Pay Bills While in Pharmacy School

[AFGrl1183]

Hello to all. I'm just posting this message to see if there is anyone out there in a similar situation and if there is anyone that can possibly give me some much needed advice on this. I am very interested in going to Pharmacy school. There is nothing really stopping me except I am going to be getting married soon and my future husband and I will have the normal bills including mortgage to pay each month. My future husband doesn't make great money and I will undoubtedly not work or work minimal hours during pharmacy school. I am not quite sure how we would be able to pay our monthly bills and I was just wondering if anyone out there could offer any advice on the situation. I'm sure there are tons of other people out there going through this as well. I don't want this to stop me from achieving my dream, but bills must be paid. Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated!! Also, I apologize if there is a thread about this somewhere else, I just didn't see it.

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[By3Times1Minus1]

there are always student loans. i think pharmacy is one of the few fields you will be able to pay off your debts fairly quickly right after graduating.

 

[ecuagallo]

there are always student loans. i think pharmacy is one of the few fields you will be able to pay off your debts fairly quickly right after graduating.

I agree, if you are frugal and live "within your means" during the years following pharmacy school, you should be able to pay down your loans fairly quickly. I've heard that if you can live on the same amount of money you did during pharmacy school for 5 years or so following school, you should have your loans pretty much taken care paid off, as long as you put the surplus towards your debt.

 

[AFGrl1183]

Thank you both for your input, but I am not really so worried about paying my loans off AFTER pharmacy school. Well I am but what I meant in my original post is how am I going to pay my regular monthly bills WHILE in pharm school? Like I said, I would probably be working only minimal hours if that, and my fiance (who will be my husband by the time I go to pharm school) will not be making enough money alone to cover all of our normal bills (car payment, mortgage, insurance, etc). So that is my dilemma. Thanks for the advice about after pharm school though too.

 

[jfm5958]

What the above posters meant is that you will use some of your student loan money to cover your basic living expenses: food, shelter, school supplies, etc. All schools factor in a cost of living into their overall tuition and fees which allows for some extra money to pay for your bills.

 

[cascones92]

My wife is a stay and home mom and I work around 16 hours every week. I was able to max out my school loans at 28K for the year with my tuition and books coming to approximately 14K. Were it not for a family member loaning us $ to pay the mortgage (no interest) we couldn't make it. Before anyone judges us on this you should know this family member would rather pay our mortgage than have us move in with either parent for the 4 years of school and with the real estate market being horrible now is not the time to take a hit and lose $ on our house. I live in the midwest and to pay all of our bills and live we need about 2,500$ a month. Hope this helps answer your question.

 

[AFGrl1183]

Thank you very much for clearing that up for me. I haven't had to use any student loans yet since I just got off of active duty military and am using my GI Bill money. I just don't know much about student loans at all. So when you get student loans, you may get enough to pay your tuition and have a little extra leftover (depending on where you go), is that correct? If that's true then that would help out a lot. Yea Cascones92 I am in the same boat kind of. Our monthly bills will probably be around that same range, maybe even more and my fiance only makes enough to cover about half of that, maybe less. Thanks for the input though everyone!

 

[tm79602]

Thank you very much for clearing that up for me. I haven't had to use any student loans yet since I just got off of active duty military and am using my GI Bill money. I just don't know much about student loans at all. So when you get student loans, you may get enough to pay your tuition and have a little extra leftover (depending on where you go), is that correct? If that's true then that would help out a lot. Yea Cascones92 I am in the same boat kind of. Our monthly bills will probably be around that same range, maybe even more and my fiance only makes enough to cover about half of that, maybe less. Thanks for the input though everyone!

I am in a similar situation as you. I just separated from air force active duty and I am now in the reserves. My husband is in the process of doing the same thing. We are in the process of selling our house in Texas to move to Missouri so that I can attend pharmacy school and my husband can complete his prereqs for dental school. The best thing about this is that my mother has offered us to live with her and pay for all of our expenses while my husband and I go to school. We have a 3 year old son, so it is very helpful and she has a big house with just her and my little sister. I am grateful to have an opportunity like that and have a mom to support me. This eliminates alot of the bills that my husband and I have. We will just have to worry about our cars and a couple of other loans. Do you guys have family that is close that you can count on for support? Like others have said, you can always use student loans and the health professional loans through pharmacy school to help pay bills. I wish you the best.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

I agree, if you are frugal and live "within your means" during the years following pharmacy school, you should be able to pay down your loans fairly quickly. I've heard that if you can live on the same amount of money you did during pharmacy school for 5 years or so following school, you should have your loans pretty much taken care paid off, as long as you put the surplus towards your debt.

So nine years of not being able to do anything or go anywhere? That doesn't sound too good to me.

 

[By3Times1Minus1]

So nine years of not being able to do anything or go anywhere? That doesn't sound too good to me.

Living frugally doesn't mean not being able to do anything or go anywhere. I live very very frugally (some might even call me cheap), but I go out a lot and travel quite a bit. You can learn to cut unnecessary expenses from certain parts of your lifestyle and not sacrifice others (buy store brand items, unplug appliances to cut down on your electric bill, budgeting your finances, cut down on impulse buying and shop smarter, etc.). Even if I was making a pharmacist's salary with no debt, I would still live as frugally as possible, but I just don't like to be wasteful, personally.

 

[ArkansasRanger]

Living frugally doesn't mean not being able to do anything or go anywhere. I live very very frugally (some might even call me cheap), but I go out a lot and travel quite a bit. You can learn to cut unnecessary expenses from certain parts of your lifestyle and not sacrifice others (buy store brand items, unplug appliances to cut down on your electric bill, budgeting your finances, cut down on impulse buying and shop smarter, etc.). Even if I was making a pharmacist's salary with no debt, I would still live as frugally as possible, but I just don't like to be wasteful, personally.

I like to save as well. I save more than I spend. I'm lucky in that I've acquired everything I've ever seriously wanted to buy. However, living off the same amount of money, for five years, that you lived off of during pharmacy school, for four years, seems kind of...well, sucky.

 

[ecuagallo]

Let me qualify my statement. More than anything I meant that if you can live on a budget close to that of your budget during pharmacy school, e.g. don't go and buy a huge new house, new expensive cars, etc. since you are now earning approximately 100 k a year. If you can do that and if its worth it for you, it will not be a big deal to pay off high student loans. Of course not everyone will have to take out as much and are in different situations. On my part while it will not necessarily be a lot of fun, I agree, it is worth it for me to live on a small budget for 4-5 years after pharmacy school, if it means that I can then be living mostly debt free and have my student loans mostly paid off. However, I also understand that in my place right now it is a lot easier said than done and things/situations are always changing, it is just my goal to clear my debt as quickly as possible, even if it means living on a smaller budget for awhile.

 

[joetrisman]

Sugar momma and generous parents ....I mean, if there's a will there's a way...but seriously

 

[By3Times1Minus1]

Let me qualify my statement. More than anything I meant that if you can live on a budget close to that of your budget during pharmacy school, e.g. don't go and buy a huge new house, new expensive cars, etc. since you are now earning approximately 100 k a year. If you can do that and if its worth it for you, it will not be a big deal to pay off high student loans. Of course not everyone will have to take out as much and are in different situations. On my part while it will not necessarily be a lot of fun, I agree, it is worth it for me to live on a small budget for 4-5 years after pharmacy school, if it means that I can then be living mostly debt free and have my student loans mostly paid off. However, I also understand that in my place right now it is a lot easier said than done and things/situations are always changing, it is just my goal to clear my debt as quickly as possible, even if it means living on a smaller budget for awhile.

I totally agree with you. I can't stand the feeling of being in debt and would do whatever it takes to get myself out as quickly as possible, even if that means living on the same budget I will have during pharmacy school for 5 more years. To each, his own, though. Some people like living the flashy life and immediately buy a nice house and car as soon as they're making ~100k/year even with 100k+ debt in student loans. But then again, most (not all) of the people that do this probably go into pharmacy for the money.

 

[jessmedical]

I also have the same concerns. I am currently finishing up my prereqs to apply to pharmacy school and I just got married in December 2009. My husband is a teacher and does not make a great salary and I am still currently working full-time so we have an okay income right now. As soon as I apply and get accepted to pharmacy school, I must stop working and that scares me to death! We are currently living on a strict budget to save as much money as we can so when the day comes that I stop working, we can use some of our savings and whatever extra I get in student loans to supplement income. My advice to you would to be to work for atleast a year full-time (preferably as a pharm tech or in a lab), get some experience, save as much as possible, and then apply to pharmacy school. You gain some experience, save some money, and maybe reduce the amoutn of loans you must take out. Hope this helps.

 

[PharmEXP]

My situation is a bit different than the OP seeing as I am not married with kids. However, I am worried about paying for my stuff while in pharmacy school. I start as P1 this fall and I know I will be eligible for a boat load of loan $, but will that be enough? UF is fairly inexpensive, with tuition ~$15k/year, but I will also have to pay for the obvious living expenses (rent, food, utilities, etc). Do you think loans will be sufficient to cover all of this stuff or should I try and get a job working in a pharmacy, maybe as an intern? Do interns even get paid? I really don't know what my options are at this point and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

 

[trusmadiensis]

I'm not a student currently, but very seriously looking into trying for a pharmacy program. I'm 34, with a mortgage, a wife, and all the associated bills, plus a kid on the way later this year. We both work full time. I graduated with a B of S more than 10 years ago, and I would have to take quite a few pre-reqs to even apply, plus probably a few classes before the pre-reqs just to refresh my memory! My first chosen career hasn't worked out, and this would be a career change for me. I realize I'm an old fogey compared to you all, but I'm still young enough to have a full and rewarding career if I start soon.

The single factor that has kept me from pursuing it has been the very issue brought up here: how to pay the bills while in school. It was easy when I was young; just lived with mom and dad. Now though, I know I'd have to eventually quit my job to focus on school, and that scares me to death! We would be homeless if I couldn't get money from somewhere (my wife doesn't make much). If I understand correctly, I'd have to be accepted into the pharmacy program to be able to get loans big enough to cover school plus living expense. Also, when you say they factor in living expenses, is it on a case by case basis, ie you tell them what you bills are? Or is it just a pre-set allowance? Seeing that cascones92 was only able to get an extra 14K a year to live on does concern me. That wouldn't be nearly enough for us to make it, I'd need at least double that.

 

[ecuagallo]

Trusmadiensis,
If you really are interested in Pharmacy, don't let the particulars prevent you from pursuing your goal. I will be 30 when I start Pharmacy school this fall and my wife is pregnant with our first. Money has always been a big concern but they do have loans, the Stafford loans are a good way to start out, however there is a limit on those. This is where grad plus loans kick in and can be taken out to cover your "living" expenses. There are always private loans on top of those.
If this isn't the best option for you and you still wish to pursue a Pharmacy degree, Creighton has a distance learning program.

 

[Karley511]

If you were in the AF you have access to the GI bill. Are you using chapter 30 or chapter 33? My husband will start his dual degree {PharmD/MBA} this summer with 4 months and 10 days left on his GI bill {chapter 30}. Then we get one year of chapter 33 which pays the school tuition and fees and gives you a monthly stipend. After that, since we are Texas residents there is the Hensen Hazelwood Act (sp) that will pay his tuition for the rest of Pharmacy school. You should check with your state to see if they have programs for veterans.

You should not let the lack of money deter you from getting your PharmD degree. My husband will turn 30 this summer. We sold our house and sold one of our cars. He will be driving a really really old used vehicle that we are so thankful to have. He is moving 14 hours away without me until I can transfer with my job. My point is when there's a will, there's a way.

Someone mentioned Stafford loans. Great place to start if you need loans. Once you get your degree these can easily be paid off. Just don't go overboard with the loans. Take what you need, not what you want. haha

 

[Karley511]

My wife is a stay and home mom and I work around 16 hours every week. I was able to max out my school loans at 28K for the year with my tuition and books coming to approximately 14K. Were it not for a family member loaning us $ to pay the mortgage (no interest) we couldn't make it. Before anyone judges us on this you should know this family member would rather pay our mortgage than have us move in with either parent for the 4 years of school and with the real estate market being horrible now is not the time to take a hit and lose $ on our house. I live in the midwest and to pay all of our bills and live we need about 2,500$ a month. Hope this helps answer your question.

I think that was a very generous thing of your family member to do.

 

[Dr.iz-n]

My challenge is I'm at my limit for Stafford Loans and for the first year of my Pharmacy program (ST. louis college of pharm, I will start at Year 3), they are still considered undergrad students at Year 3! I won't be able to take more staffords until Year 4, and I cant' do the PLUS loans. I guess my option is private loans?

I think that was a very generous thing of your family member to do.

 

[tm79602]

If you were in the AF you have access to the GI bill. Are you using chapter 30 or chapter 33? My husband will start his dual degree {PharmD/MBA} this summer with 4 months and 10 days left on his GI bill {chapter 30}. Then we get one year of chapter 33 which pays the school tuition and fees and gives you a monthly stipend. After that, since we are Texas residents there is the Hensen Hazelwood Act (sp) that will pay his tuition for the rest of Pharmacy school. You should check with your state to see if they have programs for veterans.

You should not let the lack of money deter you from getting your PharmD degree. My husband will turn 30 this summer. We sold our house and sold one of our cars. He will be driving a really really old used vehicle that we are so thankful to have. He is moving 14 hours away without me until I can transfer with my job. My point is when there's a will, there's a way.

Someone mentioned Stafford loans. Great place to start if you need loans. Once you get your degree these can easily be paid off. Just don't go overboard with the loans. Take what you need, not what you want. haha

The GI Bill is NICE is Texas. Thank God for being a veteran. Unfortunetely, I have to move from Texas to Missouri and the GI Bill tuition rate is much lower than Texas. But the trade off is not having to worry about a mortgage and bills due to my mom helping out.

 

[Passion4Sci]

The GI Bill is NICE is Texas. Thank God for being a veteran. Unfortunetely, I have to move from Texas to Missouri and the GI Bill tuition rate is much lower than Texas. But the trade off is not having to worry about a mortgage and bills due to my mom helping out.

And the Hazelwood Act, right?

*shakes fist in jealousy*