<p>Something I would really encourage you to do is talk finances with your parents, or research finances on your own if they’re not willing or very knowledgeable about the topic. It’s the one thing I wish I had paid more attention to when looking at undergrad; partially because dad was right and it ended up being the deciding factor (grumble grumble), but mostly because it is very important to be financially savvy both now and in the future. Before getting to college, I think you should have a very good understanding of the cost of attendance (which includes cost of living) and how your education will be funded (from you, your parents, scholarships, grants, loans, etc). It is quite wise (and certainly not foolish) to choose a school that makes the most financial sense for you, because in the end–it’s you, not your school, that’s important. </p>
<p>If you weren’t set on med school, I would still recommend having a good understanding of the financial aspects of college, but maybe not so much. After all, many people accumulate debt while in college, and student loans are an example of “good debt” (another example would be a mortgage that you can afford; “bad debt” would be things like credit cards and payday loans etc), so paying down student loans is far from the end of the world.</p>
<p>However, you’re interested in going to med school, which is a huge financial obligation. Very few medical schools offer scholarships, so going in with the assumption that you will be one of very few people who gets a significant med school scholarship is unwise. You’re looking at somewhere on the order of $100,000-$200,000 in debt for med school, which takes most doctors around 20 years to pay off (many can pay down their loans by 40s or 50s) if they’re not part of debt forgiveness programs (again, uncommon). This is quite a sum!!</p>
<p>Where am I going with all of this? Unless you are quite wealthy, you will probably have to take finances into account for college and med school. Choosing a full-pay, private option is obviously more expensive than accepting a scholarship at a different school or choosing a less expensive state school. Is this something you can legitimately afford? I encourage you to talk it over with your parents to find out. If you can leave undergrad with little to no debt, either by choosing a less expensive school or by choosing a school where you got a great scholarship, you will be doing yourself and your future family a huge favor because you won’t be spending most of your life repaying loans!</p>
I think your dad was rght, and more level-headed than me. I did say to DS that if the money runs out, he would have to transfer back to the public school to finish it up. I think he had no idea he would go into this career path back then.</p>
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Quoted for the wisdom and important point for perspective premeds and their families here.</p>
<p>I hope DS’s debt would not exceed the upper-end of this range ($100,000-$200,000.) Sometimes I wonder what career path he would pursue if he did not go to his UG. If he still pursues the same path even if he stayed at the local state college, we could probably help reduce his debt by least $80,000 or so. His first two years there cost us a lot. (Ironically, his MS1 costs a lot less than MS2 even though we are not much richer for the base year of his second year. Even after the factor of 12 months in MS2 vs 9 months in MS1 has been taken into consideration, it is still a financial shock to us. I guess we are not poor enough in the eyes of the school.)</p>
<p>$100,000-$200,000 in debt is on a lower range. Considering the total cost of one year to be somewhere close to $75K (including living expanses), if you do not have any parental support, $300k is a very real number, and I actually know people with that amount. However, if you are at public, than it is somewhat less, in our state, the difference would be about $30k (total). I heard that other states have cheaper public state schools, then you probably would have about $200k. But being 100% on your own, there is no way to have only $100k in debt at the end, this sounds way too low. Going to UG for free or close is a definite plus. If this UG happen to fit you perfectly, you can call it a dream school, and it does not have to be Ivy / Elite or even highly ranked for that matter. However, if one has a dream about going to Harvard, I say, why not? My own D. was told by many why she would not apply there, she had no desire to do so and was very firm about it. So, pursue your own dreams and do not listen too much to others, including us here. Your own dreams will determine your life, others’ dreams will determine theirs.</p>
<p>My parents pay for rent, utils, and cable (~$6,000/yr), I have a small renewable scholarship (~$3,000/yr), and after 4 years my projected debt will be about $130k. </p>
<p>Guess there are some pretty substantial financial benefits to a state school in an inexpensive town in the midwest!</p>
<p>$300k is SHOCKINGLY high to me. And to think, I thought $130k was a lot! Goodness some of these schools are expensive.</p>
<p>“Guess there are some pretty substantial financial benefits to a state school in an inexpensive town in the midwest!”
-Not in our state. As mentioned above, the diff. between IS public and private is about $30k in TOTAL figure. My D. was ready to choose a cheaper school (which she still liked), but I urged her not too as in our state, state schools had the same tuition in 3/4 years as privates. And after all $30k is a price on one car and we can live without new car for a bit. Again, assess your own situation, other states have a different price tag for their public Med. Schools, so the difference could be substantial as Kristin indicated.</p>
<p>(And even better, if D1 gets home from a long day of classes and clinics and finds her cupboard is bare, she can drive over to mom’s house to raid her pantry and get a hot, homecooked meal to boot! )</p>
<p>D1 will graduate with only about $60-70K in loans. This allows her tremendous freedom both in choosing a specialty and where she’ll practice after she finishes her training.</p>