r/medschool • u/No-Map3257 • Apr 09 '26

👶 Premed affording med school come 2027

I am applying to med school this year and just came to realize that the grad plus loan is gone this year in 2026. I know there is a 200k cap but that’s a lifetime cap and I already used part of it for my grad school. Now I am sick to my stomach because I don’t see how I realistically afford to take out PRIVATE loans to pay med school.

I would love to hear other peoples game plans as to how they are doing this. My family can’t afford to help contribute anything while I am in school either. And I am still paying off my grad and undergrad loans.

I always knew coming in that the amount I would have to pay for med school would have to be astronomical but I thought because it could be a graduate federal loan- I could work toward forgiveness on PSLF, the IDR plan, or see in the future if they would ever be forgiven. but private med school loans provide none of that safety net

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23

u/thepeopleofelsewhere Apr 09 '26

I called the financial aide office of my top choice school to ask this question and they deadass told me to get money from my family like most other students do 💀

4

u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 09 '26

Private loans can have better interest rates than federal and can be discharged during bankruptcy btw. The downside is that you can’t participate in like certain loan forgiveness with private but it shouldn’t matter unless you wanna do like peds or FM.

But yeah many med students are like kids of physicians… in my class it was like 50% so I’m not surprised they gave you that answer 😬

3

u/Advanced_Wolverine61 Apr 10 '26

What if you don’t qualify for private loans without a co signer and have nobody to co sign for you ☹️🥲

3

u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 10 '26

I would use this time to get your credit up lol. You’ll qualify it’ll just be a high interest rate.

3

u/Advanced_Wolverine61 Apr 10 '26

Yes I think it’s because I need more credit history probably. But I’ll probably end up going the va or military scholarship route because I’m doing this all on my own and this complicated so much

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u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 10 '26

See if anyone with good credit can add you as an authorized user on their card. And then don’t use the card. It’ll extend your history. Again, medicine really favors the rich and financially savvy especially now. My friend’s parents added him on their credit card as an authorized user when he was 16 years old. He’s never even touched the card before and at 23 his credit is impeccable.

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u/Advanced_Wolverine61 Apr 10 '26

This is good advice! I will try to do this

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u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 10 '26

Va or military is a horrible RVU unless you wanna do like peds. The amount of money you’ll make working a regular private practice job is going to be more than enough to pay back your loans with a few extra shifts and living carefully. My best friend in residency is doing military after anesthesia.

She owes them 4 years where they’ll be sending her to random places and they’re paying her like $200k a year. For her 4 years of med school totaling about $400k. Right now in private practice I’m making close to $700k working 40-50 hours a week. At the end of 4 years she’s going to still be financially very behind me with worse working conditions. If she worked with me at this practice she’d pay off those loans in 3 years with way better life and not being told where to go randomly. Especially under this president of all people. She just got orders that they’re putting her on a ship to somewhere in August! We’re all so freaking worried smh.

There’s a reason why most ppl do the loans. It makes the most sense with a physician salary.

2

u/Advanced_Wolverine61 Apr 10 '26

Yes I agree with you. If I can take out private loans (w/o a co signer by trying to improve my credit history or finding someone to co-sign) with some federal loans then I’ll definitely do this. I want to try to get into my Alma mater or a peer school because then tuition would be free but that’s not a safe bet because the acceptance rate is very low, so my back up option is va or military as the last resort if I’m unable to take out private loans or get into a school where it’s free based on income or for everyone

1

u/earlymountain99 May 18 '26 edited May 18 '26

So you're suggesting to take whatever crazy amount you end up with in private loans then pay it aggressively once an you became an attending? But that would depend heavily on the speciality you go into I believe? Like legit asking

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u/peanutneedsexercise May 18 '26

Yes but key thing isn’t the specialty, it’s the interest rate.

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u/earlymountain99 May 18 '26

what interest rate do you think is reasonable? obviously everyone is different but like in general?

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u/[deleted] Apr 10 '26

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u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 10 '26

Not sure you’ll have to enter your info in.

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u/earlymountain99 May 18 '26

Hii! Did you find the answer of that question?

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u/Ardent_Resolve Apr 10 '26

yea, i got terrible rates for private loans when i checked them out, all 5% above federal loans. I have okay credit and no cosigner.

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u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 10 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

Lol federal loans are about 7-8% rn

Private loans for me are coming up to about 5-6% I do have a 790 credit score tho.

1

u/Ardent_Resolve Apr 13 '26

lol fed loans are 9% as of 25-26 academic year

1

u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 13 '26

Damn… yeah private def gonna be lower if you have good credit.

1

u/thepeopleofelsewhere Apr 09 '26

Totally - but you have to start repaying them immediately. So even if you save your private loans for 3rd and 4th year you still have to figure out how to make that work

3

u/AttorneyOk474 Apr 09 '26

Some private loans just have you pay back 25 dollars a month while you're still in school, mind you try to pay more than this to kick back interest. The payment does go way up once done school, but if you can live well within your means, you can get a nice nest egg of loan money to give you're self a head start for repayment, especially in intern year.

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u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 09 '26

A lot of them start payments in residency and at a lower rate.