Primary Care Loan program...worth it?

[UAAWolf]

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/DSA/pcl.htm

So I've been looking into how to pay for med school..and ran across this.

I'm almost positive I am going to do an Internal Med residency...perhaps going on to Cards or GI later.


Anyways would this be a decent plan?
-Get this primary care loan, finish med school and do IM res.

-After IM res work as a hospitalist til I pay off the loan, beef up my app for cards/gi in my spare time since hospitalists get 7 on/7 off

-Go do fellowship debt free


Stupid idea? No interest for that long is HUGE you have to admit!! You don't even collect any interest til after med school and after that its just 5%.

Penalty for quitting is huge though...

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[WNT Signaling]

http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/DSA/pcl.htm

So I've been looking into how to pay for med school..and ran across this.

I'm almost positive I am going to do an Internal Med residency...perhaps going on to Cards or GI later.


Anyways would this be a decent plan?
-Get this primary care loan, finish med school and do IM res.

-After IM res work as a hospitalist til I pay off the loan, beef up my app for cards/gi in my spare time since hospitalists get 7 on/7 off

-Go do fellowship debt free


Stupid idea? No interest for that long is HUGE you have to admit!! You don't even collect any interest til after med school and after that its just 5%.

Penalty for quitting is huge though...

A few things

1. Primary care loans are not eligible for IBR consolidation, so it's difficult to determine their value

2. If your goal is to become a GI or cardiologist, for every year you spend as a hospitalist, you lose income from your much higher specialty. So, let's say you work as a hospitalist for 3 years at 200k, you lose three years when you would make, say 350k, in one of those specialties. So although you would avoid interest on your loans for another 3 years, and all of your loans would be at a higher intereste rate, you would lose 450k in income. Yes, you would avoid interest, but would you avoid 450k in interest?

3. I also found this from the governemnt website: "Loans are repayable over a period of not less than ten years nor more than twenty five years, at the discretion of the institution." So, it looks like you would need to stay in primary care for at least 10 years

 

[UAAWolf]

A few things

1. Primary care loans are not eligible for IBR consolidation, so it's difficult to determine their value

2. If your goal is to become a GI or cardiologist, for every year you spend as a hospitalist, you lose income from your much higher specialty. So, let's say you work as a hospitalist for 3 years at 200k, you lose three years when you would make, say 350k, in one of those specialties. So although you would avoid interest on your loans for another 3 years, and all of your loans would be at a higher intereste rate, you would lose 450k in income. Yes, you would avoid interest, but would you avoid 450k in interest?

3. I also found this from the governemnt website: "Loans are repayable over a period of not less than ten years nor more than twenty five years, at the discretion of the institution." So, it looks like you would need to stay in primary care for at least 10 years

Thanks for your help- I appreciate it.

So despite the dismal interest I would accumulate during the 4 yrs of med school and 6 yrs res/fellowship, it would actually be worth it to go straight to GI/Card since they earn much more?

I guess I just get scared of being 600k+ debt when I finish my fellowship...despite the fact I would start bringing in 350k