Thoughts about State Level Loan Repayment Programs??

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Aquabluequartz

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I am referring to those programs listed here: https://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Edu...es/dental-student-loan-repayment-resource.pdf

Some of these loan repayment programs seem really great to me (ex: Illinois provides 120k towards loans for 3 years, Delaware provides 70k for 2 years), yet I can't find much discussion about these programs on SDN with dental students. Is there something that I'm missing? If I could get ~30-50k off of my loan per year (on top of the amount that I would already be paying towards my loans from my salary), I would totally do that; I think that this route would allow me to have approximately 80-100k paid towards loans each year.

That being said... why aren't there more dentists going this route? I researched a few of these programs, and they don't seem too competitive. Do people just really not want to work in an underserved area? Please inform me!

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I am referring to those programs listed here: https://www.ada.org/~/media/ADA/Education and Careers/Files/dental-student-loan-repayment-resource.pdf

Some of these loan repayment programs seem really great to me (ex: Illinois provides 120k towards loans for 3 years, Delaware provides 70k for 2 years), yet I can't find much discussion about these programs on SDN with dental students. Is there something that I'm missing? If I could get ~30-50k off of my loan per year (on top of the amount that I would already be paying towards my loans from my salary), I would totally do that; I think that this route would allow me to have approximately 80-100k paid towards loans each year.

That being said... why aren't there more dentists going this route? I researched a few of these programs, and they don't seem too competitive. Do people just really not want to work in an underserved area? Please inform me!
From what I’ve witnessed... yes. And it’s that simple. People want to live where they want to live and not even those programs can convince them. A good amount of underserved areas are rural and that’s not usually number one on your list. Some people also hope that they will be more profitable elsewhere to the point that those types of programs would not be of benefit. It’s getting harder and harder for that to be true, but possible. I have absolutely loved my experience on a national version of one of those programs. It puts me at ease with loans and also helps with other types of stress that I think is well worth it.
Edit: and people don’t like long-term contracts. It scares people to not be able to move around.
 
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From what I’ve witnessed... yes. And it’s that simple. People want to live where they want to live and not even those programs can convince them. A good amount of underserved areas are rural and that’s not usually number one on your list. Some people also hope that they will be more profitable elsewhere to the point that those types of programs would not be of benefit. It’s getting harder and harder for that to be true, but possible. I have absolutely loved my experience on a national version of one of those programs. It puts me at ease with loans and also helps with other types of stress that I think is well worth it.
Edit: and people don’t like long-term contracts. It scares people to not be able to move around.
Is the “national version” program you’re referring to the NHSC Loan Repayment Program? I am looking into that as well. I’m glad that you’ve had a good experience with that!
 
I'm not sure about Illinois (there's a lot of complaining on DentalTown about the state not paying insurance claims because it's bankrupt), but Delaware is notoriously difficult to get a license. You need to do a GPR and then, take and pass their boards. And from my understanding, they're extremely selective as to who passes and who doesn't. There's a reason why there's 18084 dentists right at the PA border and very few over the Delaware line.

Edited to add: It looks like only 18 people are allowed to sit for the Delaware dental boards per year. Dentist License - Division of Professional Regulation - State of Delaware
 
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