Financial Aid

[houseelf]

we are going to have student loans that highly exceed the cost of our mortgage!

Yes.

Further, when you do make the attending salary, you will not be eligible to take the student interest deduction because of the AMT (or the child care tax credit or deductions for your kids...)

It is my understanding you can give loans back at any time. However, if you are like us, don't let that money get into those hot little hands of yours.

I have any permissible savings come out of the salary before it comes home via a paycheck. Once something is in my account, I'm like "Let's party!" You may be more disciplined, however. I need to do stuff like put savings into a credit union that I refuse to have an ATM card for so I can't get into it without walking into the building. (Yes, deplorable will power, I know.) Don't even take that money to have it around just in case. Step away.

[SoonerTexan]

The first two years we took enought to cover tuition only and chose to sock away $500 a month into a savings and decide how we wanted to pay what and when later because those loans had subsidized interest so it really wasn't hurting us. Gone are the days of subsidized interest (sucks) so its not a great option anymore it was nice to have that nest egg to fall back on in cases of an emergency though.

[spotty_dog]

I am fortunate to have a great job, which makes things like house buying an actual possibility. It's so crazy to me that we are going to have to use a chunk of loan money to pay on student loans.

Can you take the loans out and then give them back if you don't use them? I've been reading so much about residency and applying for it, that does it make sense to put extra into a high yield savings account for costs like that?

None of this makes any sense at all. You are laboring under high-interest private loans already, and talking about taking out MORE loans (at what, 7%?) to put in a high-yield savings account (these days high yield is 1%...in fact, if you find an account or a CD with less than a 5 year term that is offering 1%, tell me where!)

Live like STUDENTS. That means TINY apartment, ramen noodles, the whole nine yards. Pay down the undergrad loans. Minimize the med school loans. Do not shackle your future to mountains of debt just so you can have the dubious social cachet of having ANOTHER loan whose collateral is the roof over your heads!

[weeniegeniewife]

Live like STUDENTS. That means TINY apartment, ramen noodles, the whole nine yards. Pay down the undergrad loans. Minimize the med school loans. Do not shackle your future to mountains of debt just so you can have the dubious social cachet of having ANOTHER loan whose collateral is the roof over your heads!

This is superb advice.

[medpedspouse]

I am fortunate to have a great job, which makes things like house buying an actual possibility.

I do not know your whole financial situation (there may be more to it) but from your post I would rent before I would buy and borrow more (student loans/mortgage). Renting gave me the ability to be able to put any extra in savings and not have borrow each year. If we had bought, any extra could have easily been gone when the AC went out, the oven had to be replaced and garage flooded. Fortunately, our landlords paid for that.

[HouseofWool]

I think the hardest part about being a med spouse is the delayed gratification. Honestly, you have gotten some great advice. Do what every you can to minimize how much you are taking out in loans.

[samssugarmomma]

Can you pay your living expenses AND his undergraduate student loan payments on your current salary? If I were in your shoes, I'd do whatever I could to stretch your income to do that.

It would not be my first choice to use your income just for living expenses and then take out loans to make the payments on his undergraduate loans. If you can't pay his loan payments with just your income, can he put those loans into deferment until after residency? We did Sallie Mae loans which you can deffer until after residency, but I don't know if you can do that with private loans.

If you can't put them into deferment, could he get a work study job? My DH had one and he did not have to put in that much time/effort. The job was only a few hours a week for first and second year.


I know how tempting it is to say "let's get more than we need and save the extra. Then we'll have a nest egg or emergency fund if we need it. If we don't need it, we'll pay it back (YEAH RIGHT!)". I'd get a second job - maybe both of you could until school starts this summer? - before going that route.

We're almost done (2.5 months of fellowship left!!!) and know that we are facing almost $180k in loans, I wish that we'd lived on less while in school. Not that we were living it up or anything.......we just took out more money for living expenses than we probably needed.....did we really need cable? did we really need cell phones? dinners out?

Do whatever you can now to minimize his student loans. You won't regret it when you are (finally) done!!!