What are you're total studen loans? Disillusioned

[lee9786]

It's interesting I haven't found a recent thread on this on SDN.

I'm really concerned about the cost of tuition for Medical School now. I currently have 70k debt undergrad.

Many DO and MD programs seems expensive. Many are around the 40-50k/year range in tuition costs alone. This doesn't count living expenses.

I found old threads in which many people are talking about having a lot of loans at around $150.

Well my estimate is more like $300k.

This scares me to no avail, especially when you have politicians playing around with reimbursement rates all the time. I talked to my PCP, well actually the NP since I've never met my PCP even though her name is stamped on my insurance card, she encouraged me not to worry about the debt.

She stated I could always join the military or work in some remote undesirable location.

I really don't even know how I get $230k to fund this. Sure loans but wouldn't I have to delve into private loans?

I don't even know if this is a realistic goal for me anymore. I have no help in paying for this except those that will lend me the money.

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[Peach Newport]

Unless you've really messed up something, you should qualify for federal loans. The only reason why you couldn't get federal loans is if you go to a for profit school (northstate, BCOM, rocky vista). Or if you've already gotten a professional degree. Or if your credit is really, really bad (I don't even know about that one) or if you're a foreign national.

That being said, loan burdens are enormous. My total debt is:

50k grad
360k med school

But the nurse is right. There are ways to get that debt forgiven.

-military
-underserved areas

Also, you can always work locum tenens. I've heard that they pay you huge piles of money, even if you're just in FM. Downside is you gotta move around a lot.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

No. You don't need to delve into private loans unless you're attending a nonaccredited school. Paying off the loans will be a process that you'll have multiple options in achieving. Whether it's through loan repayment programs or through just a scheduled payment plan, you'll probably pay them off without significant struggle as long as you work.

Idk why the above brought up locums tbh. FM as a whole is lucrative enough that you can find employment with good pay.

 

[Peach Newport]

No. You don't need to delve into private loans unless you're attending a nonaccredited school. Paying off the loans will be a process that you'll have multiple options in achieving. Whether it's through loan repayment programs or through just a scheduled payment plan, you'll probably pay them off without significant struggle as long as you work.

Idk why the above brought up locums tbh. FM as a whole is lucrative enough that you can find employment with good pay.

To my knowledge locum tenens positions often pay double or more the average specialty salary. Is that incorrect?

 

[Rekt]

To my knowledge locum tenens positions often pay double or more the average specialty salary. Is that incorrect?

No. It's not common to get "double" and if they do, it's definitely for a reason. Like, the hospital is extremely limited on resources/personnel and/or you get absolutely worked to death.

As for OP, you can still pay off loans if you continue to live like a resident after residency, but to be more realistic, with 70k going in, you're looking at around 450k debt, not 300k.

 

[InvegaSustenna]

It's interesting I haven't found a recent thread on this on SDN.

I'm really concerned about the cost of tuition for Medical School now. I currently have 70k debt undergrad.

Many DO and MD programs seems expensive. Many are around the 40-50k/year range in tuition costs alone. This doesn't count living expenses.

I found old threads in which many people are talking about having a lot of loans at around $150.

Well my estimate is more like $300k.

This scares me to no avail, especially when you have politicians playing around with reimbursement rates all the time. I talked to my PCP, well actually the NP since I've never met my PCP even though her name is stamped on my insurance card, she encouraged me not to worry about the debt.

She stated I could always join the military or work in some remote undesirable location.

I really don't even know how I get $230k to fund this. Sure loans but wouldn't I have to delve into private loans?

I don't even know if this is a realistic goal for me anymore. I have no help in paying for this except those that will lend me the money.

Didn't read the whole thread, here's my 2c...
Medical school is ridiculously expensive . Loans are unsubsidized (they start accumulating interest the second you take them out). You have to take out loans for living expenses. Once you graduate medical school, you're in 6 months grace period. After that ends, all of your interest that you've accumulated gets converted to principle amount of your loans and then interest starts growing on that new amount. It will be very hard to pay a lot of the loans off during residency since you're making only enough to sustain a living especially if you have a family/kids. If you don't have rich parents or get a full ride, I would think long and hard if medical school is for you.
Now there are those repayment options which I don't know a ton about yet, but from what I've heard when you do loan forgiveness, you have to pay tax on the loans forgiven plus minimum monthly payment for ten years. Military may not be a bad way to go if that's your thing.

 

[ortnakas]

Assuming you're a U.S. citizen with not-terrible credit (or have a person who can co-sign who has not-terrible credit), you can borrow the whole cost of attendance for four years from the federal government. Unsubsidized, but no payments required until graduation. Things can start to get a little bit tricker if you're a non-citizen-- I admit I have no idea how permanent residents or students from out of the country pay for med school.

As to "what are my total student loans"? Don't know, I delete Nelnet "would you like to see your loan balance" emails on sight. Why would I want to see that Nelnet?!

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

The only reason why you couldn't get federal loans is if you go to a for profit school (northstate, BCOM, rocky vista

This isn't true. RVU already has federal loans, BCOM will have them after year 2 (what they said in respond to my email about it), and CNU chose not to have them, they were offered the chance to give them.

Medical school is expensive. If I wasn't 100% sure that it was what I wanted to do I wouldn't take on that kind of debt. Although, almost everyone pays off those loans without much issue, yes even the pediatricians. If medicine is what you want to do then don't worry about the debt because the end payoff is large.

 

[QsDO]

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[dushash]

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