Great Financial Aid Repayment Calculator.

[PrincessFiona]

Find out what your payments will be, how much interest Uncle Sam will get over the term of your loan, and the income that you will need to comfortably pay off your student loans!

http://www.finaid.org/calculators/scrip ... yments.cgi

Thank you! That was helpful and depressing all at the same time!
I am curious what the average couple on here is paying loans back at per month. We're trying to figure out how much house we can afford but it's hard when you don't know what the monthly loan payment is going to be.
Thanks!

You'll defer them through residency, so you have awhile to budget that in (at least that's what most of us did).

We pay about $1000/month on dh's loans.

Thanks for the info. Thats kinda what I thought. I just wasnt sure if you could always defer them through residency. That is helpful.

[HouseofWool]

Re:

You'll defer them through residency, so you have awhile to budget that in (at least that's what most of us did).

Will the new changes still allow us to defer or will we have to start paying back a portion of the loans. When I looked into this it was about 15% of gross income...

Re: Great Financial Aid Repayment Calculator.

Sorry - I'm not up on the new changes b/c we're out of training and in repayment. I know madeintaiwan and several others have spent copious amounts of time on this. I also know the rules differ depending on what kind of loan you have.

[Vishenka69]

Re: Great Financial Aid Repayment Calculator.

We couldn't defer but chose a plan that allowed us to pay % only for first 2 years and then a bit more for the next year, so that real payments didn't kick in until year 4. That was for subsidized loans, for unsubsidized we deferred until the end. Our current monthly payment is about $800.

loans

I hate student loans. The thought of them makes me want to cry. Just FYI, I have $100K in private student loans and I pay about $1000 a month.

Its my understanding that you can no longer defer during residency. This worries me because my husband also has $100K in student loans BEFORE med school and they will no longer be in deferment when he's in residency.

[ladymoreta]

Its my understanding that you can no longer defer during residency. This worries me because my husband also has $100K in student loans BEFORE med school and they will no longer be in deferment when he's in residency.

That's a common misconception. You can still defer loans during residency, because it is based on the resident's salary only. You can no longer do forbearance, so you will be accumulating interest. But you definitely don't have to pay the loans yet, and TBH unless you are morally opposed to sitting on the debt, or you just have the money sitting around, it is a huge stress relief to just defer them and deal with the final amount when he's done. Why add more financial stress to the misery that is called residency?

[madeintaiwan]

That's a common misconception. You can still defer loans during residency, because it is based on the resident's salary only. You can no longer do forbearance, so you will be accumulating interest. But you definitely don't have to pay the loans yet, and TBH unless you are morally opposed to sitting on the debt, or you just have the money sitting around, it is a huge stress relief to just defer them and deal with the final amount when he's done. Why add more financial stress to the misery that is called residency?

This is incorrect. You can ABSOLUTELY forbear during the ENTIRE duration of residency. Interest WILL accrue and WILL capitalize at the end of your granted forbearance. Economic Hardship Deferment is now limited and granted based on salary (they have some wacky % over the poverty line ratio). Interest DOES NOT accrue during deferment. DH got 2 full years of deferment on his loans and they are now in forbearance and will be for the next 3.5 years. Can't wait to see the interest capitalized on $250K + in loans after 4 years of forbearance. And yeah, we are a family of 5 with that much educational debt (and DH is at one of the lowest paying residency programs in the country) and DID NOT qualify for Economic Hardship Deferment this year thanks to the new regulations. BTW, I spoke to the loan people first hand (I am "authorized" since he is never available to handle these things during business hours) and filled out and faxed all of the paperwork to them and have done so for the past 3 years. DH has federal and private loans.

I think the terms deferment and forebearance can be confusing. It seems like different lenders use them in different ways even. But I will also confirm the short story - that you can postpone payment during residency - DH has a gazzilion federal and private loans and we have not had to pay anything yet. The only difference is that some are all good until his residency finishes in 2011 and other require paperwork and phonecalls on an annual basis, yay!

how many years?

How many years do you all have your student loans set up to repay? DH will have a ton of student loans when he gets out of residency. Is it normal to put them on a 30 year repayment? I think we're going to try and put it on 30 years and then pay extra whenever possible.

Lacy

[GreyhoundsRUs]

I think it ends up being like a mortgage - as far as years go...although we haven't done it yet

How many years do you all have your student loans set up to repay? DH will have a ton of student loans when he gets out of residency. Is it normal to put them on a 30 year repayment? I think we're going to try and put it on 30 years and then pay extra whenever possible.

Lacy

I think 30 years is a normal option. There are also shorter options (10 and 20?)and graduated payments, I think. DH's student loans are a low priority for us to pay off because the interest rate is so low. I think he locked in around 3.25%. I don't think that rates this low are available anymore but I don't recall the details on what changed.

[Vishenka69]

We were also able to lock in our student loans at around 3.5% and they are set on 30 year repayment plan. DH also had a small private loan from his med school at a higher rate and we paid that off after a year of being out.

Talk to your lenders about gradual repayment. If you can afford to repay anything in residency, they may allow for a reduced payment during those years and then an increased one after he finishes.