Paying Off Medical School Loans

I paid off my medical school loans within five years of completing medical training. I did this on a salary of an infectious disease specialist, a salary that is lower than that of other physicians, a salary that today remains below the total amount of student loan that I accrued. My loans were all private loans from a bank because I was an international student when I went to medical school in the USA. I required a US cosigner and for that reason I didn’t want to take my time paying them back. I was able to defer and forbear payments during residency but doing so accumulated interest. Refinancing was not an option for me because of the financial crash of 2008.

In many ways, my situation was tougher than for the average American medical school graduate with student loan debt. They have the luxury of federal loans and thus Public Service Loan Forgiveness for working in a health shortage area, and Income-Based Repayment to adjust their payment plan.

So how did I manage to pay off my medical school loans? It was one strategy really. Continue to live like a resident in the first few years of being an attending. For me, that meant finding a non-academic job in a low-cost area to live. My budget was such that 50% of my net income went to loan repayment, 15-20% to savings beyond maxing out my 401K/403b, and less than 15% to rent & utilities, and I still managed to travel internationally a couple of times a year (on a budget, of course).

I didn’t say it was easy.