Paying cash?

[DallasMedic]

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I know this is going to sound crazy to alot of people, but I have been saving all through my undergrad ( I work fulltime) so that if accepted instate I could pay cash for my tution, but I don't know what to budget for cost of living. Whats a good estimate of living cost when in school?

 

[Sol Rosenberg]

Probably not much different that what you are paying now (the only thing that might vary significantly is rent/housing cost between 2 different cities if you are not going ot a medical school in the same school as your undergrad.)

My Med. School provides a Cost of Attendance Table that breaks down their estimated costs by category (This establishes the Cost of Attendance for financial aid purposes,) maybe your med. school does the same?

 

[yadayadadude]

There's no way to know what your cost of living will be without knowing more about your situation: where will you be going to medical school, will you live with roommates, do you cook at home or eat out frequently, do you have a car payment, etc.

PS. It doesn't sound crazy to have saved up for medical school. It sounds smart. Good for you!

 

[plauto]

Just more food for thought....why don't you consider buy a condo around the med school instead of paying cash for your tuition? Right now it's a buyer's market and you can generally make a killer deal. You can even rent a room to a fellow med student. It'd give you tax breaks, a secure investment, and leave you with cash for emergencies.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Just more food for thought....why don't you consider buy a condo around the med school instead of paying cash for your tuition? Right now it's a buyer's market and you can generally make a killer deal. You can even rent a room to a fellow med student. It'd give you tax breaks, a secure investment, and leave you with cash for emergencies.

Well, you don't really get tax breaks if you're a student since you don't earn income, so that's out. Also, real estate, especially condos, aren't always secure investments. To be really safe, you generally need to own for at least 5 years, which wouldn't work if the op goes somewhere else for residency. It might be the right thing to do, but buying is not always the right choice (and maybe not usually the right choice for people in our situation).

To the op, I agree with the posts above about looking at the living costs set by the school. I don't know how you're living now, but as a rule, people try to cut back on extravagances while in school. My school budgets us around $1600/month, and I think that's pretty close to normal. Also, you might want to keep some money put aside especially for those big extra expenses like boards, residency interviews and moving to wherever you do your residency.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Either way make sure you take out subsidized loans without any upfront fees.