Residency and Financial Aid ?

[Sprinkles]

Hi there, I have a goofy question. If you apply, accept and take a residency is your financial student loans still deferred while doing a residency since it is considered more education? One resident I can faintly remember talking about how his student loan payments were starting soon and another pharmacy student stated it is deferred. Anyone know from experience? Thanks!

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[farmadiazepine]

Not a goofy question, but a good question.

 

[schamj01]

I think you have to apply for forbearance or do IBR (income based repayment) during the residency...someone please correct me if I am wrong, though, because I'm not 100% sure.

 

[lactonerx]

I heard that loans become due 6 months after graduation even for residents.

 

[EBT12]

I don't have the website saved anymore, but I thought that the rules changed and you had to start paying back your loans during residency. It seems that income based repayments are generally the best option.

 

[confettiflyer]

Correct, IBR is the best option, if you make $40k as a resident, your payments should be ~$400/month (managable).

best of all, if you do 1 year of residency then go work for a non-profit (hospital, gov't) for 9 more years, the rest of your loan balances are discharged.

 

[schamj01]

Cool...I thought IBR was right...just didn't have the time to verify. I'm glad I wasn't distributing in accurate info...

 

[bacillus1]

Every single time this topic pops up, there re never current or past residents that respond. My professor told me you can defer, but apparently everyone here says you cannot.

 

[pharm B]

Just spoke to a prof who was a resident last year. She said her loan payments were deferred.

 

[njac]

Just spoke to a prof who was a resident last year. She said her loan payments were deferred.

you get 6 months of deferrment after graduation, then you have to apply for forbearance.

- Just graduated PGY-2.

 

[cycloketocaine]

you get 6 months of deferrment after graduation, then you have to apply for forbearance.

- Just graduated PGY-2.

Correct. Or you can do IBR, which makes your payment relatively small and manageable. This is what I am doing as a PGY1 resident.

 

[pharm B]

you guys are why I love SDN

 

[confettiflyer]

depending on circumstances, i would not recommend requesting a forbearance while in residency. the repayment clock will stop and instead of paying essentially 1 year of residency income + 9 years of pharmacy income at the IBR rate (or 2 + 8 if you do PGY2), you'll end up paying 10 years of IBR payments at the pharmacy income rate (more).

only request a forbearance if you're having trouble putting food on your table. Given the low payments of IBR and the fact that you're making $38-$50k/yr as a resident AND have the ability to moonlight and pick up extra hours/$$$....you probably have some serious financial issues that are beyond the help of anyone who is not a loan shark or a state lottery administrator.

 

[teclhie]

Correct, IBR is the best option, if you make $40k as a resident, your payments should be ~$400/month (managable).

best of all, if you do 1 year of residency then go work for a non-profit (hospital, gov't) for 9 more years, the rest of your loan balances are discharged.

What if you work for gov. for a couple years..then switch to another non-profit (hospital) for another couple years to reach 10 years total...will that count? Or do you have to stay with one non-profit for all 10 years?

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

What if you work for gov. for a couple years..then switch to another non-profit (hospital) for another couple years to reach 10 years total...will that count? Or do you have to stay with one non-profit for all 10 years?

You can switch between eligible non profit/gov't. As long as you make the 120 payments.

 

[njac]

um, living in Chicago on $38K before taxes (and insurance. unlike my PGY1 we had to pay for our own) there was no extra to go anywhere.

 

[KARM12]

Moonlighting as a resident is not as easy as it sounds. It is hard to fit those extra shifts (if even available) into a resident's schedule. I picked up some extra shifts as a resident, but it was probably no more than 5 the whole year.

 

[PumpkinSmasher]

I can not speak to the difficulty of speaking up extra shifts as a resident. But I can tell you even as a pharmacist doing 4 10s in a hospital, it is hard for me to get motivated to pickup extra hours at my relief job on my days off. I have too many things outside of work I want to do and people to see. I can not imagine it being easy to pickup an extra shift when you are doing 70hours/week in residency.

 

[confettiflyer]

I too can't speak for being a resident, but the last two clinical coordinators I worked with said they managed to pick up quite a few staffing shifts during residency.

Guess it depends on the residency's staffing requirements, your outside commitments, and whether or not picking up extra hours determines whether you make your car payment or grocery bill or not. YMMV.

 

[confettiflyer]

um, living in Chicago on $38K before taxes (and insurance. unlike my PGY1 we had to pay for our own) there was no extra to go anywhere.

Roommates? Live in the burbs? Spousal income?

I lived on independently on $30k/yr with undergrad loan payments (probably equivalent to an IBR payment at that salary) in orange county, california pre-recession....i had to live like i was a college student again, but it's doable.

exception is if you have extraordinarily high insurance costs or other outside costs that most people don't have.

 

[type b pharmD]

Roommates? Live in the burbs? Spousal income?

I lived on independently on $30k/yr with undergrad loan payments (probably equivalent to an IBR payment at that salary) in orange county, california pre-recession....i had to live like i was a college student again, but it's doable.

exception is if you have extraordinarily high insurance costs or other outside costs that most people don't have.

yeah, downtown chicago is extremely doable on 40k with roommates.. then again you might have to put up with living in a neighborhood full of hipsters

 

[owlegrad]

yeah, downtown chicago is extremely doable on 40k with roommates.. then again you might have to put up with living in a neighborhood full of hipsters

*shutter*

 

[njac]

yeah, downtown chicago is extremely doable on 40k with roommates.. then again you might have to put up with living in a neighborhood full of hipsters

I had a roommate.

But I also had a social life. I'm sure I could've done beans and rice and ramen, but instead I took in what Chicago had to offer.

And the experience was totally worth it, hipsters and all.

 

[confettiflyer]

at least hipsters won't mass mob you and beat you up like in philadelphia

source: go read the news, not making this stuff up

 

[njac]

they were doing the flash mob muggings in Chicago back in May and June.

Not in the hipster neighborhoods. Mostly downtown.

 

[confettiflyer]

they were doing the flash mob muggings in Chicago back in May and June.

Not in the hipster neighborhoods. Mostly downtown.

see that makes sense...they're mugging you, here, they just beat you up and maybe take your phone secondarily. one of my university's docs got assaulted.

but we had our flash mob assaults two years in a row at least, it took a giant army of police and a ridiculously early curfew to stop them.

 

[joetrisman]

they were doing the flash mob muggings in Chicago back in May and June.

Not in the hipster neighborhoods. Mostly downtown.

I miss living in downtown Chicago (around Michigan ave and state-ish). Nothing like hearing gunshots at night

 

[pharm B]

Can anyone recommend a good resource that actually breaks down the different options available for student loan repayment (besides the official website)? I'm especially curious about tax repercussions, if there are any.

I feel like this is something we should all know a LOT about, but I've only sat through one entrance counseling session at a community college... and it was lacking. I guess I could pick a weekend and just study up from the site, or print out a copy and stick it in the bathroom.