National Guard MDSSP better than HPSP for state schools?

[photogenicwhale]

HPSP is the superior choice if you attend a private school with a 400k cost, but wouldn't the National Guard be a better choice if you were lucky enough to be accepted into a state school? I was placed on a wait list for the HPSP, so I researched other options and I think MDSSP is a superior choice if you attend a state school.

HPSP would provide ~220k for my total education with a 20k sign- up bonus for a 4 year commitment.

The National Guard would offer around $24k a year for four years, $4,500 federal tuition assistance, $1,400 savings from health insurance ($600 a year instead of $2,000 through my school), and possible 25%-50% discount off tuition through my state. I calculate MDSSP to be offer 120k over four years without including the state tuition discount.

The National Guard requires one weekend every month for drills, and a 90 days deployment in a year. It's an eight year commitment, but the first four years you would have flexible schedule for drills, and you can't be deployed. When you do serve, assuming there is no active war, you would be deployed in the state.

For about a year and 4 months of service, you can get 120k in benefits. The National Guard is a better deal for graduating dentists because they offer up to 65K a year in benefits with 25K cash bonus every year plus up to 40k a year in loan benefits (sign 3 years contract) for a total of 195K in bonuses before taxes assuming you only have federal loans.

MDSSP offers less money, but it knocks off 4 years of the 20 years required for the pension and there is no guarantee the current bonuses offered will be around when I graduate D- school.

Is there anything wrong with my math? I am not sure about the actual time you need to serve in the National Guard because it seemed contingent upon active deployments so that part seemed ambiguous. I would love it if someone could clarify the how much time is spent on deployments, and what it entails.

*Forgot to mention another benefit of the National Guard. It lets you work in a private practice after school so you can get start developing a patient base and get faster. My current goal is to reduce my debt burden so I can start saving for a practice as soon as I get out of school. By going the National Guard route, I could pay off my loans in two years and have enough saved up at the end of my commitment to buy into a practice where my patients are.

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[Papasmurf1234]

You forgot that you accrue 1 year for every 6 months of assistance. This means dental school = 8 year commitment. Also, your commitment is to a particular state's national guard. Once you graduate you HAVE to go back and practice in the state you originally signed up with the national guard for. Also, deployment is mandatory for this. HPSP is superior for most dental schools these days because tuition for 4 years + living is very expensive and it pays for all of that. I'm not completely sure on this but I am pretty sure there is a set number of years you have to be in the reserves once you finish your 8 years payback. Have you started applying?

 

[photogenicwhale]

I started looking into the National Guards when I got OMLed for the HPSP. I am pretty high on the OML according to my recruiter, but there is no guarantee I would get any offers. It is an eight year commitment, but four years are served in school if I am not mistaken. I wish there were more information about the specific conditions, but it is hard to find online. Staying in the area is a plus for me because I am a local, and I can't imagine settling down anywhere else. I have an interview today with the National Guards. Hopefully, they can clarify some of the questions I have regarding the specific obligations.

 

[LFA20]

I started looking into the National Guards when I got OMLed for the HPSP. I am pretty high on the OML according to my recruiter, but there is no guarantee I would get any offers. It is an eight year commitment, but four years are served in school if I am not mistaken. I wish there were more information about the specific conditions, but it is hard to find online. Staying in the area is a plus for me because I am a local, and I can't imagine settling down anywhere else. I have an interview today with the National Guards. Hopefully, they can clarify some of the questions I have regarding the specific obligations.

Hey I am also applying for the national guard !
Are you sure that your time in dental school will count toward that 8 year commitment?

 

[Papasmurf1234]

Lmao. Now everyone that got OML'd for the HPSP is going to apply for the NG b/c of this thread.

 

[Papasmurf1234]

Hey I am also applying for the national guard !
Are you sure that your time in dental school will count toward that 8 year commitment?

It's 1 year for every 6 months so yes. After that you may or may not have years of inactive service owed just like HPSP. It's a good program if you plan to stay with the NG for a long time.

 

[nealofgrafton]

I'm in the guard. I stayed away from MDSSP because of the 2:1 payback/ benefit. The guard does have a health loans repayment option (can't remember the exact acronym right now). Which I would say is a superior offer. its not tied to any one particular state as it has been explained to me. Although I'm not entirely sure how the loan repayment works besides you need to be a liscenced health professional and actively serving with you guard unit.

 

[LFA20]

Can someone clarify if it IS possible to be on the national guard without taking the MDSSP? I thought you have to do both concurrently...

 

[Papasmurf1234]

I'm in the guard. I stayed away from MDSSP because of the 2:1 payback/ benefit. The guard does have a health loans repayment option (can't remember the exact acronym right now). Which I would say is a superior offer. its not tied to any one particular state as it has been explained to me. Although I'm not entirely sure how the loan repayment works besides you need to be a liscenced health professional and actively serving with you guard unit.

So what you are saying is that you have to be a licensed dentist before you join that program? Or can you go in as a student?

 

[nealofgrafton]

I joined in dental school but I don't start getting any loan repayment until I am an actual dentist. The benefit is that I can earn points toward retirement if I end up staying for 20 years. So what I am doing is taking out all my loans for school right now then the guard will pay them off 40K a year (taxable) for a maximum of 6 years while serving my weekend a month/ 2 weeks a year.

 

[photogenicwhale]

Talked to my recruiter and got some clarifications about a few benefits.

*Tuition aid will not apply to signing National Guard members. I think it kicks in after a year or two in the National Guards. I am not sure if it applies to the tuition discount from your state universities.

*After you do the MDSSP, you can sign up for the loan repayment program after you graduate. It won't add years to your contract but the policy might and probably would change 4 years from now so I wouldn't count on it.

*Deployments are not 90 days a year. It's 6-8 months, and you have no say in where/when you are deployed. Your commitment is only one weekend a month and two weeks in the summer and there are no deployments in school. But 6-8 months is pretty disruptive, and in the worst case scenario you can be deployed every year for the next four years. I guess the frequency of your deployments will depend on the needs of the Army and how much they want to keep you around. But since the National Guards are at the bottom of the Army hierarchy, I can't imagine being assigned to good plum details where you can advance your skill set.

I don't mind getting deployed. But I do mind having to arrange everything with my future employer, housing, post office, etc. ever time I get deployed. It's a major issue that active duty members don't have to deal with because they are employed full time by the Army.

Current graduating dentists can get up to ~58K of benefits (25K for 3 years before taxes and up to 40K loan forgiveness on federal loans only). Entering dental students can only get ~27K of benefits under MDSSP ($2,000 a month stipend, cheap health insurance, federal tuition aid for 2-3 years). I would totally do this in a heart beat if they included the loan forgiveness program as part of my contract. Without it even a 3 year HPSP is supremely better because I would only borrow 50k for school, and have a debt I could comfortably pay within 2 years of graduating on an Army dentist pay.

By the way, for people who are entering private D-schools whose 4 year cost is 400k, I want to ask a simple question. Would you spend 120k on an undergraduate degree when you are guaranteed to get a job paying 30k a year after graduating? There are loan forgiveness programs out there currently, but with more dental schools opening every year, I wonder how many institutions will be compelled to maintain the current incentives. The silver lining to all this that by the time we graduate, we should be at the start of a bull market. Deleveraging typically last 7-10 years, and since the financial crisis broke in 2008, it should sort itself out by 2018.

 

[nealofgrafton]

For the deployments unless something has recently changed are 90 days boots on the ground. Unless the recruiter was talking about the army reserves which I know next to nothing about or if they were referencing nurses and PA's which are 6 month tours. Anyway your chance of deploying as things stand right now are poor. I had 3 colonels ( O-6) in my unit, each had been in the guard for nearly 20 years. Each one has or did deploy once- voluntarily. A 4th colonel that I never met that was with my unit never deployed.

 

[pre-med444]

If you take mdssp and strap can you still qualify for the loan repayment (hplrp) and bonuses (special pay program)? Thanks. Basically in what way can I get the most incentives overall. I am not afraid of a large obligation. Could I do just strap and get hplrp + special pay after etc. What combinations works the best? Also, if I join regular guard during med school can I go into strap program no problem?