month. The benefits of going this route are two-fold. For one, any interest that accrues on your subsidized loans in excess of your monthly payments is covered by the feds for the first three years. And for two, there are forgiveness options associated with income based repayment -- after 10 years if you take a public service job; after 25 years otherwise. Your years in residency will count toward those forgiveness terms. My guess is that your debt will be paid before 25 years of income based repayment payments, unless you take a low paying primary care job, but I'm not sure of that. There are cool calculators at finaid.com and at ibrinfo.com.

finally someone said something that is acutally beneficial. thank you

 

[UserNameNeeded]

yadayada, are you sure residency counts toward the 10 years in public service?

 

[Lurchdubious]

You won't have to make $1800 monthly payments on a resident's salary. That would be essentially impossible, even for a single person. To anyone who says otherwise, I'm curious to see how you thing that could work. Anyway, OP, you'll have two options:

1. Forbearance: no payments, but interest accrues on all you loans, subsidized and unsubsidized; and
2. Income based repayment: your payments are 15% of your AGI above 150% of the federal poverty line ... around $300-350/month. The benefits of going this route are two-fold. For one, any interest that accrues on your subsidized loans in excess of your monthly payments is covered by the feds for the first three years. And for two, there are forgiveness options associated with income based repayment -- after 10 years if you take a public service job; after 25 years otherwise. Your years in residency will count toward those forgiveness terms. My guess is that your debt will be paid before 25 years of income based repayment payments, unless you take a low paying primary care job, but I'm not sure of that. There are cool calculators at finaid.com and at ibrinfo.com.

Good info. I had heard about the loan forgiveness with public service. Gonna look into that a little more...

 

[yadayadadude]

yadayada, are you sure residency counts toward the 10 years in public service?

No, I'm not sure. I think a lot of these kinds of details aren't clear yet. My basic understanding is that any government of public service type job counts, so it seems like at the very least, some residency programs will count (like programs based in county hospitals, for example).