PSA: Student Loan Interest Rates

[Mr. Macrophage]

I wanted to share a quick reminder for anyone thinking about medical school affordability: as incoming medical students, many of us will rely on Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans and Federal Graduate PLUS Loans, which have interest rates of 8.08% and 9.08%, respectively. These rates are fixed for the life of the loan and begin accruing interest immediately after disbursal, including while you are in school and in residency. Unfortunately, there's no indication that these rates will drop significantly anytime soon.

With Public Service Loan Forgiveness and income-driven repayment plans such as SAVE (possibly PAYE and REPAYE too) potentially being axed, it’s definitely worth keeping an eye on the changes and looking at what options exist for debt forgiveness and/or refinancing to a lower rate as soon as you graduate.

For those who are fortunate enough to have received multiple acceptances with differing costs of attendance, I encourage you to strongly consider finances in your decision-making. While it's certainly challenging to balance all the factors, I hope this information helps as you weigh your options!

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[cherrygirl<3]

i had not thought about it like this.... thank you for this extremely helpful advice!

 

[chemistrandy]

Thank you Mister Macrophage! This is very insightful advice.

 

[Hollow Knight]

The biggest thing I think is "back in the day" (whenever that was, I'm a youngster), you just went to the best med school you got into because the loans were reasonable. We're reaching a point know where you can't do that. While it's possible to pay off a $500,000 loan burden as a pediatrician...... that's tough man.

 

[BigCoyote]

Thank you so much, Mr. Macrophage! This has been at the forefront of my mind. Thank you for sharing.