What are student loan payments like post-grad?

[hajenkin]

​

I'm a bit curious/dreadful of what to expect.

1. How much debt did you have upon graduating pharmacy school?
2. What are your monthly payments?
3. Do your payments affect your ability to live comfortably?
4. When do you plan on having them completely paid off?

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[WorthlessOxygen]

1. ~150k after interest capitalized. The bulk was federal but I had a decent balance with citizens bank too.
2. I have auto payments set up for my 10-year minimum payments. Was originally ~1700/month, now~1500. I usually paid 3200-3500 until the interest freeze.
3. No but I have relatively simple tastes and didn't have an issue finding extra hours at work. Many of my former classmates are not in the same boat
4. Depends. I was originally shooting for <4 years after graduation which I can still do. I'm looking into different career paths that may make that an overly aggressive timeline though so I paid off my private loans during forbearance and am now saving the money that would normally go to federal loan payments. I'll have to firm up my decision over the next few months.

 

[JustFillIt]

Pro tip - have tons of kids…. They usually love you and are fun most of the time. Especially after the age of 5. The more you have, the more your loans disappear, and the closer you get to the forgiveness mark.

Just sayin’.

 

[grizzlesgrizzlies]

1.) Around 65k (2008 grad)
2.) ~$600 per month (10 year repayment plan)
3.) The payments set me back several years in terms of investing for the future. I have very low overhead costs so spend around $2500 all-in per month.
4.) Paid off loans in 5 years

Getting a PharmD degree now is like taking a vow of poverty for the rest of your life unless you are somehow able to graduate debt free. Caveat emptor

 

[mentos]

Pro tip - have tons of kids…. They usually love you and are fun most of the time. Especially after the age of 5. The more you have, the more your loans disappear, and the closer you get to the forgiveness mark.

Just sayin’.

Huh? How does this work? Kids are $$$. The child tax credit is only 2k per year or maybe a little more now. That covers diapers and wipes and not much else.

 

[mentos]

​

I'm a bit curious/dreadful of what to expect.

1. How much debt did you have upon graduating pharmacy school?
2. What are your monthly payments?
3. Do your payments affect your ability to live comfortably?
4. When do you plan on having them completely paid off?

I had around 100k. Don't remember how much payments were but I continued to live like a student for 2-3 years and basically put my entire paycheck minus rent into them until they were gone. Refinanced a couple times to get a better rate below 3%. Once the loans were gone, it was easy to save up for a home. We now have almost 400k equity in our home that we bought 2 years ago.

Most of my classmates bought new cars, lived in luxury apartments and went on expensive vacations instead. They are still paying their loans many years later and some have still not bought a home. Their cars are now worth only a little more than my 12 year old Honda. Don't be like my classmates.

This will be harder for you as a new grad now with lower pay and higher housing prices.

 

[JustFillIt]

Huh? How does this work? Kids are $$$. The child tax credit is only 2k per year or maybe a little more now. That covers diapers and wipes and not much else.

It works because I enjoy my kids. Each child is a large deduction on my income based plan. The child tax credit is just gravy. I would rather spend money on my kids vs. spend money on my loans.

Do you have kids? Not sure I ever asked you that.

 

[owlegrad]

Having kids to save money does not seem like a “pro tip” to me. Have kids to enrich your life or to perpetuate the human race or whatever, sure, but as a financial decision it would seem to be a disaster from the outside looking in.

 

[grizzlesgrizzlies]

Having kids to save money does not seem like a “pro tip” to me. Have kids to enrich your life or to perpetuate the human race or whatever, sure, but as a financial decision it would seem to be a disaster from the outside looking in.

Having kids is literally the worst financial decision one can make lol

 

[mentos]

It works because I enjoy my kids. Each child is a large deduction on my income based plan. The child tax credit is just gravy. I would rather spend money on my kids vs. spend money on my loans.

Do you have kids? Not sure I ever asked you that.

Yeah but it had nothing to do with saving money LoL.

 

[JustFillIt]

Yeah but it had nothing to do with saving money LoL.

I did not have kids to save money. I am just sarcastically eluding to a nice perk of having kids. I am just joking about the things I said above.

 

[Sine Cura]

Having kids to perpetuate the human race is a horrible excuse (at least without reproductive restrictions)

Just spend 15 min in a Walmart located in a trash location (heck just spend 5 min in the parking lot in the late afternoon to early evening) to be disabused of that notion

 

[hajenkin]

I had around 100k. Don't remember how much payments were but I continued to live like a student for 2-3 years and basically put my entire paycheck minus rent into them until they were gone. Refinanced a couple times to get a better rate below 3%. Once the loans were gone, it was easy to save up for a home. We now have almost 400k equity in our home that we bought 2 years ago.

Most of my classmates bought new cars, lived in luxury apartments and went on expensive vacations instead. They are still paying their loans many years later and some have still not bought a home. Their cars are now worth only a little more than my 12 year old Honda. Don't be like my classmates.

This will be harder for you as a new grad now with lower pay and higher housing prices.

You did the smart thing, which is what I hope to do. I had to buy a new (used) car during my first year of pharmacy school because my old one broke down, so (hopefully) no more car expenses for a while once that's paid off next year. Also not planning on buying a house anytime soon due to my S/O's job that has us stuck in a region of the country we really don't want to stay/invest in. So anything that isn't going to rent/utilities/gas/retirement will be going towards loans and personal investment accounts.

Between my bs and pharmd I'll be coming out with $200k in loans, so I'm dreading getting that bill.

 

[hajenkin]

1.) Around 65k (2008 grad)
2.) ~$600 per month (10 year repayment plan)
3.) The payments set me back several years in terms of investing for the future. I have very low overhead costs so spend around $2500 all-in.
4.) Paid off loans in 5 years

Getting a PharmD degree now is like taking a vow of poverty for the rest of your life unless you are somehow able to graduate debt free. Caveat emptor

$65k for pharmacy school is a bargain, especially in the market you graduated into.

 

[med77]

​

I'm a bit curious/dreadful of what to expect.

1. How much debt did you have upon graduating pharmacy school?
2. What are your monthly payments?
3. Do your payments affect your ability to live comfortably?
4. When do you plan on having them completely paid off?

1. $86k. I paid cash as much as I could by working my ass off all year long and picking up overtime shifts on breaks. I also did not spend my money on anything fun. My husband was the one who paid all of our bills while in school, aside from my gas, so that helped too. He paid off his mortgage on our house a few years ago. The house was bought super cheap, but it's not a house most people would like to live in. Well water, limited utilities, an hour at least from the suburbs, etc. I made him put in a bathroom for me though.

2. I haven't had to start yet. Should be around $700-800 a month.

3. Nope. It's gonna be like having a truck payment. I also don't have expensive tastes and am cheap. I hate spending my money on anything.

4. End of next year.

 

[CarpetTable45]

I did not have kids to save money. I am just sarcastically eluding to a nice perk of having kids. I am just joking about the things I said above.

A perk that is only available if you have government loans.
Also, enjoy spending not much time with them as you work evenings and weekends and come home with a miserable attitude after dealing with ****ty people at work.

 

[aqb]

Graduated 2017, got a job early 2018.

I had 265k total. Down to 235k now.

Saved up 160-200k first for a down payment on a house. Bad timing got me waiting patiently in this peaking, short-supply sellers market.

Now with the help of my wife putting in 6k-8k per month on the loans, should be wiped out in a lil under 3 years.

Not looking to do min payment on repaye for 25 years. Plan is to get it off my shoulders, reduce hours in retail, and split with something more passionate or deals with less people all day (poker or coding).

 

[metallideth]

1. ~$65,000 (2015 grad)
2. Paid $3,000+ per month
3. Not really...Kept living like a resident while paying off student loans
4. Paid off loans 18 months post residency completion

 

[mentos]

Plan is to get it off my shoulders, reduce hours in retail, and split with something more passionate or deals with less people all day (poker or coding).

Do you play poker in person or online? Do you make good money? I miss playing poker. It was easy to make money back in 2003-2006 when players were new. People are better now chase of YouTube and stuff.

 

[Andrew StudentLoanAdvice]

1. I didn't go to Pharmacy School but I've met multiple clients who had student loans from 200-300k +. Mostly going to expensive schools and living in NYC or other high cost of living states.
2. Monthly payments are either based on loan size or income. Income driven repayment plans can help reduce your payments and even allow you to qualify for loan forgiveness programs. Example: 10 year term on 200k loan with 7% monthly payments are $2,322.
3. They certainly can. Depends on your household size, budget, cost of living, dual income household, etc.
4. If you're planning to work at a for-profit after pharmacy school you'll need to private refinance your student loans after graduating to secure a lower interest rate. If you're planning to work in the public sector, you could look into public service loan forgiveness. It's tax free loan forgiveness granted after 10 years of making small payment based on your income working full-time at a non-profit or 501c3.

Here's an article I wrote on loan forgiveness if you want to learn more.

 

[Dred Pirate]

​

I'm a bit curious/dreadful of what to expect.

1. How much debt did you have upon graduating pharmacy school?
2. What are your monthly payments?
3. Do your payments affect your ability to live comfortably?
4. When do you plan on having them completely paid off?

1. 120k in 05
2. 425 minimum + 180 for a private loan - I paid minnimum for years, and finally decided to say f-it after 14 years and paid off early.
3. nope

although important to remember that interest rates at this time <2%. Much much higher now

 

[alpha12]

$65k for pharmacy school is a bargain, especially in the market you graduated into.

Not really. Even if pharmacy school was free its no longer worth it because the 4 years wasted.

 

[WorthlessOxygen]

If you're planning to work at a for-profit after pharmacy school you'll need to private refinance your student loans after graduating to secure a lower interest rate

I'm apprehensive about this only because job security isn't that great for pharmacists right now.

 

[Sugoi Travis]

​

I'm a bit curious/dreadful of what to expect.

1. How much debt did you have upon graduating pharmacy school?
2. What are your monthly payments?
3. Do your payments affect your ability to live comfortably?
4. When do you plan on having them completely paid off?

1. 156k after capitalization 4 years ago
2. 1600/month was required for the 10-year repayment plan, but I made extra payments totaling around 3500/month on average.
3. Nope.
4. January 2022

 

[aqb]

Do you play poker in person or online? Do you make good money? I miss playing poker. It was easy to make money back in 2003-2006 when players were new. People are better now chase of YouTube and stuff.

I play online. Decent money. It depends on how much time you put into it - the more volume the better (bigger sample). This year I'm up ~$7500 putting in 96k hands which equates close to 180hrs - 200hrs of playing / studying time. For reference, online pros typically put in at least 40k+ hands/month depending on the stakes they play - and winning players can have breakeven stretches over 300k hands, so income is variable.

I've been putting in less and less volume and study due to recently being "promoted" to manager (more like forced in). I used to try and dedicate 60hrs/month to poker but that's not possible atm.

2003-2006 was the golden era but I was a bit too young to deposit. And most of the poker content on YT is... subpar.

 

[Dred Pirate]

I play online. Decent money. It depends on how much time you put into it - the more volume the better (bigger sample). This year I'm up ~$7500 putting in 96k hands which equates close to 180hrs - 200hrs of playing / studying time. For reference, online pros typically put in at least 40k+ hands/month depending on the stakes they play - and winning players can have breakeven stretches over 300k hands, so income is variable.

I've been putting in less and less volume and study due to recently being "promoted" to manager (more like forced in). I used to try and dedicate 60hrs/month to poker but that's not possible atm.

2003-2006 was the golden era but I was a bit too young to deposit. And most of the poker content on YT is... subpar.

who do you play with? years ago (Chris Moneymaker years) I played a decent amount - most of the cites started blocking US IP addresses - any that still allow it?

 

[quickpic007]

​

I'm a bit curious/dreadful of what to expect.

1. How much debt did you have upon graduating pharmacy school?
2. What are your monthly payments?
3. Do your payments affect your ability to live comfortably?
4. When do you plan on having them completely paid off?

1. Zero
2. Zero
3. Yes
4. Yes

1. I didn't go to Pharmacy School but I've met multiple clients who had student loans from 200-300k +. Mostly going to expensive schools and living in NYC or other high cost of living states.
2. Monthly payments are either based on loan size or income. Income driven repayment plans can help reduce your payments and even allow you to qualify for loan forgiveness programs. Example: 10 year term on 200k loan with 7% monthly payments are $2,322.
3. They certainly can. Depends on your household size, budget, cost of living, dual income household, etc.
4. If you're planning to work at a for-profit after pharmacy school you'll need to private refinance your student loans after graduating to secure a lower interest rate. If you're planning to work in the public sector, you could look into public service loan forgiveness. It's tax free loan forgiveness granted after 10 years of making small payment based on your income working full-time at a non-profit or 501c3.

Here's an article I wrote on loan forgiveness if you want to learn more.

!! Are you sure about #4?!! I certainly hope none of your clients with above 250K federal loans rolled them into private refinance. A "plan" to work for-profit pharmacy dispensing job (hospital or retail) and paying down even 200K plus would be disastrous.

 

[aqb]

who do you play with? years ago (Chris Moneymaker years) I played a decent amount - most of the cites started blocking US IP addresses - any that still allow it?

Yea. Main US ones are Ignition/Bodog, winning poker network, and global.

If you have crypto withdrawing is pretty easy, just don’t use coinbase with these sites.