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How much loan did you accumulate? How much are you paying per month? What interest rate?
I borrowed $50,000 on the dot. My payments were $830 in the beginning. I had Sallie Mae Consolidation I think but Perkins were paid off sooner than other loans. Payments steadily declined...it seemed like the interest rates changed once in a while. I took 10 years to pay it off. Towards the end of the term, my payment was around $350.
You might want to explain which decade you paid those loans in
My last payment I believe was in December of 2005. Not that long ago man..
10 yrs ago is a lifetime for student loans. My brother has 250k @ 1.9%. That was before the hikes that occured in 05 or 06 (cannot remember). Stafford jumped to 6.8 and grad plus to 8.5%.
If it wasn't for everyones tax dollars (thanks all), I would be paying my loans for the rest of my life.
About $80K. In deferment, haven't thought about paying back yet!
You did good.
Yes she did... she be all sorts of awesome though.
Public schools seem to be in the reasonable range. Private schools however, set a whole new standard in exorbitant cost. If you don't have a plan to pay off your student loans going in, you will likely struggle with it later on.
You did good.
What kind of a plan can one have? Pass school, pass board exam, get job, pay it off.
Don't be too quick with the pats on the head. I couldve had much less debt if I weren't too proud to let my dad pay for it.
I'm sure I'll regret that more later, but what can you do about early 20s ego
I borrowed $120K.
Just graduated in May.
FWIW - I borrowed 170k total for school / living expenses. I am having 160k repaid in exchange for federal service.
1. You can have someone else pay your loans for you.
2. You can be married to someone who makes a 100k/yr paycheck as well.
3. You can choose to go into ultra repayment / delay major life events and payoff your loans.
Take home is around 6-6.5k after taxes (varies by location). Add in loan repayment in the 1500 to 2000 range for 30 yrs.
You are left with decent pay, but not enough to own a home and raise two children comfortably. You absolutely have to have a plan to payoff those loans in a reasonable amount of time.
not to hijack the thread or anything but what is a good number to shoot for? my yearly tuition is ~17K and i'm giving myself about $850 a month for living expenses... total = ~108K if I do not earn a dime while in pharmacy school ( plan on getting a retail/hospital internship with an OOS industry position during one summer plus i already work in a lab in the SOP that has potential to be a paying position). thanks for the opinions.
Don't get me wrong, I think it's a wonderful idea to have a plan. But, I don't think it's a possible for a lot of people. I will give you an example.
I would like to get into a residency, however there is a good chance I will not be able to get into one. I like in Los Angeles, but currently there is a virtually no jobs in Los Angeles. Will there be in 2 yrs? A lot of local grads have had to move somewhere to find jobs, which means additional living expenses.
my point is things change especially for those in early 20's. A lot of us don't know certain things that you bring up like being married to someone who makes 100K or having kids, which means it hard to plan for.
I have various scenarios that i think about, but do not have a definitive plan.
If you plan to do residency x2 - you will not be looking for the same job as those without residency. Furthermore, you should absolutely expect to move if you want to do residency. I can count on one hand the amount of fellow RPhs that were able to secure a residency without moving.
Why would you invest 80k (on the low end) to 170k without having a well thought out plan?
not to hijack the thread or anything but what is a good number to shoot for? my yearly tuition is ~17K and i'm giving myself about $850 a month for living expenses... total = ~108K if I do not earn a dime while in pharmacy school ( plan on getting a retail/hospital internship with an OOS industry position during one summer plus i already work in a lab in the SOP that has potential to be a paying position). thanks for the opinions.
Rule of thumb is that your total loan should not exceed your 1 year gross income. Given the pharmacy low growth/stagnant job market, I say $100K total is a generally safe limit to use.
Unless you are in an expensive east/west coast city, you should be able to make enough $$$ for living expenses from internships during school.
I finished with $80K in loans and could have done it with $60k if I wasn't out-of-state during the first year.
Actually I have a question for my fellow students: How do you know how much to borrow? I just took the full amount my school offered for the first year, but I ended up with about two thousand dollars left over at the end of the year (I am very frugal). Now I am not sure how much to take out this year. Seems like I could probably take less. Some upperclassman suggested to just take the full amount every year and just save the excess for rotations/licensure/finding a job. What do y'all think? I am kinda nervous that if I take less than the full amount that I will end up needing it but will not be able to get it. Any thoughts?
I usually consider Tuition + Monthly expenses (including food, utilities, gas, etc) X number of months I expect to live at that specific place + $2,000 (in case of emergencies)
Thanks Bob. Do you mind if I call you Bob? BTW, why do they say you're crazy?
I can make a basic budget, but then I get nervous about unexpected expenses or that I am not figuring something in. I just don't know. I will probably keep taking the max and I will just be glad they don't let me take more.
Maybe I will try and take 2k less than I did this year and see how that goes. But then I think is it even worth bothering for a messily 2k. At most that will save me 6k in the end (assuming no other changes). Seems insignificant compared to the other +120k.
My loans total $156k and monthly payment is $1047.
My loans total $156k and monthly payment is $1047. It sucks paying it and I plan to pay it off waaaaaay early, but even with the payment I'm much better off than before.
for $1047 for how long? 10-year plan?
Actually I have a question for my fellow students: How do you know how much to borrow? I just took the full amount my school offered for the first year, but I ended up with about two thousand dollars left over at the end of the year (I am very frugal). Now I am not sure how much to take out this year. Seems like I could probably take less. Some upperclassman suggested to just take the full amount every year and just save the excess for rotations/licensure/finding a job. What do y'all think? I am kinda nervous that if I take less than the full amount that I will end up needing it but will not be able to get it. Any thoughts?
Something like this I guess
for $1047 for how long? 10-year plan?
You know the tuition & fees ahead of time. You also know most of the regular living expenses. Just don't forget to factor in the occasional items such as health/car insurance, etc. Give your self an extra 20% safety margin and you should be safe.
If it turns out that you take out more than you need, don't spend the left over $$$. Repay the loan right away with it. This is not ideal as I think that repayment goes towards interest first instead of the principle, and you have no real tax to deduct from.
Avoid taking out extra in the early years of pharmacy school, those money has more time to compound interest, so hit you harder in the end.
I found that working full time during the summer could save up about $4K. This allowed me to work 16-20 hours a week during school year and still enjoy life, although the real hard-core people would probably pay down their loans with it.
I pay the interest on my student loans (every six months they send me a "bill" for the interest that I can ether pay then or that amount will be added to my loan - aren't all student loans like this?) so it does not compound. Thanks for the tip though.
So you think 20% is a good safety margin? I am tired right now but I will play with that in the morning and see what I come up with. Thanks!
This must be the new LA math I've been hearing about.I would like to get into a residency, however there is a good chance I will not be able to get into one. I like in Los Angeles, but currently there is a virtually no jobs in Los Angeles. Will there be in 2 yrs? A lot of local grads have had to move somewhere to find jobs, which means additional living expenses.
This must be the new LA math I've been hearing about.
Moving out of California means REDUCED living expenses, well, as long as you move out for at least a week to cover the moving expenses.
Downtown Cleveland sure is cheap!
Where did you think there'd be jobs if there aren't any in LA? NYC? ha.
Borrowed ~120K. At 6.8% (recent grad) on the 30 year repayment plan it works out to $890 per month. I also have 6K in perkins loans at ~$65 per month. I was in state, public school, but living in a major city.
Even though you end up paying A LOT more over time I went with the 30 year plan for a few reasons:
1.) I had credit card debt built up from earlier that I wanted to get paid off first.
2.) Student loan interest is tax deductable (to a point)
3.) Getting married this year and needed cash on hand
4.) Once my immediate cash crunch is done I will go back to paying as though I was on the 10 year plan. You can always pay extra.
If you have the discipline to overpay whenever you have the abilioty to do so a long term repayment plan is the way to go.
I borrowed about $40k between perkins and stafford.
My perkins monthly payment is $40 and my Stafford is $276. I normally pay more than the minimum. With stafford, I have it automatically debited from my checking account, so that decreases my interest rate by 0.25%. My Stafford loans were of the supposedly fixed 6.8% variety, but I consolidated at 5.5%. The key is to consolidate right before the grace period ends.
Only 40K? Dang. If I lived at home for all four years, I'd still have about 65K.
for $1047 for how long? 10-year plan?
1. You can have someone else pay your loans for you.
2. You can be married to someone who makes a 100k/yr paycheck as well.
3. You can choose to go into ultra repayment / delay major life events and payoff your loans.
Take home is around 6-6.5k after taxes (varies by location). Add in loan repayment in the 1500 to 2000 range for 30 yrs.
You are left with decent pay, but not enough to own a home and raise two children comfortably. You absolutely have to have a plan to payoff those loans in a reasonable amount of time.
Borrowed ~120K. At 6.8% (recent grad) on the 30 year repayment plan it works out to $890 per month. I also have 6K in perkins loans at ~$65 per month. I was in state, public school, but living in a major city.
Even though you end up paying A LOT more over time I went with the 30 year plan for a few reasons:
1.) I had credit card debt built up from earlier that I wanted to get paid off first.
2.) Student loan interest is tax deductable (to a point)
3.) Getting married this year and needed cash on hand
4.) Once my immediate cash crunch is done I will go back to paying as though I was on the 10 year plan. You can always pay extra.
If you have the discipline to overpay whenever you have the abilioty to do so a long term repayment plan is the way to go.
30 year term but NOT taking 30 years to pay it! We're debt snowballing Dave Ramsey style so this will be our last debt to attack. Already paid off credit cards and working on paying off the car. When that's all done, those loans are toast.
Call it $74,400 as the butchers bill for the PharmD with living expenses picked up from working during school.
Anyone rich wanna marry me so you can pay off my loans?