Can you go to medical school while paying of your college student loans…?

Posted on August 21, 2011

Question by Lamar: Can you go to medical school while paying of your college student loans…?
Can you, or do you have to pay everything off before you apply for admission. Also, is it possible to get a full ride to medical school, or get grants or scholarship(s) to pay for all or at least half of it. For example, I come from a poor family, we get food stamps and govn. checks monthly. So are there any speacial programs for people in my situation, also, a I am not in college yet, I am just asking?

Best answer:

Answer by NotAnyoneYouKnow
Lamar:

Yes, students can (and pretty much always do) attend medical school after having already run up undergraduate educational debt. As long as you remain continuously enrolled in school (moving from your undergrad program directly into med school the following year), your repayment obligation on your student loans does not kick in. This characteristic of student loans is known as an “in-school deferment”.

Keep something very important in mind, as you contemplate an eventual future as a medical school student – the average med school grad graduates with about $ 140,000 in student loan debt. That’s right – $ 140,000. And just in case you think that the average is skewed by a few borrowers who borrow a lot more than everyone else – something like 65% of all med school grads have at least $ 100,000 in debt.

Can you go to med school on scholarship? Probably not. There is such a thing as a medical school scholarship, but scholarships are far more commonplace in undergraduate education. The government’s financial aid grants are all reserved for undergrads. Students who want to attend professional schools and graduate schools are pretty much responsible for their own expenses – which leads to heavy borrowing. Also remember that med school residents are paid – a reasonable salary for an MD resident would be around $ 50,000 a year.

With your family’s financial situation, you should be eligible for a good amount of aid as an undergrad – and now is the time to save, if you hope to attend medical school in the future.

One more thing worth knowing about – the government offers loan forgiveness programs for doctors who agree to work for several years in underserved areas of the country. The salaries are low and the work is quite challenging, but it can lead to forgiveness of a good portion of your educational debt. After spending 10-15 years in “college”, training for a career in medicine, most new doctors are more interested in pursuing more lucrative opportunities – and – those with extreme debt may not be in a position to take on these kinds of low paying jobs.

Good luck to you – I hope that information helps you with your planning.

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