Medical Student Debt: The 2018 Numbers!
By: LifeofaMedStudent
In October, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) released their updated numbers on medical student debt and tuition costs for 2018. The numbers weren’t too surprising, but a few points are important to know for current and future medical students. Here is a look at their “Debt, Costs, and Loan Repayment Fact Card!” 
What the numbers mean:
First, the good news is that the number of medical students with any debt has stayed flat over the last few years at 75%. The bad (and worsening) side of this news is that of those with any debt, the average is now up to >$196,000 – a $6,000 increase from 2017!! 
Private schools continue to come with a premium, with the average debt about $20,000 higher at the end. This is only up 2% this year compared to a 4% increase from public schools – slightly narrowing the debt gap between public/private school debt in 2018. The percentage of students with large debts (>$300,000) is up another 2% this year, from 14% to 16%. The dichotomy continues to grow between those that do not have to take any debt, vs. those that have to take ever-increasing amount to make it through. The number of students hoping to use a forgiveness or repayment program, however, stayed flat at 46%. Lastly, tuition continues to go up as seen on the last block of this report page. The increase was a bit worse than last year, with a 3% increase in total 4-year cost for a public school, and a 2% increase in cost for a private school. The overall numbers are simply shocking and the fact that it costs so much ($250,000 public, $330,000 private) to educate a single physician is certainly overwhelming to many. Loan Repayment:
The key takeaway from this card is that based on 2018 average first-year resident income, the PAYE/REPAYE programs will lead to an average monthly payment of $300. The AAMC estimates that average PGY-1 resident salary increased to $55,974 from $54,600 in 2018. These are good ballpark numbers 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 stable, 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. There is now an orthodontist with over $1,000,000 in student loans. I personally made it through at about the average amount of debt ($190k), but after 4 years of PAYE payments, this ballooned to $230,000 with added interest. I finally refinanced these loans to a 5-year plan, which will save me over $65,000 in interest – but at a $5000/month repayment! If I could do it all again, I’d definitely be more mindful of the number of loans I took out as a medical student and be sure to a little more caution not to make as many financial mistakes as a resident! The scary end result of this all may be – that as costs increase and student loan burdens balloon upward, medical school demographics may further favor those from well-off families and drive even more students into higher paying specialties.Have an exciting medical story to tell or some advice to give? A unique background or path into medicine? Want to share your own post or experience with our followers? #LifeofaMedStudent welcomes posts from our readers! Have your VOICE heard to all those in medical training! Contribute to #LifeofaMedStudent!
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I graduated in 97 from medical school (undergraduate at Johns Hopkins was fortunately paid for by my dad’s inheritance money). I graduated with close to $160k of debt. I made every mistake possible in terms of always getting the max loan offered each year and treating it like a salary instead of debt, then deferring (or even worse doing forbearance) to keep kicking the can down the road for paying this debt back. Instead of paying it off in 5 yrs like it is recommended, it ended up taking me 17 years from graduation and almost 22 years from the day I signed the first loan. Probably paid $600k or so total for my education and I consider it one of my big financial mistakes (I made a lot of them which I actually started my blog off of with a multiparty series chronicling each one).
I think a lot of us bloggers on financial topics – do so – because of the realization that our mistakes were so costly and yet so avoidable. Mine was purchasing a universal life product with a “cool whatever you think is best” level of knowledge. And I realized no one would care more about my $$$ … than… ME.
In medical school I made most of the common mistakes – taking the max regardless of needs, vacations and tvs and very very nearly a BMW all on loans. 🤦🏼♂️
My wife and I graduated with over 400k in debt. She refinanced and I am going for PSLF. We made the same generic mistakes everyone does. Live on loans like they are monopoly money and having no idea what it really means to have all that debt.
Do you think NYU’s decision to make med school free will effect tuition at large? NYU is bound to have one of the best applicant pools in the country next year with free tuition. What other hugely endowed institutions will follow and what will the rest do?