I know a few people in our class in that boat. For example people who went to Emory, Duke, etc and now go to Penn. Anyone who goes out of state for undergrad, and that is a lot of people pay somewhere around 25-30,000 a year (although that may be combined with living and everything not just tuition as this article states). If you look at it based on ADA facts most people dont take all of it on loans for both undergrad and grad or they wouldnt do it. So say they pay for half of the 4 years in undergrad and come out with $60,000 in loans. Then at Penn they pay for maybe a year of the 4. Someone like that comes out with a total of around $250,000 in debt. That isnt too bad considering that the avg new dentist incone is $162,000 if you own a private practice and $120,000 if you are an associate. It would take you 10 years to pay off $150,000 in debt at 6% according to the ADA, figuring out our rate is half that right now at 3%, it should also only take 10 years to pay off $250,000.
