Tips for Reducing Your Medical School Debt

For the majority of medical students, and future ones, debt remains one of the primary concerns. More than two-thirds of medical students graduate carrying debt. College is expensive, and most students have to get a loan for medical school if they want to pursue their dreams.

At the same time, many are discouraged and frightened by all of these stats and figures. The average debt of graduating medical students is around $200k, and for many people, this is a challenge they don’t want to face.

Even though the costs are high, there are ways that students can organize themselves to make the whole thing as painless as possible.

Today, we are going to share some tips on how students can repay their loans, manage expenses, and cut down costs.

Find a loan forgiveness loan

There are non-profit options where students work like in the government, military, or other underserved areas to reduce their debt. In some institutions, students will have to work for a specified period for their debts to be paid off completely. On the other hand, some of them can help you lower your debt.

Here are some departments that offer loan forgiveness programs in the US:

• NSHC (National Service Health Corps)
• Department of Health and Human Services 
• NIH (National Institutes of Health) 
• Centers for Disease Control 
• Indian Health Service 
• US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

Create a payment plan and stick to it

The data shows that the students who are always keeping track of their debt and asking questions are the ones who are most successful at getting rid of it. This makes sense because they are always thinking about ways to repay the debt and look for options that are available to them.

Those students who have no plan whatsoever and aren’t considering their options are the ones who struggle the most. What’s even worse is that these kinds of students often don’t start repaying their loans after they graduate.

In these situations, the debt gets increased even further, which makes paying it off even more difficult.

Talk to your advisors and financial counselors to learn what your options are. Whenever you can, try and repay the debt and always keep that in mind. When you establish a plan, don’t make up any excuses and try to execute it.

Reducing upfront costs

There are ways to cut down upfront costs when applying for a medical college. It’s generally a good idea to go through the Medical School Admission Requirements where you have guides, how applying for fewer schools works, and targeting applications.

When students get their first admission, they have the option of ruling out all other schools, and this reduces application expenses, interview expenses, and travel costs. All of these costs might seem small, but when they stack up, they can make a big difference.

Get private refinancing

Private refinancing is a new option that fresh doctors can now utilize. When doctors are on residency, they can get private refinancing to pay off their debt each month.

There are a lot of different options because these programs are private, and it’s important to talk to different institutions to learn about their terms and get quotes.

For example, some programs aren’t available to interns, while others are. This is probably the best option if you want to pay off the debt aggressively. However, to get refinancing, you will have to find a good income job and have a good credit score.

Still, it’s a good deal because you will save thousands on the interest that could potentially pile over your debt.

Make a balance

When in med school, you can’t expect to live like royalty. Be smart about managing your finances and try to cut down costs wherever you can. Your life as a medical student is reserved for studying and developing yourself as a person.

This means being responsible and taking care of all the financial needs you might have.

At the same time, if you want to go out with your partner from time to time or visit your family, you shouldn’t feel bad because of it. It’s all about creating a balance while being modest.

For more information about medical tuition, please visit https://www.sjsm.org/. Additionally, before you apply for a school, consider some colleges that are cheaper but aren’t so popular. This doesn’t mean you won’t get a good education.

This is a guest blog entry.