School vs. School -- cost?

[Gabby]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I have a slight spin on all the "where should I go -- cheaper school or more expensive, better ranked school?" My situation is that I got into two schools, none top anything, but both good schools. I like one school MUCH better. I like the curriculum, the people, the facilities, everything. The only downside might be location (urban whereas the second school is more rural, which I like). But the first school is 80K more expensive, total for all four years. Now I'm the first to say go to the cheaper school when people ask this question, but is 80K that unmanageable (before interest) that I should settle for the one that isn't my top choice?

Any of you financial gurus, especially current med students, have any suggestions? I know 80K is a lot, but is it worth the extra money when I like the school so much better? Or am I just being stupid and should take the cheaper school?

 

[rockydoc]

I would definitely go cheaper. 80k is a large bundle of cash. My personal dilemma involves the difference of only 20k over four years and I cant quite bring myself to a solid decision on that amount of money.

 

[diosa428]

Paying off $80k over 20 years will accumulate an additional $66,561 in interest, bringing the total sum to $146,561.

Honestly, if you just like the first school better, I'd say go with the second. However, if this is a matter of moving away from all your friends and family and/or being truly miserable, go with the first.

 

[ChiDO]

If you like both schools equally, go with the cheaper.
If you like school A slightly over school B (B is cheaper), go with the cheaper.
If you like school A 10000x more then school B, go with school A.

In the end, you'll learn the exact same stuff, do the exact same rotations somewhere, and work as hard as you want at either school. In medical school, it's about how are YOU work and what YOU want.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

Paying off $80k over 20 years will accumulate an additional $66,561 in interest, bringing the total sum to $146,561.

Honestly, if you just like the first school better, I'd say go with the second. However, if this is a matter of moving away from all your friends and family and/or being truly miserable, go with the first.

To be fair..I dont think interest should be much of a concern. Interest is designed to account for inflation. So 147K in 2030= 80K now.

If doctors salaries will keep up with inflation, which is a huge if lol

 

[RoadRunner17]

I think this is a personal choice, really. What does school A have that school B doesn't offer that would be worth $80,000 plus interest? There's got to be some kind of price, above which it isn't worth it to you, and below it is worth it to you. You're the only one who can decide whether the differences in curriculum, cost, location, whether they have a ping pong table in the student lounge, have X people to each cadaver, whatever, is worth the extra money.

In my own personal situation, I think that $20,000/year more is not worth it for what I would be getting going to my A over my B. Right now, before financial aid packages have been given out, the difference is $10,000/year which I think is reasonable to pay to go to A over B. The ultimate decision I think will rest on second look visits and the actual financial aid packages themselves but that's how I feel about things right now.

 

[Impromptu]

Be frugal. Expensive schools charge so much because they can, not because they are any better.

 

[235009]

is 80K that unmanageable (before interest) that I should settle for the one that isn't my top choice?

what does this even mean? how can you ignore interest? Are you not taking the money out in loans? i think if your parents are just writing a check and 20k a year is just a drop in the bucket for them then by all means go to the school you liked more....but if you are going to be taking out loans then you can't just choose to ignore the fact that you'll have to take out the additional cash in unsubsidized student loans with interest rates of 6.8% or 8.5%

 

[RSAgator]

I think everyone else has put in some good advice here. Here's a real useful pdf posted by law2doc about debt repayment.

http://www.aamc.org/programs/first/repaymentsummary.pdf

It's important not to forget that the 20k extra per year will likely be covered by gradplus loans, so the interest rate is even higher. Just 50k in gradplus loans will cost you $1052 a month extra after 4 years of forbearance and assuming a 10 year repayment plan. Obviously you should have no trouble paying those loans back, but then again it's a nice chunk of change to keep rather than have to spend on loans you didn't really need to take out to in the first place. As someone else mentioned, your med school experience will be what you make of it, and unless the cheaper school is a place that you would simply be completely miserable, I'd think long and hard before shelling out the extra 20k a year.

 

[Gabby]

A little more info. School A has been around for decades and has a good reputation. School B is pretty new. But I think they're both good schools which is why I should probably choose School B. I just don't want to spend four years regretting not going to School A.

School A was my top choice going into the application cycle and my "dream" school even if it wasn't an Ivy or a top 10 or anything. School B wasn't in my top five choices. But these were the only two I got accepted to and I'm not complaining by any means. It's just hard letting go of your dream school because of cost, you know?

 

[Gut Shot]

I know 80K is a lot, but is it worth the extra money when I like the school so much better? Or am I just being stupid and should take the cheaper school?

Nobody can answer this question with 100% certainty. Eighty thousand dollars is a hefty chunk of money, but ultimately there is no accounting for taste.

I can tell you that many of the criteria you find so important as a premed end up meaning little or nothing one you're in the thick of it. Curriculum is a valid concern, but it's not going to make or break you.

Look at it this way: essentially, you are going to spend two years with your face shoved in a book. Then you'll drift through a series of inpatient and outpatient clerkships, never staying anywhere long enough to truly become useful. Then you'll spend two or three dedicated months rotating in your specialty of choice, trying to schmooze some LORs. Then you'll go through ERAS and match. Then it's over.

There, 45 months in a nutshell.

When you're fresh out of college I completely understand that 4 years seems like a long time, but it really isn't. Poof, gone, then you have to think about the next 50 or so. Trust me, the sooner you can get off the treadmill of debt the happier you will be.

 

[RSAgator]

A little more info. School A has been around for decades and has a good reputation. School B is pretty new. But I think they're both good schools which is why I should probably choose School B. I just don't want to spend four years regretting not going to School A.

School A was my top choice going into the application cycle and my "dream" school even if it wasn't an Ivy or a top 10 or anything. School B wasn't in my top five choices. But these were the only two I got accepted to and I'm not complaining by any means. It's just hard letting go of your dream school because of cost, you know?

I think you really need to try to stop thinking of school A as your "Dream" school. You have nothing more than a superficial understanding of how the schools differ, and the truth is that what you think is important to you now may not be important to you once you actually start school. Money is something that you know will always be important, so unless there are things that will specifically make you miserable at school B I'd go with the cheaper option. I'm in somewhat of a similar situation, and it's difficult to turn down a "better" school in a place you really want to spend your medical school years, but 4 years down the line you could just as easily be wishing you had taken the money as you could be wishing you'd gone to school A. It's a crapshoot, at least with the money you know for a fact you're getting something in return 😉

 

[megamega]

This is really a personal choice. I don't think that 20K more a year is that big of a difference, if you will be much happier at that school. I think you have to weigh how much your happiness is worth and figure out if that outweighs the cost of the school. If you're younger, then you may have tons of years to be happy, so it may be better to go to the cheaper school, but if you're older, then you may not have as many years left, so you may want to live it up to the fullest and go to the more expensive school.

Even if the interest makes the cost increase, you should be able to pay it off with the money you will earn as a physician in any specialty. If you're accustomed to living normally (not extravagantly) then you will have plenty of money left over to pay off loans when you are an attending, so I don't think it is as much of an issue. If you can easily live off of 30K-40K a year, then you should be able to pay loans off quickly if you make over 100K a year as an attending.

 

[Gut Shot]

This is really a personal choice. I don't think that 20K more a year is that big of a difference, if you will be much happier at that school. I think you have to weigh how much your happiness is worth and figure out if that outweighs the cost of the school. If you're younger, then you may have tons of years to be happy, so it may be better to go to the cheaper school, but if you're older, then you may not have as many years left, so you may want to live it up to the fullest and go to the more expensive school.

Even if the interest makes the cost increase, you should be able to pay it off with the money you will earn as a physician in any specialty. If you're accustomed to living normally (not extravagantly) then you will have plenty of money left over to pay off loans when you are an attending, so I don't think it is as much of an issue. If you can easily live off of 30K-40K a year, then you should be able to pay loans off quickly if you make over 100K a year as an attending.

Please check back in four years.

 

[megamega]

Please check back in four years.

You're still a resident, so I don't expect you to have the money to pay off loans yet, but you can defer your loans till you're done with residency. Plus, you can request to defer till after fellowship, so debt doesn't have to be a concern for you yet.

 

[Jolie South]

You're still a resident, so I don't expect you to have the money to pay off loans yet, but you can defer your loans till you're done with residency. Plus, you can request to defer till after fellowship, so debt doesn't have to be a concern for you yet.

that's just prolonging the inevitable, my friend.

 

[megamega]

that's just prolonging the inevitable, my friend.

You only make 40K as a resident, so paying off loans then is gonna make life difficult. You make maybe 150K as an attending, so if you are still living off of the 40K that you made previously, you can put 110K into paying off your loans as an attending, so you can still live comfortably and pay off your loans in a few years. I don't see the flaws in this plan.

 

[kevenka]

I personally think you should make the most out of your education (Even though I have no idea what it is like in medical school) but yea, you go to school for 10+ years... you have the rest of your life to work 😛

 

[jinx520]

What is the cost of living in the city/town surrounding school A vs. school B? Who knows, the more expensive school might actually be a bargain when you figure in rent, groceries, taxes, etc. And which area would you rather live in? Would one area simply bore you to tears, and are you willing to pay 20,000 extra for a better residential experience (give or take the difference in living expenses, of course)? Do you have a significant other or children for whom quality of life considerations (job opportunities, good schools, etc.) are important? Which area is better for them? Also, how close are friends and family in area A vs. area B? Would you have to incur additional expenses to visit with them from either area? As other posters said before, it really boils down to what is important to you and how much of a premium are you willing to put up for it.

 

[jinx520]

P.S. Thank you, Chubby, for the new avatar pic.

 

[bozz]

Your parents/dependents/partners won't be too happy with you if you choose to go to the more expensive school. Think about that.

It sounds really nice now... but you're not settling down at any of those places. You're getting an education and leaving. Don't make it out to be more than it is. I guarantee that you're NOT going to look back when you're in 80k extra debt and say... "Wifey, that was totally worth every penny"

I actually made that decision with college. I was down at first.. b/c I didn't get to go to my more expensive "top" choice (my parents were paying). Now I look at some of my friends who went there, and they're getting into med. school... some are taking years off to build there resume/GPAs...... except with an extra 100k in debt. The same things happen everywhere at every school. Be smart about the $

 

[Gut Shot]

I don't see the flaws in this plan.

That's why they call it naiveté.

 

[RSAgator]

seriously, I don't know how anyone can say that 20k/year "isn't that much" when you likely live on much less than that right now. The fact that you will be able to pay back the extra 20k a year doesn't make the decision to borrow the extra money any better. Also who knows what kind of life you'll be leading 8-10 years from now. Maybe you'll have a wife and a kid at that point and want to start living like a family rather than a poor college student. You're not going to make the wrong decision by going to the cheaper, seemingly equivalent, medical school. Unless you're comparing your state school to one of the top medical schools in the country, 20k a year is a ton of money.

 

[Impromptu]

Deferring loans will no longer be an option after July 1, 2009. Most residents will then have to enter Income Based Repayment, which is 15% of your income that is above 150% of the poverty line for your family size and state in which you live. Start pumping those kids out during medical school, right?

 

[megamega]

Deferring loans will no longer be an option after July 1, 2009. Most residents will then have to enter Income Based Repayment, which is 15% of your income that is above 150% of the poverty line for your family size and state in which you live. Start pumping those kids out during medical school, right?

Even with this the minimum payment will be low enough. According to another SDN post in the financial aid section:
Loan payments are set up for residents in the following way:

[your residency salary - 150% of the poverty rate] * 15%

For the average single resident making $45,000 per year, this translates into a monthly payment of about $365.

Which is only $4,380 a year, so you're still taking in over 40K a year even if you pay the minimum in the case that you can't defer. Which still makes it so that you can completely wipe out that extra 80K in the first year as an attending. So, this shouldn't even be an issue.

 

[scrambizle]

For the average single resident making $45,000 per year, this translates into a monthly payment of about $365.

Which is only $4,380 a year, so you're still taking in over 40K a year even if you pay the minimum in the case that you can't defer. Which still makes it so that you can completely wipe out that extra 80K in the first year as an attending. So, this shouldn't even be an issue.

Salary is 45K minus taxes. so its more like 35K if your doing your residency in a city. Add a wife and a kid, and that's not much money. I do agree with you that you can pay off your debt much faster by living frugally for a while as a new attending. But 80K is 80K you could be putting into your kid's college fund, or your investment portfolio...

 

[Siverhideo1985]

But 80K is 80K you could be putting into your kid's college fund, or your investment portfolio...

Investing or saving when you have loans only makes sense when your return on your investments is higher than the interest on your loans though...otherwise you are just wasting money.

I am no finance guru, but I don't think there are low-risk investments with returns good enough for this. (if there are, please do share)

Personally, money does play a role in my decision but no amount of money could make me go to a medical school that I don't like and wouldn't be happy at. My level of happiness has always reflected in my performance. If I ruin my future career options because I went to school that I am miserable at, I might have 80k less in debt, but I might also have a crappy or no job....and I would be miserable.