rural loan repayment options

[dancote]

My loans may well exceed 200k by the time I go through medical school. I really want to be a family doctor and my wife and I would prefer to live in a rural area. What are typical loan-repayment incentives offered by rural clinics or hospitals? I often hear that you can get help repaying the high cost of medical school, but I am wondering how much help is typical. Any ideas??
Our plan is to buy a small farm in such an area and live as simple as we can, since that is the life we enjoy anyway. Any loan repayment would be an added help so that we wouldn't drown in school debt!

-dan

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[LukeWhite]

You can be a NHSC clinician, which gives you a pretty wide range of practice options. When I last checked, they only repaid something like 25,000 per year of service, but perhaps it's more now, and should certainly be more when you start practicing, particularly given all the new money that the President gave rural clinics in the medicare bill.

Also keep in mind that though the money sounds like an awful lot, inflation is going to exceed your loan interest rates. It used to be that the value of money doubled every seven years or so...I'm not sure if that will stay true, but many people make the mistake of looking at their debt and wondering how they'll pay it off with today's entry-level FP salary. Remember that in seven years, while your debt will be as calculated, the entry-level FP salary will be MUCH higher. If you estimate paying about $2,000 a month in loan repayment, FP salaries only need to increase by about $33,000 (including what you'll pay in taxes) over the next several years to absorb the cost of your loan payback.

 

[cooldreams]

probablly really depend on the area. states vary quite a bit. check with local officials on different areas, unless you already have one picked out. u do not have to join the military to get it paid off if you pick the right areas... for instance some places will pay up to a certain amount for an fp doc to garantee he will stay there for a set number of years, and you could then also possibly join an existing practice which might pay a certain amount of your loain as a sort of signing bonus... just depends on the area... look around....

 

[DWP DO]

My loans may well exceed 200k by the time I go through medical school. I really want to be a family doctor and my wife and I would prefer to live in a rural area. What are typical loan-repayment incentives offered by rural clinics or hospitals? I often hear that you can get help repaying the high cost of medical school, but I am wondering how much help is typical. Any ideas??
Our plan is to buy a small farm in such an area and live as simple as we can, since that is the life we enjoy anyway. Any loan repayment would be an added help so that we wouldn't drown in school debt!

-dan

If you are willing to come to Georgia, this state offers the Physicians for Rural Areas Assistance Program. One can receive up to $100K over 4 years. It is offered through the Georgia State Medical Education Board and involves a rural practice obligation in a designated county. Hope this helps. DWP