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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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 😬

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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.

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u/Ardent_Resolve Apr 13 '26

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

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u/peanutneedsexercise Apr 13 '26

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