Medical Student Debt: The 2017 Numbers!

Medical Student Debt: The 2017 Numbers!

By: LifeofaMedStudent

 

In October, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) released their updated numbers on medical student debt and tuition costs for 2017. The numbers weren’t too surprising, but a few important points are important to know for current and future medical students. Here is a look at their “Debt, Costs, and Loan Repayment Fact Card!

 

medical student debt

 

What the numbers mean:

First, average total is now over $190,000 at graduation for medical student debt. This is slightly increased from 2016, which had numbers about 1% lower. Private schools continue to come with a premium, with the average debt nearly $25,000 higher at the end.

 

 

Interestingly, the percentage of students with any debt is down to 75% from 76% in 2016. Meanwhile, the percentage with large debts (>$300,000) is up 1% from 13% to 14%. Appears a dichotomy is growing between those that do not have to take any debt, vs. those that have to take ever-growing amount to make it through. Not surprisingly then, the number of students hoping to use a forgiveness or repayment program is put to 46% from 44%.

Lastly, tuition continues to go up as seen on the last block of this report page. Luckily, the gains were modest this year, with only a 1% increase in total 4-year cost for a public school, and a 3% increase in cost for a private school. The overall numbers are still shocking and the fact that it costs so much ($240,000 public, $320,000 private) to educate a single physician is certainly overwhelming.

 

Loan Repayment:

AAMC Debt Fact card

 

The key takeaway from this card is that based on 2017 average first-year resident income, the PAYE/REPAYE programs will lead to an estimated monthly payment of $300. This is a good ballpark number to keep in mind when planning your resident budget. My own experience was that my payment ranged from $0 (PGY1) to $425 (PGY4), the higher amount due to extra income from moonlighting starting PGY3 year.

 

The bottom line:

While it is good that the total number of medical students with debt is very slightly down this year, I think the most concerning aspect is that the number with very high loans (>$300,000) is up. This also seems to be backed up by conversations I’ve seen/had both online and in person, where it’s common to hear of these high debt numbers. Of my classmates, the record I know of was a doctor/lawyer couple with over $600,000 of debt at the end of medical/law school. I personally made it through at about the average amount of debt ($190k), but after 4 years of minimal PAYE payments, this has ballooned to $230,000 with added interest. If I could do it all again, I’d definitely be more mindful of the amount of loans I took out as a medical student.

 


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5 Comments

  1. More than 1 in 5 private med school grads have debt exceeding $300,000. That is frightening. A couple that met in med school could have debts over $600,000. How soon will we see couples come out with a million dollars in debt?!? I’ve heard reports of couples who have come awfully close.

    Best,
    -PoF

  2. What drawbacks are there to PSLF? It seems like you’re not repaying much, but a lot/most are pursuing other options????

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