<p>I am a man of modest means. I have had to borrow quite a chunk of change even to be able to afford my undergrad education and I am not looking forward to another $150K+ in med school tuition.</p>
<p>I have heard that there is this thing you can do where a community (I'm not sure if it's city, county or state thing) will sponsor (i.e. fund) your med school education in exchange for a 4 year or so committment to work in said city, state, county. I heard that these programs are especially geared towards recruiting physicians specializing in family practice which are needed in rural areas.
That is perfect for me, since I will likely go the family practice route. To me the trade off of having to live in the middle of nowhere for a few years versus having to pay back $200K in loans on a $80K-ish salary sounds like a pretty good deal to me.</p>
<p>Does anyone know where I can find information about such programs, assuming they actually exist?</p>
<p>They certainly exist, and they are legit. Loan</a> Repayment/Forgiveness and Scholarship Programs is a good place to start. I think there are others not listed there - for example, I think the Indian Health Service also offers loan repayment for service.</p>
<p>Lots of organizations out there offer loan repayment. Many are state programs. When you actually start medical school, talking with your financial aid office will be a good place to start. </p>
<p>Living in the middle of nowhere might not sound so bad, but you do need to consider your situation at the time. From what I've read/heard, if you already have a family it's generally not too bad. Problems tend to arise though for single people, as there are generally few other singles, there's not much to do (unless you like to fish and hunt), and it's easy to have work become your life. It can also be difficult if you are newly married but without kids and your spouse has to give up their profession/friends/family/etc.</p>
<p>Also, from what I've been hearing recently (as chief residents take off for their new jobs), loan repayment is becoming more and more common as a part of contracts and signing bonuses offered by many group practices to lure new docs who are just out of residency. Even if all of it isn't taken care of, using a portion of a signing bonus can really help speed things along.</p>