Where do you guys draw the line (Debt)?

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slick15

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In regards to the amount of debt/loans you take out. What is the most you would be willing to pay?
Having trouble deciding between some schools, going back and forth between which I liked the most, area i liked the most and cost.
 
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Hopefully 250. My max would be like 300k. But that's still too much for me.
 
hellofuturedentists said:
I am lucky in that I have both a cheap state school and family help. OP asked, I answered. I'm sure the answer varies per person and that is my answer.
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Where'd you decide to go?

Cheapest state school for me is UCLA, which is about 300k, but they overestimate costs. I'll have close to 20k in grants over 4 years, no transportation costs (8k), and won't have to spend as much as they say on housing. Thinking I can get it to between 260k and 270k. Not bad and it's the absolute cheapest I can get anyway so :shrug: I have some family willing to contribute a good chunk but I'm just going to prepare for the most debt I'll be left with. That way anything they give me will just be a bonus lol
 
nonociceptors said:
Where'd you decide to go?

Cheapest state school for me is UCLA, which is about 300k, but they overestimate costs. I'll have close to 20k in grants over 4 years, no transportation costs (8k), and won't have to spend as much as they say on housing. Thinking I can get it to between 260k and 270k. Not bad and it's the absolute cheapest I can get anyway so :shrug: I have some family willing to contribute a good chunk but I'm just going to prepare for the most debt I'll be left with. That way anything they give me will just be a bonus lol
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Still deciding. Probably helps that I'm not from California haha. 260 certainly seems manageable though! And I guess you can never really predict tuition hikes. I'm just trying to hope for now that I can keep the debt manageable.
And if that fails, I'll marry rich
 
hellofuturedentists said:
I am lucky in that I have both a cheap state school and family help. OP asked, I answered. I'm sure the answer varies per person and that is my answer.
Click to expand...

I'm fortunate enough to be in this position as well, no family help with tuition though. State school tuition (in-state) is right around $35-42k per year. It hasn't increased much from last year to this year, so I'm expecting less than or right at $200k at the time of graduation, even with interest accumulating during school.

http://www.lsusd.lsuhsc.edu/ddsFinancial.html

It's unfortunate that this figure is so rare that some people here are instantly doubtful.
 
THS said:
I'm fortunate enough to be in this position as well, no family help with tuition though. State school tuition (in-state) is right around $35-42k per year. It hasn't increased much from last year to this year, so I'm expecting less than or right at $200k at the time of graduation, even with interest accumulating during school.

http://www.lsusd.lsuhsc.edu/ddsFinancial.html

It's unfortunate that this figure is so rare that some people here are instantly doubtful.
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Wow that's a nice price, more of how much dental school should cost.
 
allantois said:
The cheapest school for me would still be 310k

At least I didn't take 200k to attend a stupid liberal arts college like some people seem to advocate for on here.
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Yeah, I'm at one of those stupid liberal arts colleges, it's not costing me anywhere near 200K though, heck, it's not even costing me $2. Glad I didn't attend the stupid state school that would have cost me $120,000.

Debt, since I was able to go to a stupid liberal arts college on a combo of scholarships for nothing, I have a little more wiggle room but it would be really nice to keep it in the 300K range but even my state school is about 270K right now so that is going to be close to 300K alone so who knows. Realistically I'll probably be in the 400K range out of state somewhere.
 
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$250K.

Dentistry is a fantastic field, and I truly hope I get it at or below that price.

If not, well it is a big comfort to have contingencies.
 
slick15 said:
In regards to the amount of debt/loans you take out. What is the most you would be willing to pay?
Having trouble deciding between some schools, going back and forth between which I liked the most, area i liked the most and cost.
Click to expand...

200k
 
hellofuturedentists said:
Still deciding. Probably helps that I'm not from California haha. 260 certainly seems manageable though! And I guess you can never really predict tuition hikes. I'm just trying to hope for now that I can keep the debt manageable.
And if that fails, I'll marry rich[/QUOTE]

If you look like your avatar you'll have no problem
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If I had to take out loans Id also go with 250k being the max. 350k+ debt doesn't really seem worth it to me.
 
I'm going to try to stay under 100k!
Baylor is pretty cheap and my parents are planning to buy a house around Dallas. I made money going to college, so i'm in a pretty good position.
 
The real 007 said:
I'm going to try to stay under 100k!
Baylor is pretty cheap and my parents are planning to buy a house around Dallas. I made money going to college, so i'm in a pretty good position.
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Ugh I wish my family would follow me to Dallas. I brought up the idea but they weren't having it.🙁
I suppose I could get a roommate.
 
Also a general question to everyone who has responded.

Are these 200k-350k goals Including living expenses? or just for tuition and fees?
 
200k would be the line, at the moment it's looking like $153k including undergrad and living expenses.

If we had to go OOS 200k wouldn't be a realistic goal.
 
hellofuturedentists said:
$200k? I'm trying to make that my maximum
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120k is the amount of loans I'll be taking out from everything additional to tuition and fees like the cost of living for all 4 years, and I'm not even in a largely populated area. If you're expecting 200k prior to interest accruing, you'll be needing to attend a state university with tuition and fees of 20k a year for all 4 years. With annual increases in tuition, that's rare.
 
Advance said:
Also a general question to everyone who has responded.

Are these 200k-350k goals Including living expenses? or just for tuition and fees?
Click to expand...

My number is for everything.
 
I will be borrowing about 430k....so indeed. **** me.

I went to undergrad for free so that number is all from dental school. Living cost and everything. Before interest of course.
 
IMO everyone's goal should be to take out the absolute minimum possible in loans. Living expenses can add easily 100k (or more!) onto the total cost of attendance to your education, don't just look at the tuition/fee numbers. For me, going to Iowa would be the cheapest option because as a child of a veteran, Iowa gives in-state tuition/fees and the cost of living is FAR cheaper than my state school (Minneapolis). Alas, I haven't gotten into Iowa at this point. If you are still single, rent a house and get 2-3 professional school roommates and save a PILE on rent/utilities. Once you are an old guy, married with children (like me) your ability to do those things basically disappears and your living expenses go up exponentially. Get yourself on a hardcore, LEAN, written budget and stick to it and you will do fine. Or just go take Dave Ramsey's financial peace course before you go into school. 😀 Speaking from experience, having the anchor of debt payments hanging around your neck whether it's a mortgage, cars, or anything else, you quickly learn that you are just working for the bank, not yourself, and it makes life miserable.

FYI, every 100k you borrow @6.8% will be about 1150/mo payment on the 10-year repayment plan. Average debt is close to ~250k if I'm not mistaken, so make that a nearly 3000/mo payment for the "typical" borrower for dental school, and it will likely be over 30% of your annual income coming right out of school! Food for thought. 🙂
 
Are you guys nuts? Only expecting to borrow <250K? Y'all realize that there are dental schools who budget out 110K/YEAR for their students, right? AT Still comes to mind

How you guys think ur gonna get out with a cool 250K without military, public health loan forgiveness payment plans, or rich daddy/mommy, are delusional.
 
I've told this to everyone who will listen: If you are young and single, bust your butt and get the military scholarship or the health service corp. Let someone else pay for the schooling and then serve a few years to repay them for it, it's the best deal. That way you can get deployed and not have to deal with the compounding factors of wife/husband/kids.

The other thing I have told people who are wishy-washy about repaying their student loans and are 'comfortable' tolerating the payment; you will NEVER regret not having the payment. And in the rare chance that you miss it, you can always go down to the bank and sign up for another one, they will usually be tickled pink to sink their claws into you.

Shovel money at your debts as hard and fast as you can while living as frugally as you can (read: no cable, NO eating out, NO vacations, NO new iphone, NOTHING unless you absolutely need it) and never look back. Your friends will laugh at you for eating the same sandwich every day for as long as they've known you. They will ask you to go get starbucks but you will decline since you have your Stanley thermos (full of crappy folgers) with you. They might accuse you of being a hermit since you don't go out to restaurants with them (or only once or twice a year). The thing is, you don't have to spend money to have fun or enjoy life. Debt-financing a lifestyle well beyond your means is a recipe for disaster. It made my jaw drop that at EVERY interview I went to, the first thing that came up when 'budgeting' was Starbucks runs.

The debt on paper has no weight until you start getting crushed by the payments. Just my .02.
 
GypsyHummus said:
Are you guys nuts? Only expecting to borrow <250K? Y'all realize that there are dental schools who budget out 110K/YEAR for their students, right? AT Still comes to mind

How you guys think ur gonna get out with a cool 250K without military, public health loan forgiveness payment plans, or rich daddy/mommy, are delusional.
Click to expand...
With the scholarship i got my school is only like~ 21k a year for tuition, fees and school expenses. At the end of it all I should be about 85k in the hole. Plus 100k living expenses? so like 185k or so total.
 
GypsyHummus said:
Are you guys nuts? Only expecting to borrow <250K? Y'all realize that there are dental schools who budget out 110K/YEAR for their students, right? AT Still comes to mind

How you guys think ur gonna get out with a cool 250K without military, public health loan forgiveness payment plans, or rich daddy/mommy, are delusional.
Click to expand...
I don't think people here are just randomly saying 250k. I've looked hard at my own finances and projected total costs of the schools I'm considering. I'm sure those people have done the same. It varies by situation.
 
capsaicinguy said:
Shovel money at your debts as hard and fast as you can while living as frugally as you can (read: no cable, NO eating out, NO vacations, NO new iphone, NOTHING unless you absolutely need it) and never look back. Your friends will laugh at you for eating the same sandwich every day for as long as they've known you. They will ask you to go get starbucks but you will decline since you have your Stanley thermos (full of crappy folgers) with you. They might accuse you of being a hermit since you don't go out to restaurants with them (or only once or twice a year). The thing is, you don't have to spend money to have fun or enjoy life. Debt-financing a lifestyle well beyond your means is a recipe for disaster. It made my jaw drop that at EVERY interview I went to, the first thing that came up when 'budgeting' was Starbucks runs.

The debt on paper has no weight until you start getting crushed by the payments. Just my .02.
Click to expand...

Hey. The best part of waking up is folgers in MY cup. Just gotta aeropress it. Way better than starbucks if you know what you're doing.

Coffee aside, I agree with saving money, but there's a stark difference between being truly frugal and being financially smart. Personally, I'm not going to buy 1-ply if my bum has to suffer, know what I mean? IMO, quality of life matters and knowing how to budget makes more sense than just trying to cut out everything.

Just my 2 (erm, after interest... 4) cents.
 
kholley25 said:
Hey. The best part of waking up is folgers in MY cup. Just gotta aeropress it. Way better than starbucks if you know what you're doing.

Coffee aside, I agree with saving money, but there's a stark difference between being truly frugal and being financially smart. Personally, I'm not going to buy 1-ply if my bum has to suffer, know what I mean? IMO, quality of life matters and knowing how to budget makes more sense than just trying to cut out everything.

Just my 2 (erm, after interest... 4) cents.
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Folgers?!? Get an aeropress, a coffee grinder and whole beans. Welcome to your new world of coffee.

Anyway I agree with you.
 
kholley25 said:
Coffee aside, I agree with saving money, but there's a stark difference between being truly frugal and being financially smart. Personally, I'm not going to buy 1-ply if my bum has to suffer, know what I mean? IMO, quality of life matters and knowing how to budget makes more sense than just trying to cut out everything.
Click to expand...

I guess my point was really that the more you are willing to sacrifice now, particularly while young, the more you will be able to enjoy life later without the common burden of student loan debt that is the dark underbelly of medicine/dentistry/etc. A lot of dental/med students are entering med/dental school at ~22-23 without ever having had to live and work in the real world. Many haven't known anything but the fantasy land of a debt-financed lifestyle without the pain of the payment yet. Learning how to tell yourself "NO" is one of the most powerful life/financial lessons you can learn IMO.

EDIT: I'm not saying you should do without any of those things forever. I'm saying you should while you get yourself out of debt and then once you can pay CASH for them, go right ahead and do whatever you want.
 
capsaicinguy said:
I guess my point was really that the more you are willing to sacrifice now, particularly while young, the more you will be able to enjoy life later without the common burden of student loan debt that is the dark underbelly of medicine/dentistry/etc. A lot of dental/med students are entering med/dental school at ~22-23 without ever having had to live and work in the real world. Many haven't known anything but the fantasy land of a debt-financed lifestyle without the pain of the payment yet. Learning how to tell yourself "NO" is one of the most powerful life/financial lessons you can learn IMO.

EDIT: I'm not saying you should do without any of those things forever. I'm saying you should while you get yourself out of debt and then once you can pay CASH for them, go right ahead and do whatever you want.
Click to expand...

I agree with your point, and I apologize if that came across as combative. Just offering a slightly altered perspective.
 
And what happens when the unthinkable happens? You don't get into your state school. Collective ghasp!!!!!!111!!11!!!one!!!! Instead, at still offered u a spot.


rxdmx372 said:
http://studentservices.uchc.edu/financial/budgets.html

I used 3% increase in tuition, so although that means year 4 will still be under $40K with tuition and fees. It's predicted to be about $141K (could be wrong). I calculated how much I spend per month in gas, food, toiletries, etc, and it was under $300 per month. Let's say it is $300 per month, or $14,400 over four years. So now we're rounded up to $155K. My "rich mommy and daddy" have bomb health insurance that I can be on until I'm 26, how old I'll be upon graduation. Let's say the cost of applying to and interviewing at residency programs is $5k. So we're at 160K. NERB, instruments, books that I actually don't have to buy, laptop,loupes, etc. come out to be 10K, so now we're at 170K. Right now I'll be able to live with my brother for free, $170K is what I'm looking at right now. Let's say that completely falls through, and I have to split rent and utilities with other people for $800/month ($700 rent, everyone splits utilities at $100 each). That would $33,600, or a total whopping cost of $203,600.

Looks like I was delusional, how could I have grossly underestimated the $200k threshold by 1.8%...
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