Total Student Loan Debt vs Medical School Debt

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drmarkgreene

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When people generally are discussing the medical student loan debt figure, are they generally calculating in prior debt obligations or only the cost of medical school?

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More likely just medschool. Most people caveat if they're including or not including other academic debt.
 
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Agree with this^ The 'average' figure that I have heard around 180k-200k is med school alone. Although I would imagine most people end up with more than this after interest and compounding of any prior debt.
 
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Agree with this^ The 'average' figure that I have heard around 180k-200k is med school alone. Although I would imagine most people end up with more than this after interest and compounding of any prior debt.

That's if you go to a public school or personal wealth/family contribution. Private school will easily put you into the 300s
 
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Taking out 320k, ending up with 400k+! Totally living the dream!

@Psai

Omg, I feel so much better about my 240K. I was getting nervous about people saying their debt was between high 100's and 200k. Granted I also have another 45 from postbacc =/
 
@Psai

Omg, I feel so much better about my 240K. I was getting nervous about people saying their debt was between high 100's and 200k. Granted I also have another 45 from postbacc =/
Plenty of my classmates are in the same boat as me. My school isn't exactly generous with the aid care of not having a deep endowment, so we fall into two camps, for the most part: those whose parents are paying their way and those who are taking out the full CoA in loans.
 
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@Psai

Omg, I feel so much better about my 240K. I was getting nervous about people saying their debt was between high 100's and 200k. Granted I also have another 45 from postbacc =/

Repaye is nice because they ask for 10% of take home pay and the rest of the interest is forgiven. So my loan is around 200k and it will grow by about 30k over 3 years. I'm looking to finish residency, do a fellowship and then refinance as an attending. I think the total amount I will end up repaying will end up in the vicinity of 250 to 300 depending on how quick I can pay it back

I'm lucky though, already paid back undergrad loans
 
Repaye is nice because they ask for 10% of take home pay and the rest of the interest is forgiven. So my loan is around 200k and it will grow by about 30k over 3 years. I'm looking to finish residency, do a fellowship and then refinance as an attending. I think the total amount I will end up repaying will end up in the vicinity of 250 to 300 depending on how quick I can pay it back

I'm lucky though, already paid back undergrad loans

And it's this process that I'm trying to get a handle on now. Obviously, I'm just starting out but the more informed from the start, the better.
 
Repaye is nice because they ask for 10% of take home pay and the rest of the interest is forgiven. So my loan is around 200k and it will grow by about 30k over 3 years. I'm looking to finish residency, do a fellowship and then refinance as an attending. I think the total amount I will end up repaying will end up in the vicinity of 250 to 300 depending on how quick I can pay it back

I'm lucky though, already paid back undergrad loans
Are we forced to defer repayment during med school? Can I make a salary of like $1 or even $0, start repayment on REPAYE where I pay 10% of my income each month (which would be basically nothing) and get half of the growing interest subsidized?

Any rules against that?
 
Are we forced to defer repayment during med school? Can I make a salary of like $1 or even $0, start repayment on REPAYE where I pay 10% of my income each month (which would be basically nothing) and get half of the growing interest subsidized?

Any rules against that?
:highfive:
Now THIS would be one helluva way to play the game. But I am sure there is a minimum payment written into the fine print. Im in repayment now and will go into deferment. I would hop on this in an instant to avoid the interest, kinda sounds too good to be true. What the hell do I know though. I'm a pessimist when it comes to gov't controlled funds

Posting to see if anyone knows this answer
 
Are we forced to defer repayment during med school? Can I make a salary of like $1 or even $0, start repayment on REPAYE where I pay 10% of my income each month (which would be basically nothing) and get half of the growing interest subsidized?

Any rules against that?

I think you can't start repaye until you graduate. At least that's why I think I can't apply yet. There's a do doc who blogs about how she used credit cards to pay for tuition and move money around which I think is very smart but you probably need a great credit score to qualify for cards with no interest. My tuition increased by 20k while I've been in school.
 
Are we forced to defer repayment during med school? Can I make a salary of like $1 or even $0, start repayment on REPAYE where I pay 10% of my income each month (which would be basically nothing) and get half of the growing interest subsidized?

Any rules against that?

I was wondering about this too. Im currently on REPAYE paying $0 per month on my undergrad loans during my gap year. Instead of deferring when I start med school can I just stay on REPAYE?
 
Are we forced to defer repayment during med school? Can I make a salary of like $1 or even $0, start repayment on REPAYE where I pay 10% of my income each month (which would be basically nothing) and get half of the growing interest subsidized?

Any rules against that?
You can't enter repayment until you are done with school silly goose. Your status becomes "Deferred- In School" pretty much regardless of what you want.
 
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Anyone else stop caring and just click "accept" whenever they send an email?
 
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Is there a website that lets you estimate how much total debt (including interest) you would end up with after 4 years of schooling?
 
Agree with this^ The 'average' figure that I have heard around 180k-200k is med school alone. Although I would imagine most people end up with more than this after interest and compounding of any prior debt.

When people talk about themselves I assume they talk about their total debt load. When people reference "average debt" stats from other sources, I think it's usually just med school. Part of why there's the huge discrepancy between the 'average' debt of ~180k and the typical numbers you hear from med students (which in my experience is closer to 250k).

I think you can't start repaye until you graduate. At least that's why I think I can't apply yet. There's a do doc who blogs about how she used credit cards to pay for tuition and move money around which I think is very smart but you probably need a great credit score to qualify for cards with no interest. My tuition increased by 20k while I've been in school.

She had a huge credit limit (something like 120k) before starting med school. She also hinted that she may have been falsifying her annual income on credit card applications to qualify. Agree that it's smart if one is vigilant and has the means to pull it off, but there's a lot of risk involved if you screw up.

Is there a website that lets you estimate how much total debt (including interest) you would end up with after 4 years of schooling?

There are a ton of loan repayment/debt calculators. Google is your friend.
 
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