And addingâŠyour daughter will be able to take out grad plus loans for the medical school portion of her training. But for the undergrad portion at UMKC, you will either need to co-sign or take the loans yourselves.
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And itâs not just the loans themselves, thereâs interest in the loans which accrues from the day theyâre disbursed. Undergrad loans may be partially subsidized, but once the professional part of the program starts in her 3rd yearâ those loans are unsubsidized and have a fairly high interest rate.
Plus a physician doesnât start to earn an attendingâs salary until they finish residency. Pediatrics is an additional 3 years for the loan interest to accrue. So your daughterâs actual debt for UMKC will be higher than the $500K youâre estimating. Itâs a crippling amount of debt for a young physician. Especially considering that pediatrics is the lowest earning medical specialty.
About not getting accepted going the traditional routeâ thatâs always a risk. But I assume your daughter is a very strong and highly motivated student who will be a competitive applicant for med school 4 years from now.
Please be aware that new med schools are opening at the rate of 3-5/year so 4 years from now, med school admissios could well be less competitive than it is now.
Also be aware that BA/MD students drop out of med school at almost twice the rate as traditional students. (That doesnât count those who drop out during the pre-professional portion of their program where the drop out rate ranges between 25-50% of undergrad students depending on the program. Students drop out for many reasons and academics are the least important reason they drop out. Mostly they drop out because they find they donât want to spend the bulk of their young adulthood postponing their life preparing for a medical career or they decide they donât enjoy patient care enough to spend the rest of their life doing it. )
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As others said donât give up full ride for BSMD. She should be able to get into Instate medical school since she already knows what takes to get into competitive programs. she must have done enough medical reared ECs and will be ahead of peers.
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She will need medically related ECs and volunteer work during college. Those things she did in high school (unless continued in college) wonât be used for regular medical school admission.
I totally agree. Giving up a full free ride to undergrad is not the right thing to doâŠand especially with family debt this will require.
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I know HS ones wonât count but itâs easy to build on those or continue some of them thru college. Also, research stays with you whether itâs done in high school or college.
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Research yes. Everything else would need to be continued. But this sounds like a strong student.
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Medical education in US has been made unreachable for most in middle class or lower with the very high price tag and it seems to only keep going up. Most students who go into combined programs with no scholarships are usually being bankrolled by reasonably well off parents or those who are willing to go into debt for their kids future as opposed to asking their kids to take on all the loans. It is unfair to an 18 year old to be making the decision to take on these loans without understanding the full ramifications at that age expecting a future income when they have a perfectly acceptable free choice for undergrad and then figure out whether it is worthwhile going into debt for medicine a few years down the road as they mature.
I see kids graduating from college and making 80-100k in very normal jobs and if they are lucky enough to be picked by some big name companies go all the way to 150+. I am seeing several youngsters in second year college summer making about 20k for the internships (I know people in Texas and people in NJ so it is not just some places - our company hired several hundred and they have not done so in many years). Meanwhile those aspiring to be doctors are spending their summers working for 2-3k stipend in research labs or do other volunteering to ensure they have enough ECs. A lot of money is being left on the table by premeds and budding doctors which kind of makes it a requirement for parents to be able to support their education. When almost free education is available for 4 years out of the 8 needed, not sure why a guaranteed seat trumps that.
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Most of the times decisions are made by risk intolerant parents who see medicine as guaranteed income stream.
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If parents are paying for it, by all means. 
I just remembered one of my nephews is attending Arizona state from Houston and got an internship this summer after year 1! He has some scholarships that make up for OOS tuition and is planning to do engineering.
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And this student has a FULL ride to Arizona. They could bank any money earned in summers for medical school down the road. Or use the time for significant volunteer and shadowing.
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If you are struggling financially, it makes no sense to take on additional debt.
Yes, one can do the Net Present Value (NPV) of completing college 2 years early, but in the current scheme of affairs, it appears your short-term financial position makes it difficult to justify the long-term impact of those 2 years.
Plus, interest rates are really high now - I am seeing 7% plus APRs.
I also suggest doing and showing the financial number of loans to your daughter and share the implications of that debt and the impact on her future family/lifestyle.
While financial decisions are extremely personal, as long as your daughter is open to working hard and taking potential 1-2 gap years, I think it may make sense to take the scholarship money at Arizona.
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Did this student get off the waitlist?
Otherwise, Isnât it too late for a this cycle?
In the 7 to 12 extra years it takes a medical student to complete their MD/DO plus residency plus fellowship, a CS graduate could easily earn over $1 million in gross income in that time period.
The financial case for becoming a doctor is becoming weaker and weaker for most families.
And for certain primary care specialties, I see practically no financial justification for the cost - both explicit and opportunity - to become a doctor. No wonder there is a shortage of primary care doctors.
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Thank you all for help. We understand and she is considering giving up the seat. But we are also hearing that it is a âdisgustingâ decision on another forum since most kids end up taking 400 thousand in loans for medical school the traditional route. If this is true will she end up in more debt if she goes the traditional way
$400k plus if you go to private schools not in state public schools.
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You need to look into the costs in 2 parts - undergrad costs + medical school costs.
UMKC for 6 years will cost you approx $75 x 2 + $95 x 4 = $ 530 K
Arizona undergrad (full ride) = $0
Medical school - typically (non-TX school) cost = $85 to 100*4 = $ 340 - 400 K
Your delta or saving is about $130 - $200 K.
So, I am confused when you say she will need more debt in the traditional path.
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@loolooo - Your DD taking up the traditional route with full scholarship is the best way for her.
UMKCâs out of state tuition is high and your DD could get into University of Arizona med school, where the cost of attendance for medical school is under 300000 as seen in this LINK after her UG. This cost is considerably less as shown by @NoviceDad. During her 4 years at ASU, she has plenty of time for getting medical experience (volunteering, shadowing, research) and also gain a paid employment.
During her undergrad years, especially her junior or senior years, she can look for jobs in the industry, such as pharmaceutical research where she could continue working for another 1-2 years after her undergrad. This will enable her to build a bank balance which can be used towards her Med School Tuition.
With this strategy, she would not be taking any loan during her UG years and even if she ends up taking loans for med school, it will be much lesser amount. Also, with all the experience gained she would be in a position to apply to a competitive residency that pays a higher salary!
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IIRC, residency salaries are somewhat loosely based on the COL in the area where the residency is locatedâŠnot based on the specialty.
But thatâs putting the cart before the horse anyway. This kid would be best served with as small an amount of debt as possible. There are many many doctors out there who are still paying off loans well into their careers.
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Because if she goes to UMKC she will have an additional two years of a doctors salary