What is "Graduate Indebtedness"???

[amentruethat]

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I thought I'd start up a new thread since the old ones are...well...old.

Looking through the MSAR, I was confused by the average graduate indebtedness. What exactly does that number take into consideration? Is it just how much the average graduate owes?

For instance, I compared that total cost of attendance, which includes tuition, fees, living expenses, etc. for UMass Medical School and Northwestern Medical School. For UMass, the total cost of attendance only comes out to about $14,000 per year; Northwestern COA is about $66,000. That seems like a pretty big difference, however, the 2007 average graduate indebtedness for Northwestern is about $170,000 while that for UMass is $122,000. What gives? If you're only paying $14k per year, how do you rack up a debt of $122k?

Can someone please fill me in? Thanks!!!!!

 

[TMP-SMX]

Don't trust those numbers. Go to the financial aid websites for each school. the UMass CoA I see on their site is $41k. Their tuition is 8k and fees are almost 6k. That's your 14k.

Here is a general rule. Your in state public schools are going to be the cheapest for you. Out of state public schools are going to be the most expensive (they increase the tuition for people OOS). Private schools are going to be more expensive than in state schools.

The average debt is the average of all students. Some have all of their school paid for by parents, others have part or have personal assets or a spouse, a few have scholarships (some schools give out a lot of generous scholarships but good luck getting into Mayo), some have programs that pay their tuition for service, and the majority pay for everything with loans. So if you take the average of all of those you get the number. If you are taking out full loans it will be higher. You will get your best estimate by adding up the four years of CoAs they calculate in the M1-4 budget.

 

[amentruethat]

That makes a bit more sense. Thanks tmp...
*sigh* looks like I'll be a slave to debt either way >.<

 

[TMP-SMX]

You aren't alone.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

That makes a bit more sense. Thanks tmp...
*sigh* looks like I'll be a slave to debt either way >.<

I prefer the term "indentured servant"; another 25 years of loan payments (after starting to repay these in residency) and we will be FREE!!!