Please help local idiot understand the cost of podiatry school

[CloudBoi]

Hey ya'll. So I have a series of questions regarding the costs of podiatry school. However because I am a child, I am having a hard time understanding the actual cost. I have searched the forums and a lot of the previous posts are older.

So I will use DMU as an example since it would be my target school. The link below is where I came up with the sum of the costs, and I think the link shows ALL expenses you can think of for podiatry school. The total is $273,686. I will leave the link here for you to use.

Cost of Attendance Budget Information | Des Moines University

Cost of Attendance Budget Information by Program When budgeting for graduate school it is important to factor in both tuition and the cost of living. To de ...

www.dmu.edu

Here are my clueless questions.

1.) Do you think they're underestimating or overestimating living expenses and transport expenses? Or do you feel like they're about right?

2.) What would that total come to after residency? Or at least, do you have a rough estimate?

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[heybrother]

There's room to fudge some of the numbers, but many of them aren't going to change. The classic thing you can immediately not pay for is books. Having cheaped out on the scopes I would tell you to simply buy the basic versions and sell them to someone in the class below. I bought some knockoffs and never knew if I was incompetent or the equipment was non-functional. Unless its changed the maximum DMU scholarship for non-URM I think used to be in the $3000-5000 and after the first year its like top 25% only. Housing is cheaper in Des Moines (or used to be) than other cities - if you put 3 people into a $800-1000 a month apartment there's savings to be had - BUT for my class the majority of people who lived together ultimately split/found new roommates after the first year. A friend of mine found a room in someone else's house for like $250/month which was the cheapest thing I ever heard of. I don't remember my exact rent, but my wife and I did a two bedroom/two path like 10 minutes from the school 1 street off grand and they upped our rent one time in 3 years. I think we paid $850 or something like that.

The school has a limited number of jobs that had very low levels of responsibility ie. studying while scanning gym badges or studying while manning a library desk, but the hours are controlled. If you can get one you could take a bite out of your rent. The prime virtue of these jobs is the ability to study while doing them. Some DMU people also used to park cars at golf course - I don't know if people still do that.

Most people in podiatry school are essentially a year out of college, young, unmarried and looking for stress relief. If you drink and party on every available post test weekend you can assuredly crush your food budget. Eating on campus to me was another money loser - a grocery plan will save you money verse eating the cafeteria every day, but how much are we really talking? The amount can be quantified and its probably a few thousand dollars - not $10K, not $50K. If you are already in some way working/living life then you can try to take a guess at what life will cost. Perfect world you show up without any prior debt and a relatively well functioning car and try to not have any big blow outs or life issues along the way. Both my co-residents were $270K in debt by their 3rd year of residency. I don't think they lived frugally (1 had a family).

People used to try and put their wife and kids on Medicaid/food stamps which is a bit of a cringe. Not sure if that's common anymore.

Jokingly, your best way to save money would be a lovely spouse with an adequately paying job. That said, he/she needs to both love you and not bedgrudge your study time. A guy in my class showed up engaged to someone who promptly decided they'd worked too hard and made too much money to put up with someone who was studying all the time.

 

[Weirdy]

A guy in my class showed up engaged to someone who promptly decided they'd worked too hard and made too much money to put up with someone who was studying all the time.

Oof....

Gonna go bug my wife and tell her how wonderful she is now.

 

[GreenHousePub]

With no payments in residency you can expect the low 300s in debt most likely.

 

[heybrother]

My memory is the schools essentially give you the option to take the amount they "offer" or to write in something lower. The simple truth is if you just sign on the line and click accept every year you'll end up with what they state.

The tricky thing for people who are already practicing is - the schools just keep getting more expensive so in the span of 4 years we'll be off on the numbers we tell you by about $15-20K. Something like that. Time is passing by so I don't hang on to specific numbers but I think DMU was like $27-28K in tuition when I was signing up. Was low 30s when I graduated. Now its basically $40k? That means if I tell you do what I did and just borrow tuition and live off your wife - there's $40K more debt than there was when I did that.

 

[CloudBoi]

Im going to assume the debt load will be about a little over 400k after residency, correct? How do you all feel about that number? Does it seem accurate is what I am trying to ask. Thanks, everyone.

 

[shezadeh]

People used to try and put their wife and kids on Medicaid/food stamps which is a bit of a cringe. Not sure if that's common anymore.

Eh, I personally don't think this is the worst thing (assuming one genuinely qualifies)