Paying back student loans

Started by Elisabeth Kate
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Elisabeth Kate

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Just started psychiatry residency and trying to choose a loan repayment plan. I'm leaning towards IBR with the 10-year forgiveness if I work for a non-profit for that long.

Residency will take up 4 of those years. My question is outside of doing inpatient psych and consult work in a hospital (most of which are non-profits), what other non-profit work options are there for a psychiatrist after residency? Ideally, I'd like to go into outpatient private practice psych, but I realize that would void the non-profit part of IBR so I'm trying to see what other options there are.
 
Working at a county mental health clinic would certainly apply, or the corrections/prison system. One could have a 32 hour a week position at one if these types of jobs and run their own private practice gig on the side.
 
Elisabeth Kate said:
Just started psychiatry residency and trying to choose a loan repayment plan. I'm leaning towards IBR with the 10-year forgiveness if I work for a non-profit for that long.

Residency will take up 4 of those years. My question is outside of doing inpatient psych and consult work in a hospital (most of which are non-profits), what other non-profit work options are there for a psychiatrist after residency? Ideally, I'd like to go into outpatient private practice psych, but I realize that would void the non-profit part of IBR so I'm trying to see what other options there are.
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VA, State Hospitals, CMHC's, University system, any other nonprofit system.

You CAN set up your PP as a non profit, then pay yourself a salary out of the earnings of the nonprofit.
 
Elisabeth Kate said:
I know, but that's not what I was asking.
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Irrespective of the method in which you are hired, PP or wage slave, the corporation you are associated with can sign off on the PSLF for you to start making payments. This means while you enter into residency, you do IBR, you can qualify for PSLF because the entity will be your training site. Once you leave, you start your own corportaion and align yourself with a 503b entity, they can sign off on the PSLF documents too.
 
Have you guys already signed up for the PSLF program? I've completed one month of residency but haven't signed up yet - so I don't know if I can retroactively sign up stating that I started working on July 1. If so, I probably should sign up immediately. I haven't done much yet regarding school loans or even contacting my student loan servicers, since I'm just 2 months into the 6 month grace period, but this is something I probably should be getting on board with very soon. I just don't know if it makes a difference if I start taking action now, vs in another few months.
 
rkaz said:
Have you guys already signed up for the PSLF program? I've completed one month of residency but haven't signed up yet - so I don't know if I can retroactively sign up stating that I started working on July 1. If so, I probably should sign up immediately. I haven't done much yet regarding school loans or even contacting my student loan servicers, since I'm just 2 months into the 6 month grace period, but this is something I probably should be getting on board with very soon. I just don't know if it makes a difference if I start taking action now, vs in another few months.
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You don't have to "sign up" for it. The process works as follows:

You make 120 qualifying payments, then apply for loan forgiveness. A qualifying payment is any payment made under a qualifying payment plan* while employed full time in public service**.
*Basically, any payment plan, including IBR or ICR
**A governmental or 503c non-profit organization

For convenience, you can send in periodic employment certification forms (google "PSLF employment certification form"), which are basically affidavits that your employer signs saying "yes, I am a public service organization, and yes, this person was employed by me full time during this time period." Once the feds get this form, they pull your loan payment record and give you a report saying "you've made X number of qualifying payments for PSLF so far." They keep track of this for you as well. Why do this periodically? Presumably, when it comes time to apply for forgiveness, you won't have to track down 10 years worth of proof of payment, proof of employment, etc.

What matters most is that you start paying on some payment plan ASAP during residency. The longer you wait, the more 'cheap' qualifying payments you miss out on.

One last detail: At my residency, it was the GME office that filled out the employment certification form for me. I had them do one sometime in my second year, and they are doing another one now to document the remainder of my residency employment since I recently graduated.

Hope this helps.
 
I work for a hospital-affiliated clinic, and my official employer is the hospital--not a for-profit hospital-based group. Thus, it' s a 501c3. You also have the possibility of taking on an outpatient gig at a teaching hospital, which will translate into a 501c3 job and PSLF (if it exists). Also look at most mental health centers.

Be aware that it takes Fed Loan Servicing FOREVER to process your employer verification. Get that in early and annually. Another reason to do it early is that your loans will all move to Fed Loan Servicing if you turn in the employer certification form, as apparently they're the only ones certified to handle PSLF. I'd be sure to try to get into that pool while you can. If the federal government decides to axe future PSLF applicants but grandfather others in, I'm guessing that those who have already been employer-verified may be likely to continue.
 
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