higher debt for medical school students?

<p>In case you have not noticed this: Subsidized Stafford loans for graduate/professional schools will soon be eliminated:</p>

<p>Daily</a> Kos: Subsidized Stafford loans for grad students ended in debt-ceiling deal</p>

<p>"The Budget Control Act of 2011 would end giving interest subsidized loans to graduate or professional students excluding those students enrolled in teaching credential or certification programs required by the state, while unsubsidized loans are still available."</p>

<p>If this is the case, can a student (more realistically speaking, the parents) pay back the interests while still being a student? Assuming that a student borrows, say, 30K a year, how much will the interests payment likely be each year?</p>

<p>Guess I better start saving now…</p>

<p>^Can you save clse to half mln?</p>

<p>If you want it cheap, go to UG on full tuition/full ride Merit award and negotiate with parents about paying for Med. School instead of UG. This is much more doable than trying to save to pay for Med. School.</p>

<p>D1 came home from orientation 5 weeks ago and told me that the FA advisor told them this would be the last year that med students would be eligible for subsidized loans. </p>

<p>The elimination of subsidized loans for grad & professional students has been under serious consideration for the last 3 years. He wasn’t surprised that it finally happened.</p>

<p>(Supposedly the ‘saving’ from eliminating sub loans for grad & prof students is going be used to fund Pell grants for needy undergrads. Pell grants have never been fully funded by Congress and every year it’s a scramble to come up enough funds to provide the grants to everyone who qualifies.)</p>

<p>As for interest payback while in school, it ought to be possible–at least theoretically, but you’ll need to talk with your child’s lender for details.</p>

<p>The current interest rate for unsub Staffords is 6.8%. For 2012-13, the rate is supposed to stay the same. No guarantees past 2012-13.</p>

<p>$30,000 @ 6.8% is about $2100/year in interest. Understand, however, as the amount of the loan increases (it will be $60,000 total second year, $90,000 third year etc) the amount of interest payment will go up correspondingly.</p>