1. Note that I never said to break a lease. I said to just not renew. Given that most leases are only a year long, I think the case for flexibility stands.
2. Student loan payments are not deductible. Interest on student loans is up to $2,500, but that's
only available if you make below $80K if single and $160K if married.
3.
You can deduct depreciation only if you're renting property out.
4. You can only deduct other home expenses like utilities and mortgage if you work from home/have a home office. You CAN deduct mortgage interest, but that's not much (and if it is, then you bought too much house).
5.
You cannot deduct homeowner's insurance or principal mortgage payments.
If anyone wants to explore the buying vs. renting argument more, I recommend this post written by an extraordinary writer. She really breaks it down well:
http://thepowerofthrift.com/to-buy-or-to-rent-that-is-the-question/
1. Yes, I agree. Renting CAN give you more flexibility. But if you have a great job offer while the majority of your lease remains, it'll cost you. Whereas renting out your home if possible could be a quicker solution.
2. A $2500 deduction I think is very feasible to meet those guidelines for new grads, especially depending on their marital status or if they have children. As you know, its all dependent on your federal exemptions. But if you are single and not making much, a house purchase might be a good idea for the tax benefits. There are definitely tax deferred shelters available (I'm talking about the legal and ethical ones lol)
3. Yes, you got me there. I was renting my house out before I sold it so that's probable why I was thinking of depreciation.
4. You're right again. But the interest paid at the beginning of a mortgage is usually the majority of your payment, with the ratio of interest to principle becoming smaller and smaller as the property is amortized. This way, your interest deduction is larger if you purchased a home after D-School, bringing you closer to the MAGI threshold for the additional student loan tax deduction.
5. You are correct, you cannot deduct principle payments. I was deducting the insurance because I was renting my place out so that's why I mentioned it, but like you mentioned, that was a business expense. Come to think of it, I probably should've been depreciating all of my appliances too...
You know your stuff dude.
I think if student loans would stop being given out like candy the schools would be forced to lower their prices for so few people would attend. As long as people can easily borrow 500k (without a clue as to what that really means in the long term) to get through school the schools will charge that. So while student loans are often seen as a good thing I think in the long term they're what's causing this problem.
In theory, you make a good argument. But there are lots of other factors to consider. Will schools really lower costs? Or will they just have a smaller pool of applicants? Would the dental application paradigm shift from choosing the most qualified, to choosing only those who can afford it? Without getting into a whole new debate, consider the effect on applicant diversity, and the subsequent distribution of those graduates.
Would schools begin to close down? And if they do, would that really be good for "satuaration?" I think that would create signicant more shortages in underserved areas. New grads will still be congregating to larger cities. I doubt that the distribution ratio would change.
That brings me to my next point: With the number and/or quality of dentists possibly changing, how would that affect supply and demand? Reimbursement rates would change, dentists would be able to charge more, and that would create even more of a problem when it comes to access to care in some areas.
Another thing to consider is that even though dental school costs have significantly increased in recent years, and disproportionately to inflation, how much have the operation costs of a dental school gone up? The advances in technology are not cheap. Cost of equipment, infrastructure, etc have gone up since the 70's. So for private schools, what would they do to make up for the cost difference? Reduce salaries? That would impact faculty quality and retention. Increase fees for patients? Again that would create an issue with regards to access to care, as well as the size of the patient pool. This would have its own set of impacts on dental training and education.
In-state public schools are definitely cheaper to attend with regards to tuition, but the cost difference is subsidized by the state, and that is still a burden on the taxpayers.
I'm not saying you're right or wrong, just that there are so many factors and variables to consider other than just restricting student loan amounts. Some problems may get solved, but it might also create a whole new set of issues.
