School Debt

[TheAuDfather]

Hey all,
so my wife and I have been doing some number crunching trying to figure out how much money we would have to borrow to get through the rest of school if she quit her job... We're looking at a number somewhere in the high $30,000 range (I'm currently a 2nd year student). I was just wondering if anyone would be willing to share how much they have borrowed, are borrowing or expect to have to borrow to finish their AuD.

I'm very reluctant to agree to take on that much debt, knowing that in many situations, I can expect that an AuD starting salary is somewhere in the range of $60k/year (from what I've seen).

Thanks for sharing!

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[White Noise]

I'm a first year aud student and I'm expecting to borrow around $65,000. I'm attending a state university and I'm paying in-state tuition. I also have a full time graduate assistantship (GA) with a "tuition fellowship." However, the next three years I'm not expecting to have a GA position and will be paying for school via federal loans. There is also the possibility of landing a paid fourth your externship, although I have heard that the chances of getting a paid placement is rather low.

 

[TheEarDoc]

I ended up taking out 60k in loans with assistantships (it pays the tuition but you need money to live on and to buy books and travel for clinicals).

Now 60k doesn't seem like much, but it is. IF you land a job in the 50k region (more likely with being a newb from an AuD program) that will mean if you do income based repayment you will be looking at a loan payment of $400-500 a month if you're married and dual income. You'll be paying that for the next 30 years. If you do the 10 year plan you will be paying about $800 a month to pay it off in 10 years (very hard to do if you are the primary bread winner).

Don't fret you do have options here.

1. You could take the loans and then find a non profit hospital or VA to work for. When you work for these jobs and do income based repayment, your loans are forgiven after 10 years. I am doing this. I worked for a few years at a not for profit hospital and now work for the VA system. I have about 6 more years until my loans are forgiven. I am the sole breadwinner and my wife doesn't make much at her job so I'm telling you the $530 a month in loan repayment does hurt (that's a mortgage for some people), but I love what I do and I didn't starve in graduate school. I lived and had fun and it was one of the best times in my life.
2. You could pick up a part time job as a hearing aid dispenser (not popular, but hey it pays the bills) and make some money and build clinical skills at the same time.
3. Your wife continues working for the next year and you pick up some cash during a 4th year externship (think VA if you want a decent living with benefits) and she can quit her job during your 4th year and you borrow less money that way.

I think option 3 sounds the best to me and then use the VA externship to springboard into a VA job and do the income base repayment for 10 years and wipe your debt clean.

 

[cidanu]

i'm at about 50 grand between undergrad and grad. and that has all been for living expenses since i had scholarships/grants to pay for tuition.