The logistics of it all

[Shannon]

I'm really wondering if the amount of loans available is making it possible to live. Granted, while my husband is in school, I will work but I'm a measly mental health therapist whose income is not worth writing home about so I'm worried about how we are going to make it financially. Have you all been able to take out enough to meet demands of financially supporting family?

Thanks!

[GreyhoundsRUs]

Re: The logistics of it all

I think a lot of it depends on where and how you live. We don't have any kids and we live in an expensive city. I work as a Catholic school teacher. Money is really pretty tight for us- I have 3 other part time jobs. We also drive older cars (no car payments, but occational repair costs), my student loan payments are minimal, but our cell bill is crazy expensive. Our gas and electric are also really pretty high.

I think that we could start a family with our current financial situation, but we would need to give up some things (which we really don't want to right now). The biggest thing to ask yourself is how good you are at budgeting money and know places where you could cut costs if needed!

There are a lot of examples on here of people who have success with this! Good luck! It can be done!

[moonlight]

Re: The logistics of it all

we took out as much as we were allowed during med school and seem to have made it ok. Some semester were tighter than others, but overall we've made it ok. Since we moved around so much I wasn't able to work. I think anything extra you can bring in will be the biggest help. Also, I think COL in your city can make a big difference. What city are you in?

Also, I have a cell phone recommendation if anyone is interested. It works for my needs, but I'm not sure if it would work for everyone.

[v-girl]

Re: The logistics of it all

Hubby did the MD/PhD route so we didn't have to pay for med school (he actually got a small stipend every month and his healthcare was covered). I worked as a secretary full time for 9+ years to support us and our children (mortgage, cars, food, prescool then Catholic school tuition, dance lessons, etc). I clipped a lot of coupons. We have memberships to the zoo, nature & science museum and arboretum so we can have fun even when we have no extra money.

Oh, and we didn't let a little thing like med school stop us from having children. I'm a "fly by the seat of your pants" kind of gal when it comes to adding to the family.

By October of intern year I quit my job. Oops. Interns don't make as much as secretaries. Neither do residents. Money's still tight. Our kids' school is waiving our tuition for the rest of the school year so we can try to catch up.

[Vishenka69]

Re: The logistics of it all

I worked back in med school, so we only had to borrow about $18K a year, mostly for tuition, books, lab fees, etc. Not easy or fun, but totally doable.

[Shannon]

Re: The logistics of it all

Thanks to all. We live in Detroit and own a house where we have lived for 7 years. We are currently borrowing his parents car because when he was laid off from his last job, they took the company car with him. We are hoping that his parents will give us their car as a donation to the medical school project. seriously hearing all this has helped so much.

[HouseofWool]

Re: The logistics of it all

DH goes to one of the more expensive schools out there and we have taken on enormous amounts of debt. But, he is planning on going into a lucrative specialty (*praying to the Match gods*) and so we were confident that we will be able to get out of the ginormous hole we are in financially. I've worked while DH has been in school and will be staying home once he is a resident, at least until the youngest kiddo is in school. I am sure that I will go back to work eventually, but raising our family is more important to both of us.

[MrsMD]

Re: The logistics of it all

My husband will graduate in June from a 'public' medical school. Tuition is atrocious- over 30K per year. We had some help from his grandparents and I worked full time until last April when we had our son- I have been a SAHM and full-time grad student since.
We will graduate with about 125K- GULP! However, DH will be going into a great specialty AND we decided that worrying about money was stupid. If you are in medical school, you are going to have debt. It just depends on how you want to live. We live in a city with average to above-average COL. We pay 1200 per month in rent for a nice size three bedroom in the burbs but we were not able to buy. We have two kids and things are tight, but totally manageable. Like I said, it will just have to be a decision that you make on how you want to live. To us, in the end, another 50K was worth it to be able to do things like vacations, etc. Also, as a medical student, you will basically have access to as much money as you want (there are caps, but I don't know what they are). Good luck!