Savings and Loans...

[freshbeatschris]

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This idea got sparked from another post in a different thread. I just got a shocker when I went for an interview that students are required to have health insurance and must have a car to get them to their clinicals starting their first year. That tacks on $9,000 more PER YEAR than I had calculated. This is going to push my total for pharm school around the $200,000 range.

I was curious how much savings are you guys hoping to have when you start pharm school? I have 4K that is rapidly depleting, but was hoping to have 7k saved by the time I start school. Will you guys have any savings when you start or will it be 100% loans?

Chris

 

[Poland]

We really don't make enough money after bills to save a significant amount. Maybe if I was planning on pharmacy school since age 13. This is a good question and I'm curious about everyone's plans. I have always thought that the outcome would overshadow the dept in a health profession.

 

[Jeddevil]

This is america, nobody saves money.

 

[cosmicstarr]

This is america, nobody saves money.

Yup...America..land of little savings and large debt.

 

[blueclassring]

i have quite a bit saved up from 5 years of working, plus about 20k in roth ira investments. i don't intend on touching it though. i'll invest it, and take out max loans. i hope my investments make more than 6% percent in the next 4 years. i know that ing money market accounts pay about 4% right now. i don't care about the principal, but i don't want to pay too much in interest.

 

[jbe4]

Where did you interview that had these requirements? Was this just for those taking out loans, or an institutonal requirement even for those without loan requirements?

 

[usi]

Well I have some IRA savings that I don't want to touch.
It dawn on me yesterday that I need a car, because we share one in my family, but if I have to get my daughter to school and me to a rotation at the same time, is going to be a problem.
I guess we are going to be in debt. Is just the way it is.
As long as we are happy with the quality of life we have juggling debt and restraining the number of weekly lattes, we will be ok.
Debt makes America go around.
As a country, Don't we have external debt as well?

 

[GatorRxGirl]

South University requires students to have laptops and health insurance as well. All these hidden costs, I swear.

This idea got sparked from another post in a different thread. I just got a shocker when I went for an interview that students are required to have health insurance and must have a car to get them to their clinicals starting their first year. That tacks on $9,000 more PER YEAR than I had calculated. This is going to push my total for pharm school around the $200,000 range.

I was curious how much savings are you guys hoping to have when you start pharm school? I have 4K that is rapidly depleting, but was hoping to have 7k saved by the time I start school. Will you guys have any savings when you start or will it be 100% loans?

Chris

 

[All4MyDaughter]

Don't most colleges have health insurance that you can purchase for relatively low cost?

 

[highlyfavored]

Yup...America..land of little savings and large debt.

I know that's right !

 

[highlyfavored]

Don't most colleges have health insurance that you can purchase for relatively low cost?

One of my friends used insurance through the school.

 

[freshbeatschris]

Where did you interview that had these requirements? Was this just for those taking out loans, or an institutonal requirement even for those without loan requirements?

I'm not sure if you were referring to the initial post or not, but it was Midwestern in Downers Grove, IL that requires health insurance and a car as a student. They are my first interview, so I don't know if that is true at all, most, or few schools.

Chris

 

[freshbeatschris]

Don't most colleges have health insurance that you can purchase for relatively low cost?

That figure I quoted of $3,000 per year IS through the school. My boyfriend is looking into getting me on his plan through work. I've been living without health insurance for about 9 years now. I just can't afford it.

 

[cosmicstarr]

That figure I quoted of $3,000 per year IS through the school. My boyfriend is looking into getting me on his plan through work. I've been living without health insurance for about 9 years now. I just can't afford it.

Wow. Health insurance through the school is expensive. I guess I've taken for granted paying $40/month for health insurance through my work.

 

[Moxxie]

Wow. Health insurance through the school is expensive. I guess I've taken for granted paying $40/month for health insurance through my work.

$3000/year is VERY expensive through a school. It's too bad that they can't offer you a better plan 🙁 I've never paid more than $900 for two semesters of health insurance through a university. Here's to hoping that you find a good plan that doesn't cost that much.

 

[dreaminpharmd]

I hope the health insurance through Midwestern University-CCP is very good...I never thought about it since I came back from the MCV.... On the otherhand, the pricing sounds about right for California... 🙄 I didn't bother paying >$300 for Cobra to keep my health insurance or considered enrolling through any health insurance plan because that's how much it would cost me (and I don't really go to the doctor).

As for the car, yeah, we need a car to get to our externships. I remember reading on the UIC website that students admitted are required to have a car. Either way, we need transportation.... I forgot to ask the school what hospitals are nearby that we will be rotating through....

Yup, we'll be going into debt because we wanted to go to professional school (unless you have very nice parents willing to pay for your schooling). So, you're not alone about debt. My friend who finished dental school owes $250,000, and all he can pay so far is interest!

Sigh! I always tell the pharmacist that I wished I was born ten years earlier because pharmacy school was much cheaper back then. 😳

 

[meg]

Don't you guys get insurance through your parents? If you are a full-time student and under the age of 24, they usually let you stay on.

You should be applying for scholarships to at least pay SOME of your tuition. I got through undergraduate on scholarships and savings bonds and came out with no debt. Boy was that nice!

 

[starsweet]

Not everyone is under 24... 🙂

 

[Moxxie]

Not everyone is under 24... 🙂

Or a dependent student... (got married when I was 19, still happily married almost 7 years later). The day I got married I had to go off of my dad's insurance. It sure made my financial aid package nicer, though.

 

[vicky336]

ok. this information might just pertain to people under 24 BUT

my bf went to his dental interview and they told him that normally people are considered financially independent at the age of 24. HOWEVER, if you go into a doctoral program, you are considered financially independent regardless of your age. when calculating the amount of financial aid you may get from both the school and the government, they do not take into account the income of your parents.

for me, if they just looked at my yearly "income" if you can even call it that from summer jobs, I would be considered very financially needy and completely unable to support myself. From that, you can apply for scholarships, loans that have good offers like no interest, etc.

this is just what i've heard. i really do not want to burden my parents anymore. regardless if this is true, i want to be able to not ask them to pay for school or at least help them out or pay them back.

 

[All4MyDaughter]

That figure I quoted of $3,000 per year IS through the school. My boyfriend is looking into getting me on his plan through work. I've been living without health insurance for about 9 years now. I just can't afford it.

That's a lot of money for student health insurance.

Try this link. I did a "dummy" quote for student health insurance in IL and the most expensive option they returned was $2000 a year. You could lower the premium if you chose a higher deductible.

http://www.a-i-p-i.com/Individual.asp

 

[All4MyDaughter]

http://www.studentdoc.com/medical-student-insurance.html

http://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ehi/index.html

http://www.estudentinsurance.com/

 

[DHG]

How much savings? NONE. I used it all the last 3 years while doing my Biochem degree. Arg.

 

[freshbeatschris]

These are the numbers directly out of the financial aid booklet that I was given at the MCV at Midwestern- Downers Grove

Health Insurance $2,512 (for 9 months)
Disability Insurance $65 (for 9 months)
Total Insurance $2,577 (for 9 months)

I have not had the chance to look into exactly how extensive the insurance needs to be. These are just the numbers we were given by the school and the worksheet does not state where they derived the figures for the insurance portion.

My priorities are as follows...
1. Get INTO pharmacy school
2. Get health insurance for pharmacy school

So, until number one is accomplished, I'm not going to worry about number two. When the time comes, I will apply more time and energy to getting more specific details and better numbers.

Chris