Medical school loan question - any newly graduated med students?

[Anonymous]

I will be an older medical student relatively soon. I'm not here to discuss the merits of this choice, but rather financing of it.

This is a career change for me and I currently am married with an infant with a well paying job. I'm trying to determine how much to take out for loans. We currently have two properties (one in a lucrative part of DC that should easily rent and one in the city that we are soon moving to - which has a pretty low cost of living). I've been offered the maximum amount of loans, but am fearful of taking out that much - besides the mortgages, I'm debt free, so the entire idea of loans for school is a bit frightening. We have money for house renovations and house emergencies set aside.

In my personal savings I probably have enough saved to cover rent for both homes for 6 months and full time child care for 6 months. Although that means we'd have to give up just about everything else - so this is really worst worst worst case scenario. DH has a job that he's happy with, so although we're not too worried about it, I'm kind of a planner and would like to keep from taking too much out. He does like to eat out quite a bit (I tend to eat at home a lot more). We are both relatively simple, but we will need things like furniture to help furnish the new home.

I could potentially take out more this year as a "just in case" and reduce the amount in future years. But I'm wondering beyond tuition, how much more I should take out. Any new physicians out there that could advise?

[Anonymous]

DH is not that newly graduated but he just finished his fellowship so 6 years out of med school. DH doesn't have loans but most of his friends have around 200k of loans. There is a range though. Some have none, like DH. Others have like 500k (200k undergrad +300k med school).

I think taking out loans is ok as long as you go into a high paid specialty. It is financially irresponsible to take out hundreds of thousands of debt if you are going to be earning only 100k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DH is not that newly graduated but he just finished his fellowship so 6 years out of med school. DH doesn't have loans but most of his friends have around 200k of loans. There is a range though. Some have none, like DH. Others have like 500k (200k undergrad +300k med school).

I think taking out loans is ok as long as you go into a high paid specialty. It is financially irresponsible to take out hundreds of thousands of debt if you are going to be earning only 100k.

Thank you! Can you explain how he got out of school with no loans? Help from family?

I agree with you about the responsibility factor. My concern is that I have no idea what specialty to go into, and with the new health care laws, pay for many physicians are changing.

[Anonymous]

The pay for surgeons will remain high. In any case, you will be making at least a reasonable 6-figure salary.
But as you said, you will not figure out what you want to do until you are in med school. Wish you good luck for your new career!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DH is not that newly graduated but he just finished his fellowship so 6 years out of med school. DH doesn't have loans but most of his friends have around 200k of loans. There is a range though. Some have none, like DH. Others have like 500k (200k undergrad +300k med school).

I think taking out loans is ok as long as you go into a high paid specialty. It is financially irresponsible to take out hundreds of thousands of debt if you are going to be earning only 100k.

Thank you! Can you explain how he got out of school with no loans? Help from family?

I agree with you about the responsibility factor. My concern is that I have no idea what specialty to go into, and with the new health care laws, pay for many physicians are changing.

Parents and scholarship. BIL is also currently in med school and has no loans. He has a mix of scholarships and parents helping him out. He does RA type stuff for free housing. Not sure the logistics. DH's family does not like debt. BIL had like 20k in undergrad loans and he paid it off immediately during the year he took off between undergrad and med school.

[Anonymous]

Create a budget and take loans for whatever your husband's salary won't cover. If you take too much, you can always pay it back at the end of the year. I tried not to take out more than I really needed. However, I also had a little emergency fund set aside in case I was short.