Poll: How much in student loans did you borrow this year?

[Edward Norton]

Hi dental students. With the increase in the educational costs of attending dental school, I wanted to ask you what you HAD to borrow (this year) in order to pay for your education. A similar thread was made about 10 years ago, but there's no denying that costs have increased dramatically and it's good for us to understand what dental students are facing.

Thanks for participating. Feel free to indicate your school.

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[ncide]

VCU. $88,000

 

[cacajuate]

$29.1k tuition. UT health SA

 

[deleted738762]

$29.1k tuition. UT health SA

Damn Texans @Advance

 

[Advance]

Damn Texans @Advance

 

[Lalibila]

$29.1k tuition. UT health SA

whats it looking like with cost of living and fees?

 

[O Gaúcho]

whats it looking like with cost of living and fees?

I think it comes out to be 42k a year not including interest and loan fees

 

[Lalibila]

I think it comes out to be 42k a year not including interest and loan fees

Looks like they really overestimate on their projected costs.


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[O Gaúcho]

Looks like they really overestimate on their projected costs.


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Oh my bad I was just going off the cost of tuition and fees

 

[cacajuate]

whats it looking like with cost of living and fees?

Full COA is like ~$230k for this incoming classs, my class full coa is like ~$220k.

I have a family and my total borrowed amount for the first year was ~$48k. My wife made about $10k that year, so take that into account. Single should be able to do it for much less.

The interesting thing is there is a large % of the class that gets a $5k scholarship each year. I assume its first come first serve basis on who filed their FASFA first but I have received it both years.

I think it comes out to be 42k a year not including interest and loan fees

I'm not sure where you got that from but they estimated $64k, $56k, $54k, $48k. Thats full COA for each year respectively.

 

[ncide]

Full COA is like ~$230k for this incoming classs, my class full coa is like ~$220k.

I have a family and my total borrowed amount for the first year was ~$48k. My wife made about $10k that year, so take that into account. Single should be able to do it for much less.

The interesting thing is there is a large % of the class that gets a $5k scholarship each year. I assume its first come first serve basis on who filed their FASFA first but I have received it both years.



I'm not sure where you got that from but they estimated $64k, $56k, $54k, $48k. Thats full COA for each year respectively.

That's so crazy to see. I am an OOS student and am expected to take out 450k, but I'm living frugally and will hopefully hit 350k instead.

It's insane to see such a low cost of attendance. Two students could attend your school for each student at mine.

 

[ncide]

So VCU doesn't allow you to become an in-state resident after 1 year?

They let one of my classmates but it's hard to do. At 350k I'm basically an average in-state student though. Even if I was a student at my home state in Washington, I'd be paying the same.

Washington is a pretty rad so I might move back. It'd be interesting to see how it is like being a dentist in other states. We don't have income tax and hygienists can place fillings after a doctor prepares a tooth, even assistants can if they become EFDAs, so dental offices can streamline procedures to see more patients. The environment is pretty doctor-friendly in WA state.

 

[arlmay]

SIU student, tuition and fees 36k for the year

 

[ncide]

SIU student, tuition and fees 36k for the year

Did one of your classmates place that post?

 

[Trigeminal08]

About 50k including living

 

[Daneosaurus]

Pitt ~82k


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[apicalforamen]

US Army ~$0.00 give or take


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[Incis0r]

About 50k including living

Is this per semester or per year?

 

[Trigeminal08]

Is this per semester or per year?

That's for the full year (3 quarters)

 

[TrevorwestDDS]

98K for me this year at OSU. OOS is rough. Real glad I can get in-state status for years 2-4

 

[arlmay]

Did one of your classmates place that post?

No but I've seen some good ones during my time in DS. A couple through the furcation. Just thought it was a funny picture.

 

[NYDent22]

TCDM $63,000


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[sanfransunshine91]

About 50k including living

Nice to see! Back in my D1 year I was taking out the same amount. Is it based of grants/scholarships or are you just taking out a lot less loans? My younger brother will be applying in a couple years but the COA frightens me. I didn't realize they were still so generous even with all the UC system issues.

 

[Gilakend]

Oh my Lord I didn't realize how expensive dental school is. This is insane. 120k for a single year? As in almost half a million dollars over 4 years? What costs so much, is tuition like 100k? I feel like for most med schools COL is usually around 16k (not COA, just living expenses).

 

[Trigeminal08]

Nice to see! Back in my D1 year I was taking out the same amount. Is it based of grants/scholarships or are you just taking out a lot less loans? My younger brother will be applying in a couple years but the COA frightens me. I didn't realize they were still so generous even with all the UC system issues.

A combination of scholarships and grants. I also received a small cost of living supplement due to the crazy high rent in SF so I'm able to save a bit that way too. I'm just trying to avoid grad plus like the plague

 

[Lalibila]

62k total for the year. I'm going to try and reduce for future semesters. I needed a little bit more money at the start to move in. Goal is to graduate in 4 years under 250k.

Which school?


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[577455]

Which school?


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Michigan

 

[THS]

LSU in-state. Tuition: $28k, with fees and everything ~$35k.

 

[Edward Norton]

Hi guys, thanks for replying. It's great to see that so many of you will owe less than 200k upon graduation. Traditionally, that was the norm. But for many dentists who graduated in the last ~5-8 years, and those who will graduate in the years to come, the new norm is roughly 400k (in principal only, realistically close to 430k upon graduation when accumulated interest is added). It is a financial predicament that will affect your ability to get started with adult life (e.g. purchase a home, take out a loan, etc.).

For those of you who are not aware how student loans are calculated (I know that I certainly wasn't aware), I'd like to give you guys an idea of how your loans increase per day. Let's consider only 1 loan. Imagine that you borrowed 100k from Grad PLUS, which has an interest rate of 8.5%. Please follow the calculation:

principal: 100,000
interest rate: 0.085

annual accumulation of loan interest: 100,000 * 0.085 = $8,500
daily accumulation of loan interest: 8500/365 days = $23.29 per day
monthly loan interest: 23.29 * 30 days = ~$700

Do this for all of your loans to calculate how much you are paying (or not paying) per month in accumulated interest. The number is quite frightening. The difficult part is that payments are applied to accumulated interest first before any of it is applied to the principal, making it difficult to pay down the amount because you keep paying and paying, but it goes towards the interest only until years later when you are finally putting payments towards the principal. It is not unrealistic to have an accumulated interest balance of 10-15k for just one loan, especially if you took out a Grad PLUS loan in D1.

Dental salaries have not increased in accordance with the rise in dental school costs. I thought I'd share these calculations with you to give you an idea of what you are facing in the years to come. Good luck to you all.

 

[allantois]

^^^Dont forget 4% origination fees

It's always more expensive than sticker price

 

[blablabla1]

44.5k a year. Basically full unsubsidized loans. I have external help that's letting me stay under the 200k of debt range

 

[Namelessking]

Hi guys, thanks for replying. It's great to see that so many of you will owe less than 200k upon graduation. Traditionally, that was the norm. But for many dentists who graduated in the last ~5-8 years, and those who will graduate in the years to come, the new norm is roughly 400k (in principal only, realistically close to 430k upon graduation when accumulated interest is added). It is a financial predicament that will affect your ability to get started with adult life (e.g. purchase a home, take out a loan, etc.).

For those of you who are not aware how student loans are calculated (I know that I certainly wasn't aware), I'd like to give you guys an idea of how your loans increase per day. Let's consider only 1 loan. Imagine that you borrowed 100k from Grad PLUS, which has an interest rate of 8.5%. Please follow the calculation:

principal: 100,000
interest rate: 0.085

annual accumulation of loan interest: 100,000 * 0.085 = $8,500
daily accumulation of loan interest: 8500/365 days = $23.29 per day
monthly loan interest: 23.29 * 30 days = ~$700

Do this for all of your loans to calculate how much you are paying (or not paying) per month in accumulated interest. The number is quite frightening. The difficult part is that payments are applied to accumulated interest first before any of it is applied to the principal, making it difficult to pay down the amount because you keep paying and paying, but it goes towards the interest only until years later when you finally are putting payments towards the principal. It is not unrealistic to have an accumulated interest balance of 10-15k for just one loan, especially if you took out a Grad PLUS loan in D1.

Dental salaries have not increased in accordance with the rise in dental school costs. I thought I'd share these calculations with you to give you an idea of what you are facing in the years to come. Good luck to you all.

I'll always say it. I (and I think many other people) wouldn't bat an eye at the cost of some of these schools if it weren't for these murderous 7-8% interest rates. Really? Apparently this country takes the **** on people trying to make something of themselves. And yes, sickening as it was, faculty at the schools I interviewed at pathetically quipped that all of us would be easily paying back our loans a few years after we graduate.

 

[schmoob]

Hi guys, thanks for replying. It's great to see that so many of you will owe less than 200k upon graduation. Traditionally, that was the norm. But for many dentists who graduated in the last ~5-8 years, and those who will graduate in the years to come, the new norm is roughly 400k (in principal only, realistically close to 430k upon graduation when accumulated interest is added). It is a financial predicament that will affect your ability to get started with adult life (e.g. purchase a home, take out a loan, etc.).

For those of you who are not aware how student loans are calculated (I know that I certainly wasn't aware), I'd like to give you guys an idea of how your loans increase per day. Let's consider only 1 loan. Imagine that you borrowed 100k from Grad PLUS, which has an interest rate of 8.5%. Please follow the calculation:

principal: 100,000
interest rate: 0.085

annual accumulation of loan interest: 100,000 * 0.085 = $8,500
daily accumulation of loan interest: 8500/365 days = $23.29 per day
monthly loan interest: 23.29 * 30 days = ~$700

Do this for all of your loans to calculate how much you are paying (or not paying) per month in accumulated interest. The number is quite frightening. The difficult part is that payments are applied to accumulated interest first before any of it is applied to the principal, making it difficult to pay down the amount because you keep paying and paying, but it goes towards the interest only until years later when you finally are putting payments towards the principal. It is not unrealistic to have an accumulated interest balance of 10-15k for just one loan, especially if you took out a Grad PLUS loan in D1.

Dental salaries have not increased in accordance with the rise in dental school costs. I thought I'd share these calculations with you to give you an idea of what you are facing in the years to come. Good luck to you all.

That is not how it works at all.
PLUS loans are not 8.5%. And why would you take out $100K in PLUS loans?

 

[Edward Norton]

That is not how it works at all.
PLUS loans are not 8.5%. And why would you take out $100K in PLUS loans?

Hi. Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, since 2006 Grad PLUS loans have had an 8.5% interest rate. And why would anyone take them? It's because they have no other choice, since it's simply part of the financial aid package that's offered to the student.

FACT CHECK: FinAid | Loans | PLUS Loan Rate Loophole

To make matters worse, the rates will increase across the board on federal student loans.

FACT CHECK: Say goodbye to low interest rates on federal student loans, at least for now

According to the article, "Graduate loans are capped at 9.5 percent, while the limit on PLUS loans is 10.5 percent."

 

[schmoob]

Hi. Thank you for the reply. Unfortunately, since 2006 Grad PLUS loans have had an 8.5% interest rate. And why would anyone take them? It's because they have no other choice, since it's simply part of the financial aid package that's offered to the student.

FACT CHECK: FinAid | Loans | PLUS Loan Rate Loophole

This is incorrect. The fixed 8.5% Federal PLUS loans have been phased out for the last seven years. The interest rate for Direct PLUS loans for the current academic year is 7%.

FACT CHECK: Interest Rates and Fees

PLUS loans are meant as a supplement. Students max out their Unsubsidized maximums first, before going to PLUS. The current interest rate for Unsubsidized is 6% (see above reference). The maximum in Unsubidized loans for Pre-doctoral health professions students is $47,167.00

FACT CHECK: https://ifap.ed.gov/fsahandbook/attachments/0910FSAHbkVol3Ch6Sept30.pdf (See page 10)

You pay interest based on disbursement dates, typically by semester. That does not mean you take out $100K in PLUS loans and pay immediately for the entire year. You do not pay interest on funds you have not received. Under your scenario, if it costs $100K to go to school, you pay for the first half of the year with your unsubsidized $47,167 (lets round up to $50K for the sake of simplicity). That means for 12 months, you are paying 6% on that. The second half of the year, you use your PLUS loans at 7%. During that academic year, your interest rates are a blended 6.33%. After the year is over, you will be paying a 6.5% blended interest rate for attending that academic year. When talking big big numbers like we are doing here, a 2% difference from 6.5% and 8.5% is astronomical.

The difficult part is that payments are applied to accumulated interest first before any of it is applied to the principal, making it difficult to pay down the amount because you keep paying and paying, but it goes towards the interest only until years later when you are finally putting payments towards the principal.

You have the option of paying interest only during your 6 month grace period. After that, the interest capitalizes and all subsequent payments will be made towards an amortized principle and interest scale under the standard repayment plan.

I know that you have the best intentions in your post, and I thank you. Keeping the public informed on the true costs to attend such expensive schools can potentially open many eyes to the realities they face. But the information that is put out should be accurate.
Thank you.

 

[Edward Norton]

Hi Schmoob. Thank you for the reply and your contribution to the post. Please PM me for all other thoughts on this subject, as I would prefer to have a discussion about this one-on-one.

I would like to be clear that my calculation serves as an example of how a loan accumulates interest. As I have graduated from dental school ~10 years ago, the 8.5% interest rate on PLUS loans was in existence as you undoubtedly saw in the link that I provided. Also, the interest on student loans do accumulate during D-school, which is why lenders periodically write to students to inform them of the option to pay the interest to avoid capitalization.

I appreciate your comments and thoughtful insights. It is without a doubt that your knowledge of financial matters will serve you well in your career.