Financial panic

Hello, all.

Just found this site and I am already loving it.

I am married to a recent M1 and we have two small children. I stay home. I am already having panic attacks about how much money we're borrowing and we've only started! I know this is a personal question, but if you are willing to share, would you mind telling me how much you borrowed to get your partner through medical training? How long did/will it take to pay it off? Please comfort me!

Thanks!
Toronja

[Meenah]

Welcome, glad you found us. I think there are many answers to that question, but I can just say much more than you ever imagined. Read through the posts here and post often yourself. This medical life is doable but a little overwhelming and scary.

Welcome to the boards!
The medical life style isn't for the faint of heart...some here have no debt and will be sipping the champagne earlier, others here (my family included) will be drinking from the hose for many years to come.
Our current total is somewhere north of $145K. We have not begun to pay it back yet, as with military there are some special circumstances with deferrement/forebearance. Someday, when Sallie Mae comes knocking, we will start paying this back....we are currently on the "forever plan"...they will take $10/day forever and we will leave them our home, cars, children, grandchildren, pets, and favorite DVD's.
eriously, we are on some type of graduated plan, they will take a little more than the current interest for like four years, then it goes up from there until we will have it paid off...right after we have our house paid for!
Don't let it wear you out with worry. There will be a day when it will just be a "normal" monthly bill....be it $500/mth or $2500/mth.

We borrowed roughly 100k for public medical school six years ago. We also had about 90k in educational loans for me. Medical school is far more expensive now so I think public often winds up around 150k (especially if you are borrowing everything, SAHM, etc); private schools I have heard of many people having more than 200k. The thing you must keep in mind is that if you borrow let's say 150k and don't pay on the loan for the entirety of residency it will actually grow - - we have friends who added 20k or 30k to their loans as interest built up during long residencies. There is not much you can do about it as you won't be able to make payments on a residency income-only; just letting you know so you aren't surprised.

You will be able to pay it off. It typically is much easier to pay off if you are in a specialty. If your husband wants to go into general practice or pediatrics, it can still be paid off certainly, but it will probably take somewhat longer.

[Vishenka69]

I would suggest applying for Federal student loans first and then checking if his specific school offers something. The terms and rates on these loans will be much less than any private loan. Federal loans also don't accrue any interest until med school is finished and can be paid off for 30 years without penalty. We have been paing for the past 3 years, so it's totally doable during residency. We're on a plan where the payments are super low for first 2 years, then increase slightly for the next 2 and then become regular for the rest 26 years.

30 years might sound scary but depending on the rate, it might make sense. If the rate of the loan is less than what you can get on a CD or even mortgage/car, then it makes sense to spread the payments and put the extra money into the something else with a higher rate.

Thanks for the encouragement, everyone.

This kinda freaks me out, though:

Medical school is far more expensive now.

We are borrowing $65K this year alone! I am scared that the people saying, "You'll be able to pay it off, just like we did" graduated several years ago, and owe far less than we will. We'll be lucky to make it out under $300K, I think.

*sigh*

[pstone]

Specialties

Looks like it is a specialty for you!

Not to start a new topic here, but more and more I hear of people picking their field based on how much they owe. 300k and family practice sounds like 'food stamps' to me.

[Vanquisher]

Yeah, dh wanted to do surgery, but if he had wanted to do family practice, it would have been very difficult.

Just to ease anyone's mind, we have well over a quarter million in student loan debt alone. When you add the house and CC's we approach the half million mark. Holy crap!

I just breathe and try not to think about it.

Re: Specialties

Looks like it is a specialty for you!

Yep, I sure hope so. But that worries me too ... more years before we can start paying off debt while the interest is compounding, right?

Heidi, I think your strategy (breathing and not thinking about it) is the one I'm going to try for now.

Thanks again, everyone.

[Momo]

Just thought I'd pop in ...
When Dh was interviewing for his private practice jobs, there were many groups that offered loan repayment, as part of the package...surely that isn't just in cardiology?

It is everywhere, even in family practice!

[pstone]

I did not mean to bash family practice, nor would I. Just saying that we ruled out a lot of fields because of the loan issues.

:w

[Vanquisher]

Christine,

I stayed home through med school. We took out private loans. Also, we were included in dh's living expenses, but I have to tell you, it wasn't much allowance - like $50 per person a month for food, $500 a month for housing. We had to write letters and prove that I wasn't working. It was rediculous. All told we got about $18K for living expenses each year. DH also got a few scholarships.

Unfortunately, our in-laws helped us out a bit, and we racked up debt. It is very hard to live with a family of 3-4 on that much money, but we did. I think it depends on where you are going to live (cost of living), if you have family near by, and a lot of other factors. For instance, if you had family nearby, they could watch your little one for a few hours a week, so you could have a part-time gig. I had no such luxury, and day care would have cost me as much or close to what I made working.

I did a few odd jobs here and there, but nothing that provided a steady income. I made phone calls for a local parenting magazine to sell advertising. I did valet parking for society events. I designed web pages.

We only had one car for the first two years of med school which led to insane isolation. DH's parents bought us one in our third year so that I could take Ryan to preschool.

It can be done, but it is so hard.

I do know one family who had two kids in medical school and did it without help from family (as much). They were very, very disiplined and frugal. I don't know how she did it. On the other end of the spectrum, I knew a couple that had 4 kids, 2 in med school. The wife was the med student. She took 5 years to graduate. Her husband was making really good money, and she had like 2 or 3 nannies.

Good luck, hon!

I did not mean to bash family practice...

No worries! I was just sticking up for the low paid non-specialists in the house! FP, Peds, etc...

around 200,000 borrowed, haven't started the pay off, not even thinking about it right now!