Student Loan Repayment and Interest Rates

[1ive2die]

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I was wondering, for those of you who have paid off your student loans or in the process of paying them, how much do you typically set aside each month to pay your loan? How long can a pharmacist reasonably expect to pay their loans off by? Also what is the typical interest rate on student loans?

 

[type b pharmD]

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/loanpayments.phtml

 

[Farmercyst]

I was wondering, for those of you who have paid off your student loans or in the process of paying them, how much do you typically set aside each month to pay your loan? How long can a pharmacist reasonably expect to pay their loans off by? Also what is the typical interest rate on student loans?

depends on how much you're going to owe when you're done. My loan payments will likely be over $2K/month (at least they would be if I didn't do IBR) I'm considering consolidating my grad Plus loans and my Staffords separately so I can pay off the higher interest rate loans first.

 

[PharmaTope]

depends on how much you're going to owe when you're done. My loan payments will likely be over $2K/month (at least they would be if I didn't do IBR) I'm considering consolidating my grad Plus loans and my Staffords separately so I can pay off the higher interest rate loans first.

omg! so you basically owe around $250,000 ?

 

[schamj01]

omg! so you basically owe around $250,000 ?

no....$250,000 is what he will pay. At a 6.8 interest rate over 10 years you pay about a 40% premium on your initial debt at graduation. Therefore, the actual amount of debt would be more around 180k.

Speaking of 180k...that'll be in the ballpark of debt that I will be graduating with. And that's with going to a public school, paying in-state tuition. Lots of pharmacy schools tuitions approach 40k a year, not counting room/board. so combined with undergrad debt....you get the point

180k doesn't seem so bad anymore.

 

[humbeez]

Most of my loans are at 6.8 fixed, but I have a few that are 2.8ish variable (from 2005-2006). Overall interest is ~6.2%. I just graduated 5/11 and have 39K left in loans. I have been struggling with deciding how I am going to repay it. If i did the 10year/120month repayment plan I would end up paying about 13K in interest 😱. Part of me wanted to pay off these loans as soon as possible, (ie. living off the bear minimum... rent, food, etc, and dumping about 4K per month towards my loans, to pay them off in roughly 10 months).

But when I got that first paycheck, it was another story 🙄 Its just not realistic right now, I want to buy a house, which I have to save up for a down payment, so I have decided to pay them off in 36 months at 1.2K per month, this way, I am only paying $600 out of each check per month, I have money to save and some to enjoy, and in this scenario I would end up paying about 3.8K in interest.

 

[Simponi]

Most of my loans are at 6.8 fixed, but I have a few that are 2.8ish variable (from 2005-2006). Overall interest is ~6.2%. I just graduated 5/11 and have 39K left in loans. I have been struggling with deciding how I am going to repay it.

if the interest rate is 6.2%, then you should seriously pay it off ASAP. Rate is going to be very low until at least 2013. Take advantage of it!

 

[1ive2die]

I was wondering, in the US, do government subsidized student loans accrue interest while in school? I'm from Canada and the interest on our loans is typically paid by the government while in school.

Also, aren't private loans available at a much better interest rate than the 6.8%?

 

[schamj01]

I was wondering, in the US, do government subsidized student loans accrue interest while in school? I'm from Canada and the interest on our loans is typically paid by the government while in school.

Also, aren't private loans available at a much better interest rate than the 6.8%?

You MIGHT be able to get a private loan at a better than 6.8%. Maybe if you had collateral to put up for it or a co-signer with excellent credit. However, most private student loans that I've seen have interest rates between 8-10%.

There are a few types of government loans available here in the USA. Subsidized stafford loans do NOT accrue interest while a student is attending at least half time. Unsubsidized stafford loans begin accruing interest from the day they are dispersed. There are also Perkins loans which have a 5% interest rate and have subsidized interest. Those are administered by the institution you are attending, however, so I imagine the availability would vary.

Starting next school year, though, subsidized stafford loans will no longer be available, due to the budget cut bill that was recently passed.

 

[owlegrad]

You MIGHT be able to get a private loan at a better than 6.8%. Maybe if you had collateral to put up for it or a co-signer with excellent credit. However, most private student loans that I've seen have interest rates between 8-10%.

There are a few types of government loans available here in the USA. Subsidized stafford loans do NOT accrue interest while a student is attending at least half time. Unsubsidized stafford loans begin accruing interest from the day they are dispersed. There are also Perkins loans which have a 5% interest rate and have subsidized interest. Those are administered by the institution you are attending, however, so I imagine the availability would vary.

Starting next school year, though, subsidized stafford loans will no longer be available, due to the budget cut bill that was recently passed.

Not available to us Grad Students. I know that is what you meant, I just wanted to throw that out there.

 

[Farmercyst]

no....$250,000 is what he will pay. At a 6.8 interest rate over 10 years you pay about a 40% premium on your initial debt at graduation. Therefore, the actual amount of debt would be more around 180k.

Speaking of 180k...that'll be in the ballpark of debt that I will be graduating with. And that's with going to a public school, paying in-state tuition. Lots of pharmacy schools tuitions approach 40k a year, not counting room/board. so combined with undergrad debt....you get the point

180k doesn't seem so bad anymore.

It's actually $216 in Principal + another 22K+in interest that will be capitalized in December since I'm not making enough money to pay the interest off before then. A little more than half are at 6.5% some at 8.5% and some at 7.5% (thanks to mandated direct loans last year) If I paid over 30 years, I'd be paying around $500K back. Not that it's what I plan to do, but with 25 years to go until loans are forgiven (provided the program actually lives that long), it could potentially cost me close to that amount.

 

[schamj01]

Not available to us Grad Students. I know that is what you meant, I just wanted to throw that out there.

yeah...I was rushing through that post because I realized I was about to be late to class. The only way I made it was by running half a mile.