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[deleted968633]

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[DocMon16]

I am about to start this program myself, in the same boat as you except I am going to a 4 year program. I think what you have said is correct, however, it changes annually I'm sure you know. I would ask one of the 6 year guys/gals about this if they are in the program. My chiefs now (I'm a non-cat) speak very highly of this program and told me to sign up as soon as possible.

 

[tooth-tastic]

Hi everyone,

I have been doing some research about the Revised Pay As You Earn (REPAYE) plan and had a couple questions. I will be entering OMFS residency in a couple of months.

From my understanding, based on my income during medical school and residency, my monthly payment will be $0 and the government will pay half of the interest I accrue each month. Is this correct?

Are there any cons to this income based repayment plan for someone in my situation?

Thanks!

REPAYE is not available to 6-yr OMFS residents while they're enrolled in Med School.

 

[sjv]

It sounds like you can waive your full time student status after graduating dental school and enter into the plan. This is per a conversation I had with my loan servicer.

You most definitely can waive student status and resume repayment. REPAYE w/ interest benefit is likely your best option during residency.

 

[tooth-tastic]

You most definitely can waive student status and resume repayment. REPAYE w/ interest benefit is likely your best option during residency.

Pleasantly surprised. While in Med School, your loan provider allowed you waive "student status" and participate in REPAYE?

 

[sjv]

Pleasantly surprised. While in Med School, your loan provider allowed you waive "student status" and participate in REPAYE?

You may request to remove In-School Deferment, contact your provider for details.

 

[tooth-tastic]

You may request to remove In-School Deferment, contact your provider for details.

Thanks! My loan provider wasn't forthcoming with this info. Will give this a shot.

 

[ortho143]

You most definitely can waive student status and resume repayment. REPAYE w/ interest benefit is likely your best option during residency.

Is this applicable for other dental residency programs like orthodontics (no stipend / income). ?

 

[batman12345]

You may request to remove In-School Deferment, contact your provider for details.

Can you do this while in dental school?

 

[sjv]

Can you do this while in dental school?

Is this applicable for other dental residency programs like orthodontics (no stipend / income). ?

I doubt it, I had tax returns showing income from residency thus continuing repayment rather than entering for the first time with 0 income while full time.

 

[Davicaine]

I doubt it, I had tax returns showing income from residency thus continuing repayment rather than entering for the first time with 0 income while full time.

You don’t need to have an income to switch to income based repayment. Unless there is something specific in the terms prohibiting this, I don’t see why you couldn’t do it during another residency or maybe even during dental school

 

[sjv]

You don’t need to have an income to switch to income based repayment. Unless there is something specific in the terms prohibiting this, I don’t see why you couldn’t do it during another residency or maybe even during dental school

Yeah of course, income based repayment is likely the best option during residency regardless of income as you wouldn't be able to pay any sort of standard repayment (unless making huge sacrifices or extremely low loan balance) each month without outside help/moonlighting.

I was referring to while in dental school, it would get increasingly complex each year and I'm not I would attempt to trust a loan servicer with that (removing deferment while entering repayment with payments of 0 while taking new loans), just doesn't sound too realistic/feasible to me.
You would also run into issues as your "qualifying payments (of 0)" would reset due new loans taken each year/semester. You wouldn't be able to apply your 1st year qualifying payments to 4th year loans for example and the counter would reset each time. This goes down another rabbit hole of IBR/PAYE/REPAYE vs traditional repayment vs refinancing which I won't get into.

 

[batman12345]

Yeah of course, income based repayment is likely the best option during residency regardless of income as you wouldn't be able to pay any sort of standard repayment (unless making huge sacrifices or extremely low loan balance) each month without outside help/moonlighting.

I was referring to while in dental school, it would get increasingly complex each year and I'm not I would attempt to trust a loan servicer with that (removing deferment while entering repayment with payments of 0 while taking new loans), just doesn't sound too realistic/feasible to me.
You would also run into issues as your "qualifying payments (of 0)" would reset due new loans taken each year/semester. You wouldn't be able to apply your 1st year qualifying payments to 4th year loans for example and the counter would reset each time. This goes down another rabbit hole of IBR/PAYE/REPAYE vs traditional repayment vs refinancing which I won't get into.

Hmm I think the main pro to this strategy is not necessarily qualifying payments toward REPAYE and ultimately forgiveness, but rather the interest subsidy and saving pretty much half the interest. If you plan on paying it off and not doing forgiveness, it may be a good route IF POSSIBLE.

 

[sjv]

Hmm I think the main pro to this strategy is not necessarily qualifying payments toward REPAYE and ultimately forgiveness, but rather the interest subsidy and saving pretty much half the interest. If you plan on paying it off and not doing forgiveness, it may be a good route IF POSSIBLE.

Yeah, I understand that, its just extraordinarily complex---removing deferment while entering repayment with payments of 0 while taking new loans all while in school. I'm just saying I'm not sure anyone would or has attempted this nor would I trust my loan provider to get this right year after year even if possible.

 

[batman12345]

Yeah, I understand that, its just extraordinarily complex---removing deferment while entering repayment with payments of 0 while taking new loans all while in school. I'm just saying I'm not sure anyone would or has attempted this nor would I trust my loan provider to get this right year after year even if possible.

Oh yeah I agree it’s way too complex and servicers have proven they don’t know what they’re doing a lot of the times...I’ve heard rumors of this but nothing concrete

 

[resiliens]

Under REPAYE, the Direct Unsubsidized Stafford loans only qualify for a 50% interest subsidy correct?

 

[allDAT]

Can you do this while in dental school?

Your comments in the previous thread have had me thinking about this - it's basically a hack to turn unsub loans into sub loans via REPAYE. You can't enter income-driven repayment on the loans until you finish the program you used the loans for (or drop below half time status) and enter repayment. So you can't do this while you're in dental school, but you could do it while in residency if you entered repayment prior to starting your residency where you are a full-time student (residents who are employees of the institution just enter repayment and don't need to worry about their student status).

When you're in dental school, your loan status should be "in-school". You can make payments on these loans, but the servicer won't change the loan status, loans in "in-school" status don't qualify for IDR because they're not in repayment. Your servicer cannot change the status from "in-school" to repayment while you're enrolled in the program you took the loans to pay for.

Here are the loan statuses: Federal Student Aid

Note the "deferment" is not listed, but in-school deferment is an option. I'm copying what studentaid.gov says about in-school deferment below in italics:

In-School Deferment

You are eligible for this deferment if you’re enrolled at least half-time at an eligible college or career school. If you’re a graduate or professional student who received a Direct PLUS Loan, you qualify for an additional six months of deferment after you cease to be enrolled at least half-time.

Important! If you are enrolled in an eligible college or career school at least half-time, in most cases your loan will be placed into a deferment automatically based on enrollment information reported by your school, and your loan servicer will notify you that the deferment has been granted. If you enroll at least half-time but do not automatically receive a deferment, you should contact the school where you are enrolled. Your school will then report information about your enrollment status so that your loan can be placed into deferment.

Complete the In-School Deferment Request.

Note: In-school deferment is generally automatic, so in most cases it isn’t necessary to complete the In-School Deferment Request. However, if you’re enrolled at least half-time but do not automatically receive a deferment, you can either ask your school to report your enrollment information, as explained above, or complete the In-School Deferment Request.

You can learn all about deferment here: Student Loan Deferment

Basically - when you go from dental school back to a residency program where you are a full-time student again, your school is going to report to the loan servicer that you're a student again, and the loan servicer is then going to put your loans into "in-school deferment". That will pause REPAYE, and you're going to have to request to waive in-school deferment through your loan servicer. How quickly things move from here probably depends on your servicer and if your request was handed off to a good rep within the organization.

 

[batman12345]

Your comments in the previous thread have had me thinking about this - it's basically a hack to turn unsub loans into sub loans via REPAYE. You can't enter income-driven repayment on the loans until you finish the program you used the loans for (or drop below half time status) and enter repayment. So you can't do this while you're in dental school, but you could do it while in residency if you entered repayment prior to starting your residency where you are a full-time student (residents who are employees of the institution just enter repayment and don't need to worry about their student status).

When you're in dental school, your loan status should be "in-school". You can make payments on these loans, but the servicer won't change the loan status, loans in "in-school" status don't qualify for IDR because they're not in repayment. Your servicer cannot change the status from "in-school" to repayment while you're enrolled in the program you took the loans to pay for.

Here are the loan statuses: Federal Student Aid

Note the "deferment" is not listed, but in-school deferment is an option. I'm copying what studentaid.gov says about in-school deferment below in italics:

In-School Deferment

You are eligible for this deferment if you’re enrolled at least half-time at an eligible college or career school. If you’re a graduate or professional student who received a Direct PLUS Loan, you qualify for an additional six months of deferment after you cease to be enrolled at least half-time.

Important! If you are enrolled in an eligible college or career school at least half-time, in most cases your loan will be placed into a deferment automatically based on enrollment information reported by your school, and your loan servicer will notify you that the deferment has been granted. If you enroll at least half-time but do not automatically receive a deferment, you should contact the school where you are enrolled. Your school will then report information about your enrollment status so that your loan can be placed into deferment.

Complete the In-School Deferment Request.

Note: In-school deferment is generally automatic, so in most cases it isn’t necessary to complete the In-School Deferment Request. However, if you’re enrolled at least half-time but do not automatically receive a deferment, you can either ask your school to report your enrollment information, as explained above, or complete the In-School Deferment Request.

You can learn all about deferment here: Student Loan Deferment

Basically - when you go from dental school back to a residency program where you are a full-time student again, your school is going to report to the loan servicer that you're a student again, and the loan servicer is then going to put your loans into "in-school deferment". That will pause REPAYE, and you're going to have to request to waive in-school deferment through your loan servicer. How quickly things move from here probably depends on your servicer and if your request was handed off to a good rep within the organization.

Definitely would be a hack. Only reason I asked is there were rumors a whileee back it was possible. Maybe by putting loans from say year 1 into REPAYE while you are in your second year for example. Technically those loans are from a semester you finished. If this was possible it might’ve saved a student a few thousand in interest.

But I’m sure if it was for real it would be more known by now.

 

[Davicaine]

Definitely would be a hack. Only reason I asked is there were rumors a whileee back it was possible. Maybe by putting loans from say year 1 into REPAYE while you are in your second year for example. Technically those loans are from a semester you finished. If this was possible it might’ve saved a student a few thousand in interest.

But I’m sure if it was for real it would be more known by now.

I doubt it would be more known. I was at a residency interview last year where one of the heads of financial aid was bragging about saving all of the residents money by counseling them to go into forbearance (don’t ask the logic behind this)... literally had no idea he was actually costing them tens or hundreds of thousands by not telling them to enter repaye. This information isn’t difficult to find... read the loan terms and don’t listen to anyone’s opinion without fact checking it yourself.

Studentloanplanner.com has a service where they will advise you on best loan repayment planning for a cost. Probably not a bad idea although I haven’t done it myself.