Total Cost of Med School?

[daveyjwin]

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I was thinking about this, and realized I don't really have a good grasp of how much it's going to be, monthly, to pay back my loans. My tuition is about 25K/year, so I figure I'll get about 50K in loans my first year (pay off some CC debt, buy a computer, and make sure I make it through my first year), probably about 40-45K 2nd year, then my fiance will graduate and get a job, get married, blah blah. Then she'll be making ~40K, so I can probably due with just loaning out tuition for my final two years.

Grand total: ~140K.

Then, if I understand correctly, I can defer my loans while I am in residency (I'm probably going FP or Peds I think), and not have to start paying it off until after my residency. Assuming an average interest rate, how much is this going to mean paying off total? How long do people usually take to pay them off? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? And how much, monthly, does this mean? 2000/month? 5000/month?

 

[Bluntman]

I was thinking about this, and realized I don't really have a good grasp of how much it's going to be, monthly, to pay back my loans. My tuition is about 25K/year, so I figure I'll get about 50K in loans my first year (pay off some CC debt, buy a computer, and make sure I make it through my first year), probably about 40-45K 2nd year, then my fiance will graduate and get a job, get married, blah blah. Then she'll be making ~40K, so I can probably due with just loaning out tuition for my final two years.

Grand total: ~140K.

Then, if I understand correctly, I can defer my loans while I am in residency (I'm probably going FP or Peds I think), and not have to start paying it off until after my residency. Assuming an average interest rate, how much is this going to mean paying off total? How long do people usually take to pay them off? 5 years? 10 years? 20 years? And how much, monthly, does this mean? 2000/month? 5000/month?

The average debt for people who do have to take out loans is only 109k for 4 years. Since you'll have extra income from your wife the last 2 years, I would say your overall debt will probably be easily under 100k. Just something to keep in mind.

About your actual question: I don't have a clue about the payment schedules or rates ...try googling it and I'm sure you'll get something. 👍

 

[tigress]

Only $109k? I'm surprised by that stat; is it current? Most people I know have much more than that. For a state school you could easily keep it that low, but a private school will be more like $150-$200k. I agree though that having the money for cost of living is huge. My husband will start his residency after 2 more years of school, so we'll only have to take 2 years worth of cost of living from loans.

You do get some good results from googling educational loan repayment and similar search terms. It also depends on your loans. Federal loan rates are around 4.5% I believe (I just saw the rate the other day on our loans; it's definitely between 4 and 5%). Private loans if you have good credit can be around 7%. If you go to online calculators and put in your estimated total loan amount and interest rates, and then choose a repayment period (10-30 years) you can see your approximate monthly payment. I don't know how long people usually take to pay off loans, but we're hoping to do it in about 15 years. That may be idealistic though.

 

[kimmcauliffe]

Only $109k? I'm surprised by that stat; is it current? Most people I know have much more than that. For a state school you could easily keep it that low, but a private school will be more like $150-$200k.

Yup, that's what I hear.

 

[Bluntman]

Yes, it's current. Check out:

http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/5349.html

 

[tigress]

Wow, now I'm sitting here thinking, 'no fair." 😛 It sort of isn't fair, though. Nobody can afford this, and I'm looking at double (because both my husband and I will have private med school debt). How do people pull off $109k? I guess it's lower for state schools and higher for private and it averages out? I think it's crazy that we're expected to cough up $38k annually for tuition. I also think it's crazy that married students don't get any special consideration for aid, and our parental information is still the deciding factor. argh 😡

 

[star22]

109K is the average. But that includes everyone.... including people who get significant amount of help from their families or coming to school with a lot of savings or are getting scholarships etc.

Anyhow, at one school, during the interview they told us that their average debt was $115,000 which worked out to $1150/mo for 10 years.... the admissions staff didn't tell us the specifics of how they calculated that (i.e. interest rates, etc.) but that gives you an idea.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Yeah, the average loan figures aren't useful because they include people who are wealthy, people who get big scholarships and people who do things like join the military for zero debt. Of people who borrow, I would bet the average would be closer to $150k at least. So, in sum, don't base your loan estimates on those averages -- base them on your individual financial circumstances.

 

[tigress]

Here is the list from that link. It looks like the $109k doesn't include some people, but I don't quite understand who it excludes:

$115,218 – According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the
average educational debt of indebted graduates of the class of 2004
(including pre-med borrowing)
63% of graduates have debt of at least $100,000
81.4% of graduating medical students carry outstanding loans, combined with 62.4% with loans on college/premedical education
$91,438 – Mean per capita debt for 2003 allopathic graduates
$109,457 – Mean per capita debt for 2003 allopathic graduates excluding students without loans
$123, 800 – Mean per capita debt for 2003 osteopathic graduates, up 2.3% from the previous year
$7,277 – non-educational debt (allopathic)

 

[Bluntman]

Yeah, the average loan figures aren't useful because they include people who are wealthy, people who get big scholarships and people who do things like join the military for zero debt. Of people who borrow, I would bet the average would be closer to $150k at least. So, in sum, don't base your loan estimates on those averages -- base them on your individual financial circumstances.

Just for clarity, the averages do not include people who don't take loans (i.e. military funded, mstp, full scholarship, etc.). They do, however, include everyone along the continuum of people that do - from the rich s.o.b. that only has to take out a small loan, to the more average (imo) person that has to borrow even more than projected to make up for their parents' assumed contribution. So the advice you give is still mostly valid. 👍

 

[Bluntman]

It excludes:

- DO students
- debt from before matriculation (i.e. premed)
- people with zero loans
- non-educational debt

Here is the list from that link. It looks like the $109k doesn't include some people, but I don't quite understand who it excludes:

$115,218 – According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, the
average educational debt of indebted graduates of the class of 2004
(including pre-med borrowing)
63% of graduates have debt of at least $100,000
81.4% of graduating medical students carry outstanding loans, combined with 62.4% with loans on college/premedical education
$91,438 – Mean per capita debt for 2003 allopathic graduates
$109,457 – Mean per capita debt for 2003 allopathic graduates excluding students without loans
$123, 800 – Mean per capita debt for 2003 osteopathic graduates, up 2.3% from the previous year
$7,277 – non-educational debt (allopathic)