Hello everyone,
So, the start of my post-bacc is getting closer and closer (calculus this summer! yuck!) so med school is still a ways away but I would just like to ask about how you are dealing/planning to deal with med school expenses so I can also prepare myself for that…
Basically, I am working at the moment and if i do get into med school say 3 or 4 years from now I will probably have enough saved to pay for an apartment for 4 years and not much else…in short, i am counting on borrowing money for tuition for the entire 4 years of med school and some for living expenses. Is this even possible/doable? (I grew up abroad so not very familiar with the intricacies of student loans here) Can someone get federal loans for all tuition and some living expenses? or is going to med school impossible without financial help from family?
Just want a better idea of what i am getting into. And if someone could comment on how doctors who borrowed vast sums for med school are able to cope with debt repayment after school, i would greatly appreciate it.
Thanks!
Mikemd -
You mentioned growing up abroad. IF you are a US citizen you are able to borrow money for tuition and ALL living expenses for 4 years, with the caveat that what you are able to borrow is what the school thinks are reasonable living expenses. They submit a budget to the feds, the amount of aid you qualify for is based on your FAFSA - which is based on what money you have saved (they deduct that from the cost) and what the “expected family contribution” is, if your family’s financial info is reported. It’s best if you can find a place to live within or below their estimate of the local rent, because that gives you some leeway in other things.
I spent much less than the budgeted $90/month for clothes of my school, but next year starting rotations will have to have some expenditure to have a week’s worth of professional clothes that I am comfortable working in. My neice (graduating this year from U. of Md med school) says she got ALL her professional wardrobe from Goodwill - and she looked very nice. I ran over my budgetted and borrowed allowance this year due to some medical /medicine expenses but can ask for an adjustment to the allowance based on my documentation of my customary medical expenses. My family actually did help me out some - but it’s not a huge sum compared to what I’m borrowing.
Most students I know either have military scholarships or borrow the full amount, or near it, for living and tuition. 3 students at my school have the National Health Service Corps scholarship (it’s unusual for more than one student/institution to get it).
Payback - I’m planning on applying for loan repayment thru the NHSC, or secondarily, thru the state, for working in an underserved site. For your federal loans, you can apply for “income-based repayment” (at least currently, unlees they change the regs). That allows you to pay less when you are just starting out (although of course interest is accumulating). Also currently there is debt forgiveness at 20 years of whatever you haven’t paid off (that could well get cut from the federal budget).
That’s the sad but true story 
Many many hospitals also offer some degree of loan repayment in their employment contracts.
Kate
So, I was wondering how schools treat your 401k savings when you are applying for school loans? Do they expect you to use those to pay school expenses?
There is a lot of info on the AAMC website about this topic, so you may want to look there for more details. It is under a topic called “Monetary Decisions for Medical Doctors,” though it’s possible they’ve updated it and given it a new name because I couldn’t find a link for you with a cursory search (the copy I have printed out is from 2005, but I just printed it out a year ago or so). It states that “accumulations in retirement accounts are not counted in evaluating your eligibility for federal financial aid, but annual contributions to such accounts, including tax-deferred pension and savings plans and IRAs, are added back to your income before determining your eligibility. Retirement account accumulations are usually counted in evaluating your eligibility for need-based financial aid, but the way in which they are assessed will vary from school to school.”
None of the forms I filled out to start this August asked for information about money in retirement accounts, but some other schools may be different.
I borrowed essentiall all the tuition and a bit of lving expence – I was fortunate not to have prior student loan expense.
net debt at the end of med school was bout 170k -
The plus side: that is only a little more than one years salary as Family Practice physician -
Most plces for primary care offer some form of repayment – I am getting funding from the state and feds for loan repaiment
The downside – you damn well better like what yo are doing and survive the training to do it because nothing else will pay back the loan