using med school loans to pay back old loans

[sunset823]

When I got into med school, I had anticipated deferring a year to pay off all my current loans, but alas, the school didn't let me, so I'm gonna be stuck with 30k of loans going in this year (half of that unsubsidized Stafford); I REALLY want to clear those loans (at least the unsubsidized portion) ASAP, so I was wondering, is it a wise idea if I borrow up to the total COA of med school, even though I know I won't need all of it to live on, and use that to pay off my current loans?

And I'm assuming here that with Subsidized Stafford and Perkins Loans, they are not going to accrue any interest during the in-school deferment, even though it's a different program from what I attained the loans from?

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[TMP-SMX]

Right the sub staffords and perkins are in deferment and not accruing interest.

As for your unsub staffords, what exactly do you expect to pay them off with? More unsub staffords? Usually, you aren't going to get any more than $8500 sub staffords plus about $5000 in perkins (if you are lucky). The rest is going to be unsub staffords (up to $40,500 which is the maximum stafford amount including the $8500 sub). How exactly do you pay off your old loans and live on the rest of the loan money and not lose money doing it? The old loans aren't capitalizing, so it makes no difference how old the loan is.

 

[masterofmonkeys]

look at interest rates too. If your new loans have a worse interest rate than the old loans, it makes no sense to use new ones to pay off the old ones.