Should I just go to the cheapest dental school? What's the consensus?

[hollaholla]

I would like to direct this question towards students in dental school right now.

Do you think the best option would be to follow the cheapest route? (given that the schools you are accepted to are of at least decent quality and education)

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[dentalWorks]

I would like to direct this question towards students in dental school right now.

Do you think the best option would be to follow the cheapest route? (given that the schools you are accepted to are of at least decent quality and education)

should you go to cheapest school?

HELL YES !!

let me explain,
you will borrow 3 basic types of loans:
1) subsidized ~ no interest rate while in school, these are the best. But they limit you at only about 10k per year.

2) unsubsidized ~ about 6.8% interest rate, but the interest starts piling up from the moment you take loans. Your only allowed 36k per year.

3) graduate plus ~ 7.9% interest rate, these are the worst, like the subsidized, their interest starts running as soon as you burrow, and worst of all, they are pretty much "unlimited"

So what does this mean? when you go to the more expensive dental schools (400k+ tuition 'n' living cost), your going to pay for more than half of that using Graduate plus (WITH A RAGING 7.9% INTEREST).

Conclusion, fine the cheapest dental school you can get into, and do your best to avoid borrowing graduate plus (I know its impossible to completely avoid graduate plus ~ but do ur best).


There are other programs (I didn't talk about it), like the parent plus, and few others, but they reward so little, and you need to have special circumstances to land them. Anyways, the above 3 mentioned are very generic and apply to everybody.

 

[7 Iron]

Yes, always go to the cheapest school that you get into. Don't take on more debt to go to a fancy school when in the end you're going to have the same credential (DDS/DMD).

 

[Tooth Pulp]

should you go to cheapest school?

HELL YES !!

let me explain,
you will borrow 3 basic types of loans:
1) subsidized ~ no interest rate while in school, these are the best. But they limit you at only about 10k per year.

2) unsubsidized ~ about 6.8% interest rate, but the interest starts piling up from the moment you take loans. Your only allowed 36k per year.

3) graduate plus ~ 7.9% interest rate, these are the worst, like the subsidized, their interest starts running as soon as you burrow, and worst of all, they are pretty much "unlimited"

So what does this mean? when you go to the more expensive dental schools (400k+ tuition 'n' living cost), your going to pay for more than half of that using Graduate plus (WITH A RAGING 7.9% INTEREST).

Conclusion, fine the cheapest dental school you can get into, and do your best to avoid borrowing graduate plus (I know its impossible to completely avoid graduate plus ~ but do ur best).


There are other programs (I didn't talk about it), like the parent plus, and few others, but they reward so little, and you need to have special circumstances to land them. Anyways, the above 3 mentioned are very generic and apply to everybody.

I may be incorrect, but i'm pretty sure we just received an email saying the gov't was getting rid of subsidized loans. I'll try and pull up some literature on it.

Found this in the medical forum and found my email..
http://rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/Floor_Text/DEBT_016_xml.pdf

I don't think it applies to the 2012-2013 academic year. But they are getting rid of it.

 

[hollaholla]

Thanks for the advice and opinion dentalworks and 7 iron. I'm deciding if I should just go to my state school where I will get a good cheap education, or a private school that has an excellent clinic, but is a bit more expensive.

 

[mr24]

No this is the golden age of dentistry!!! a half a million to go to your dream school is a small price to pay. lets face it, we are on track to become millionaires. you are only going to save $100,000 anyway, thats chump change.

live it up! you only go to dental school once!!!!!!!!!!

 

[7 Iron]

No this is the golden age of dentistry!!! a half a million to go to your dream school is a small price to pay. lets face it, we are on track to become millionaires. you are only going to save $100,000 anyway, thats chump change.

live it up! you only go to dental school once!!!!!!!!!!

Well, I respect your opinion, but I must disagree. You may be surprised to know that most dentists are not millionaires. And if they appear to be, I'd bet at least half of them are faking it (read The Millionaire Next Door for more on this). Most dentists aren't millionaires because they take the same cavalier attitude that "$100,000 is chump change".

 

[Vapor1122]

No this is the golden age of dentistry!!! a half a million to go to your dream school is a small price to pay. lets face it, we are on track to become millionaires. you are only going to save $100,000 anyway, thats chump change.

live it up! you only go to dental school once!!!!!!!!!!

I get the feeling that financial planning is not your forté...

 

[mr24]

I get the feeling that financial planning is not your forté...

I'm going to guess that sarcasm isn't yours!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Osity]

Vapor, I'm guessing your forte isn't financial planning either. You're at NYU, aka $500k.

 

[Bereno]

I'm going to guess that sarcasm isn't yours!!!!!!!!!!!!

+1

 

[mr24]

+1

thanks, but that monkey is disturbing!

and love the signature

 

[yangwang]

avoid USC and go to the cheapest one

 

[PharmaTope]

cheapest school by far!! you would be insanely stupid to go to more expensive

 

[John Durian]

My vote goes to the cheapest route possible.

 

[jay47]

Vapor, I'm guessing your forte isn't financial planning either. You're at NYU, aka $500k.

Lol, nice one.

And yeah, the govt. did nix the subsidized loans, so you WILL pay interest over 4 years in school which is definitely not chump change when you are taking out $80K+ a year.

 

[Vapor1122]

Vapor, I'm guessing your forte isn't financial planning either. You're at NYU, aka $500k.

I knew someone would bite 😛 It was actually my cheapest option (scholarship took out a sizable chunk). If I'd gotten into a cheaper school, I'd be there.

 

[dentalWorks]

I may be incorrect, but i'm pretty sure we just received an email saying the gov't was getting rid of subsidized loans. I'll try and pull up some literature on it.

Found this in the medical forum and found my email..
http://rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/Floor_Text/DEBT_016_xml.pdf

I don't think it applies to the 2012-2013 academic year. But they are getting rid of it.

I mean, it wasn't alot to begin with. 10k a year is.... bleh. Compared to the needed-300k, its nothing.

Another thing we can do (and its not for everyone) is to find a family members, whos rich and sitting with an 800 credit score and pray they'll co-sign for you from a private lender. You'll be able to get a good rate (between 2.5 to 5% ~ NOT FIXED). This is the best, but the trick is, do you have such family member lol (father, mother, brother, sister, etc)

 

[zorrox]

Hell to the yes! I would avoid the $300k loan from USC if I were you.

 

[Daurang]

Always pick the cheapest school. Student loan defaults on the rise...

http://thechoice.blogs.nytimes.com/...lts-rise-again/?scp=2&sq=student loans&st=cse

 

[youngmc27]

For sure go to the cheapest school you get into, this is coming from someone who knows I went to USC and now I am faced with paying back a large chunk of change. I don't regret my desicion as far as the quality of the school but wish I would've taken the cheaper one.

 

[somedayDDS]

I'm going to be the odd one out here and say go to the school where you see yourself being the happiest. If less debt makes you happy then decide that way. I had the option of going to a school that was would probably have been about 50-60K cheaper over 4 years but I chose not to. If it was more money like lets say 100-150k difference then I probably would have gone to the cheaper school.

 

[dentalWorks]

I'm going to be the odd one out here and say go to the school where you see yourself being the happiest. If less debt makes you happy then decide that way. I had the option of going to a school that was would probably have been about 50-60K cheaper over 4 years but I chose not to. If it was more money like lets say 100-150k difference then I probably would have gone to the cheaper school.

see, I respectfully disagree with this. How can you measure "happyness" from just an interview day? Believe me, you won't see the "dark" side of an institute just by talking to a few students or by the person(s) interviewing you.

IMO, How happy/sad/angry/annoyed/depressed you'll be in school has NOTHING to do with the school but rather by your personality and how quickly you adjust to new environments. Whether you go to in-state cheap school or some oos expensive, its a new environment overall, its all about adjustment skills and how much you'll "click" with the student body.

 

[jay47]

see, I respectfully disagree with this. How can you measure "happyness" from just an interview day? Believe me, you won't see the "dark" side of an institute just by talking to a few students or by the person(s) interviewing you.

IMO, How happy/sad/angry/annoyed/depressed you'll be in school has NOTHING to do with the school but rather by your personality and how quickly you adjust to new environments. Whether you go to in-state cheap school or some oos expensive, its a new environment overall, its all about adjustment skills and how much you'll "click" with the student body.

Yeah, and that's the reason why the only logical reason to choose one school over another is because of price. It is way too difficult to predict if you will be happy at one place vs another, but you can be guaranteed that one place will cost more or less than another. I too agree that how happy you are depends more on who you are as a person vs the school per say. My motto has been work your hardest and just go with it when things don't turn out the way you want them to.

If the difference between two schools is nominal, say $20K between two $200K schools, then go to the one that you may think you like better. But if the difference is greater, say $75K plus, then go to the cheaper school. It is the only real thing that you can base your choice of schools on (assuming you got into more than one place).

$75K may not seem like much, but considering it's about half of a year's salary (more than half of a first year dentist's salary on average), it is a significant chunk of change.