Relying entirely on student loans

[MJ_413]

I am a 31 year old, seriously considering medical school as a career changer. When I think of myself decades into the future, looking back on my life, thinking about whether I will be happy with the way I spent it, I know that I won't be if I have not done the best I can do. I don't feel like I'm doing the best I can do by dedicating my life to corporate America. I've often thought, "if I could start all over, I'd become a doctor". But, I didn't think I could ever afford medical school or that it was realistic to go back to school for pre-reqs and try to start so late. Well, I had an experience a little while back, where I almost died, and it made me think about all this even more. And, I've decided that maybe it's not too late to start over and do what I think I should have done all along. Since then it's all I can think about, and I really want to do it.

That said, I'm really nervous about the cost. I'm a single person supporting myself and my dog. Over the past several years, I've chosen to spend my extra money on travel, and have little savings. I would have to pay for all of a post-bacc and medical school, including cost-of-living, solely with student loans. I have no experience with student loans, and most of what I know about med school, I've learned lurking around this site! I am hoping to get some information about how people manage to pay for med school...

I've read various threads on here and other sources indicating that many med students graduate with 150-250K in student loans. This number isn't too scary. But, it seems unrealistically low. I'm getting terrified when I do my own math to estimate my potential debt and it's far above those numbers. I've read that for private loans, often interest rates can be as high as 9%, and only a small portion of the loans can be Stafford loans. I've also read that the loans accrue interest while you are a student and all through residency/ fellowship (where I believe my income would be too small to pay back even the amount of interest accruing). Considering an estimate of 65K per year in tuition and living expenses for 4 years, accruing 9% interest per year, that would mean I'd graduate with a loan of around 325K. Then, if I let that accrue interest for another 3 years of residency, I'm at $420K. If I add another 2 years for a fellowship, I could reach almost 500K before I'm ready to begin paying off the loans.
And, 65K per year seems like a modest estimate; some medical schools cost more than that in tuition alone! I've seen some estimate as high as 88K for cost of attendance. And, it doesn't seem like most people have a large number of acceptances to choose from. I feel like I'll be lucky to get into any MD or DO school at all, and wouldn't expect to have much of a choice, as far as tuition goes. So, what if I only get into one with really high costs? If I estimate 85K per year instead of 65K, I am looking at graduating with 425K in debt. After accruing interest for 3 years of residency, I'd be at 550K. And if I add a couple more years for a fellowship, it would be just over 650K.

So I'm very curious about how all these people are graduating with only 150-250 in debt? Do most people have scholarships? I thought getting scholarships for med school is very difficult. Do they have large family contributions? Do they all have spouses or significant others that support them so they don't need cost of living loans? Or, am I looking at this wrong? I have no experience with student loans (family paid for my BA), so please correct me if I'm wrong about all of this. I fear if I am looking at accruing 500-650K in student loans, I may have to let go of this dream. But I really don't want to. Is it realistic? And, can anybody get this amount of loans? Or, do I risk starting the program, and then not being able to finish because I can't get any more loans? Do other people end up with 650K in debt and do they actually manage to pay it off, while supporting themselves fairly comfortably? I'd really appreciate any opinions and feedback from those of you who don't have family contributions and are trying/have tried to pay for this with loans! Thanks in advance!

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[kopftonmd]

One option if, when you get the financial aid package from a school, you feel it will not work for you, is to apply to one of the military scholarship programs. Information can be found in the military med forum.

 

[Lawpy]

The Finance and Investment and Financial Aid Forums may be worth looking into more regarding student loans calculations.

 

[chrisjh]

A lot of times, the numbers you see online for the schools for cost of attendance is the tuition lumped together with living expenses.

 

[aldol16]

The financial aid office at the medical schools you get accepted to will crunch your numbers and come up with a number that's specific for you. Unless you or your parents make a fortune (and yes, most medical schools still require parent tax information), you'll probably end up with some sort of subsidized loan/scholarship offer. Schools vary on how they calculate financial aid but I've seen several where they get an expected family contribution out of the information you send them, deduct that from the estimated cost of attendance, subtract out a base loan, and cover the rest with scholarships.

There are also MD/PhD programs which are completely funded plus stipend but I don't know if given your situation, you would want to go that path. Case Western Reserve also has the Cleveland Clinic program, which is a funded 5-year program. But it's highly competitive and research-oriented. On top of those programs, there are various military scholarships you can take as well as Public Health Service ones, I believe.

 

[Redtwogreen]

You are right to be concerned. I think a lot of people (including me) didn't really think through what it would mean to graduate with 6 figures of debt. We actually graduated with about $550k in student loans (I went to law school, husband went to an expensive dental school). I don't think your estimates are far off. And if it's your dream, I say go for it! Honestly the cost of school will vary so much depending on where you go for your post bacc and med school. If we could go back in time we would have shopped around for cheaper schools and explored scholarship options as well as the military HSPS more. You can definitely keep costs low if your careful and smart. We blog about getting out of our student loan debt at redtwogreen.com if you need more tips/strategies.