<p>I didn’t have much of a job history between college and grad school besides a few internships. I was considering a PhD program initially but didn’t want to study that many years nor did I want to teach. If someone told me what it’d be like to pay down loans, I’m not sure I would have made the same decision to go to graduate school. My friends from college make around 90k+ now without loans and seem to have it easy. Plus, they have accumulated assets beyond their salary. </p>
<p>And I’ve realized I want to be an entrepreneur so I need capital for that. The plan is to start my own company in a few years. I just need to pay off these loans first and save up some money.</p>
<p>Hopefully. The moral of the story is coerce your parents to pay for your education. If you can’t, get a real job, manage your finances, think carefully, and then decide.</p>
To many families, this amounts to raiding parents’ retirement account or diverting needed funding for their retirement account to your education expenses.</p>
<p>I once read somewhere that one of leading reasons a person being poor in his old age is that he could not cut “the financial cord” with his adult son/daughter. Sad. isn’t it?!</p>
<p>Poor parents! They can never retire. Amen!</p>
<p>(BTW, I enjoy reading the exchanges of posts between you and curm.)</p>
<p>OK, full disclosure, I am a med student and am pretty sure I chose medicine for the “right reasons.” And for me to be happy about med school right now is kind of ironic because academically it sucks to be me this time of year. </p>
<p>One thing that really bugs me is when people* tell me that it’s a bad idea to go into medicine because debt is so expensive. Or that I should go into plastics or derm or rads so I can make the most money and work the least hours. But the one thing that grinds my gears more than ANYTHING is when people tell me I don’t know what I’m getting myself into. Why? Because to some degree, they’re right. I don’t know for sure what I’m getting myself into, but holy cow how absolutely positively sure of something does a 24 year old need to be? Isn’t it good enough that I know, beyond any reasonable doubt, that medicine is professionally and personally interesting and rewarding to me, and that I believe I would enjoy a fulfilling life on multiple levels if I were a doctor? Maybe I don’t know for sure what I’m getting myself into, but I can tell you for sure that I did carefully make this decision and I am proud to be working toward a long time goal. I know it’s a risk to go into medicine. I know it probably doesn’t make a lot of financial sense. But there are sacrifices that must be made all the time for things that are worth having, and I recognize that one of those sacrifices is going to come from repaying loans. And perhaps this is shocking–but I’m OK with it. </p>
<p>I am probably too optimistic and naive and bright-eyed and whatever. But the thing is…I REALLY want to practice medicine. I am so excited to begin my clinical years soon. I have so many wonderful mentors in this field. I think patient care is personally fulfilling and academically challenging and incredibly interesting. Learning about the process and policies of health care–in a system that is clearly broken and will require innovative fixes from my generation and beyond–is always exciting. I get goose bumps thinking about the possibilities for my professional future in more or less whatever specialty I desire. I believe I’ve worked hard to get here and I have no intention of changing my habits in the future. </p>
<p>Maybe I’m crazy, but I don’t think educational debt is the end of the world. And honestly, I can’t imagine something better to invest in than myself and my future. I don’t want to drive a Lambi or have vacation homes in Tuscany and Aspen or go golfing on Thursday mornings or dress my kids exclusively in designer clothes. I want to have a husband and a few kids. I want to drive a mom-mobile and live in a house in the suburbs and send my kids to nice schools. I want birthdays and holidays to be magical and I don’t want my family to constantly worry about finances. I imagine I can accomplish these things on a 2015 doctor’s salary, and if not, I’m pretty sure my hubby will have a career too so between the two of us, ends should meet.</p>
<p>I hope I’m not too crazy :)</p>
<p>*people = well-meaning adults, often friends of parents; individuals jaded by politics; random strangers; bitter former premeds</p>
<p>Thanks for your post Kristin! I’m another parent who mostly lurks on this board for info. My guy has been wanting to be a doctor since 3rd grade and has rarely wavered (only enough to consider research instead). He’s found a manageable (financially) undergrad and is doing really well there so far. I hate to think he should change his desires simply due to the money aspect of it all even though we have no idea how we’d pay for med school at this point. I honestly don’t think he should. He needs to go where his heart leads him IMO and we’ll figure out realities as we go along.</p>
<p>I’m not a believer in those green boxes, but I made an exception for your post - even logged on just to do it and am writing this as an afterthought.</p>
<p>Thanks again for voicing (writing?) your thoughts!</p>
<p>Cost is a huge consideration, especially if you have talked to several MDs who after re-paying all the debt, decided to send their own kids to the cheapest availble option for them, and it might be free if physician is connected / have some position with the Medical school. These people who are the most familiar with the feild, DO NOT CARE A BIT ABOUT PRESTIGE / RANK. I have several examples as my D. went to the most expansive private prep. HS in our area (wider than just our city) where huge majority of kids had MDs or lawyers as parents. Several of these kids with MD parents went to local low ranked college for free (Merit awards), lived at home with their parents and continued at local non-ranked Med. School (most thru StarMed where they got accepted without MCAT in sophomore year at college). These were not your average students, they tend to graduate Summa Cum Laude even if they go to private UG (still on very high Merits). Their parents just know that burden of loans is way too much, it most likely does not affect the individual, but rather his/her children, I am talking about kids of future docs, their opportunities. I told my D., I am paying and I expect her to pay for her kids. I cannot control it, but at least I can make this easier. This is my prospective on why it is very wise to avoid loans. Sometime it is not possible though. But as most pre-meds have been top caliber HS students, in most cases very cheap or free UG education is an option.<br>
There are families with unlimited resources. But they are not part of this discussion about loans, people with unlimited resources do not have educational loans.</p>
<p>Maybe you went for the right reasons. I’m saying with student loans your money isn’t going to go that far in many areas of the country. Granted I live in a high COL area (houses here generally start close to 1 million), but with a salary of 200k, good luck sending multiple kids to nice schools, being able to afford a mortgage, etc. on top of paying down loans. It’s just not possible unless you want to be in debt until you retire. And yes, my fiance has a career too but we wouldn’t be able to afford a down payment in this area or any other region we would want to live in without his parents help if we ever decide to get a house. Houses that would have cost only 200k 20 years ago now cost 1 million. The American dream is more and more unobtainable for our generation. On top of declining salaries after adjusting for inflation, the reality of it is that student loan debt is crushing, especially if you want to have multiple children. I pay 300 a month for healthcare/dental/vision for one person. For a family that rises to 1500+ per month. There are a lot of costs associated with living that will continue to skyrocket. God knows what will happen when the fiscal cliff happens. Finances are the main reason for conflict among couples. If you understand this and enjoy the work, then it’s not an issue. But I don’t think enough young people comprehend the sacrifices they will have to make to pay down six figure debt at 8% interest.</p>
<p>I once read an article in which the author argues that the increase of the house value at places where there are jobs is essentially to force the younger generation to pay to the older generation who have already owned the house in a desirable area, or to transfer the earnings from the young generation to the old generation. In a sense, the crash of the housing market gives those who have not owned the house yet some badly needed break, but the price of the house may keep increasing in the areas where there are plenty of jobs again.</p>
<p>I am not complaining. But I do not think we can do anything about it. Poor young generation!</p>