<p>“I’m inclined to think this is just sanctimonious claptrap, but even assuming you really do read the fine print, what do you take it to mean when you agree to pay a “reasonable amount” for collection fees if you default, which can include “reasonable attorney’s fees”? That’s typical language for a promissory note. Should she have known that it would mean over $50,000? I’m sure that the “personal responsibility” crowd here could somehow deduce that, but what hope do we mere mortals have?”</p>
<p>I take it to mean I will have to pay an amount at the lender’s discretion if I default, which I would not assume is actually “reasonable” because I am not that stupid. It’s not like I think that’s all grand and fair, but it would be my responsibility whether it’s fair or not.</p>
<p>“Do you know that the lenders also sometimes have the ability to declare you in default, and demand the entire amount owed, if you miss a payment by a single day? Or if, in their judgement, there’s been a “significant lessening” of your ability to pay?”</p>
<p>My loan documents specify what constitutes going into default and what will happen if I do, so I am not particularly concerned about that. If they said that or were not explicitly clear, I may not have signed them.</p>
<p>“Should students simply never take out student loans, since the lenders generally have such broad ability to declare a default and accelerate payment?”</p>
<p>That is a pretty gigantically huge jump from “I can’t believe she didn’t read the fine print,” which was my sentiment. Particularly since I stated that I have loans myself.</p>
<p>So… any amount then? $100K? $200K? Did your loan documents have a similar provision? Did you really sign a document that allows them to charge whatever they want to in the event of a default? Do you think that’s the most reasonable reading?</p>
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<p>And what are those conditions, exactly? Is there no provision that allows them to declare you in default if they decide there’s been a “significant lessening” of your ability to pay?</p>
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<p>What would the fine print have told her? You can’t give even a ballpark figure for “reasonable” collection fees and seem to think any amount would be OK. If that’s the case, how can you possibly justify agreeing to those terms?</p>
<p>"I have a friend that is in med school - she was accepted to a very inexpensive state school and a private school that is probably a little better regarded than the state school. She ended up picking the private school. She could have paid four years of tuition at the state school for less than she’s paying for one at the private school. I don’t really get it, but that was her decision to make. "</p>
<p>Our state school is 52k for medical school and the private schools are much more expensive. Unless mommy and daddy pay for medical school which pretty much every medical school expects, students are going to graduate with a lot of debt.</p>
<p>I was recently reading an article geared towards 50-year-olds about retirement and money needed for different lifestyles, etc. One of the questions was “Are your student loans paid off”? Have you ever heard of anyone still paying off students loads at the age of 50? I guess it happens, just have never thought about it. My goodness…Someone could still be paying off their OWN student loans and have a child in college. Wow.</p>
<p>note that those figures for total annual compensation do not include the costs that must be subtracted?? (office cost, malpractice etc) on average that runs 30-50% unless hospital based.</p>
<p>My husband graduated from med school 24 years ago with a significant debt that was well above $30,000. He did not pick one of the more high paying specialties, but eventually (and it does take a while) he made a good income and we have a lifestyle that is comfortable. We lived quite humbly for many years. If you plan to take out large debt, you need a plan that includes a good income and a good bit of sacrifice. We will be done paying off my husband’s last med school loan in 5 years; he will be 57.</p>
<p>I’m always amazed at the amount of debt people are willing to allow themselves. Anyone who takes out $100,000-200,000 in student loans without a realistic plan for repayment isn’t going to get a lot of sympathy from me.</p>
<p>^^my kid starts med school in August. She was told that through forbearance, she wouldn’t have to pay anything during her residency and the plan that they are suggesting is to pay off the loans over a 20 year period after her residency is completed.</p>
<p>The bulk of my husband’s loans were low interest health education loans (HEAL) which we deferred until he completed his residency and fellowship; this HEAL loan is the one we are still paying off. We had other higher interest loans that we started paying back during residency and we have been done with those for a while. We did not have children until after his fellowship was completed. We were both working and that allowed us to work on paying back the higher interest loans.</p>
<p>^It depends on what constitutes “significant problems,” but I think the majority of people who owe half-a-million have articles written about them.</p>
<p>" It depends on what constitutes “significant problems,” but I think the majority of people who owe half-a-million have articles written about them."
:)</p>
<p>I am a little shocked that doctors that went to medical school over 20 years ago…are still paying back their loans.</p>
<p>That doesn’t bode well for today’s medical students.</p>
<p>We have an old age baby so if we borrow through PLUS we will be paying student loans as we retire. Student loans have been a way of life for us since we hit adulthood and probably will be until we die. We paid for our educations since our parents could not and we are paying for our children’s education, partly through loans because we cannot pay it outright. We don’t want to continue the cycle through our children and have been pretty good at keeping the loan levels down for them. We’ll pay them off too if we can. They won’t be stuck at the levels we were in any case.</p>
<p>garland - Ouch, that interest rate hurts. We never paid a rate that high. We did some student loan consolidation a while back and have a variable rate. I don’t think we ever paid over 7%.</p>
<p>dstark - I must confess we find some humor in the fact that we will finish paying for our son’s undergrad education before we finish paying for my husband’s med school education. At this point we are mostly paying principle on the med school loan, so it is not worth it to pay it back early.</p>