One Doctor's debt, a cautionary tale

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.

I feel bad for anyone who has gotten themselves deep into debt, but I don't feel sorry for them. Unless they're in debt due to catastrophic illness or natural disaster, it's an emergency of their own making. My DH became disabled a few years ago. Do you think there was anyone waiting in the wings to pay our bills when he could no longer work? Oh, hell to the no. We had to dig our way out, on SSDI no less.

The trick to paying back student loans is...duh, don't take out anymore loans than you absolutely have to. Apply for every scholarship available, every grant, work study, before you take out a loan. If the choice is take out tremendous debt or go to a cheaper state school, well duh. When you graduate find a job doing SOMETHING and start paying it back. I have known many nurses who went to swanky private colleges for their illustrious BSN, only to graduate with >$100.000 in student loans. On what alternative universe do nurses even make enough money to reasonably pay this off?? Do they not realize that this money has to be paid back on a nurse's salary? These nurses have had to put off getting married, buying houses and having babies just because they can't afford to live on their salary AND pay off their loans.

My DD16 wants to be a Theater/Dance major. :uhoh3: We're just starting the college go-see process, but we've already told her that she has to find the school with the best package. Theater majors are a dime a dozen and they make squat, at least until they've been in teh business awhile. We want to make sure she understands that students loans are not "free money".

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I feel bad for anyone who has gotten themselves deep into debt, but I don't feel sorry for them. Unless they're in debt due to catastrophic illness or natural disaster, it's an emergency of their own making. My DH became disabled a few years ago. Do you think there was anyone waiting in the wings to pay our bills when he could no longer work? Oh, hell to the no. We had to dig our way out, on SSDI no less.

your story reminded me of a story i heard on the news tonight.

a father of 11 had unexpectedly died.

mom did not work outside of the home.

their house was just about ready to be foreclosed.

the community held a fundraiser, and got enough money to pay off their mortgage...

AND, will continue w/fundraisers so all age-appropriate children can go onto higher education.

there are very, very decent people on earth.

i'm sorry for your hardship.

leslie

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

Part of the problem is the instant gratification society we've become.

Whatever happened to working, saving and then going to college? In my parents' circle of friends, few went straight to college full-time, immediately after high school. Most either spent time in the military or worked to save towards college expenses.

Now students expect to go to college without a dime to their names, borrowing 100% of living and education expenses. That's just not a sound decision.

While borrowing for college makes sense if one realistically expects to earn enough to pay back loans within the first 10 years or so of employment, it NEVER makes financial sense to borrow money for living expenses. Your education stays with you. Last month's rent and groceries will be long gone while you are still paying for them decades later.

Stupid is as stupid does.

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If you're smart enough to become a doctor, you're smart enough to know, or to find out that there are consequences for failure to pay as agreed. Throughout my life I have known that student loans came first and could not be just shoved aside. I knew this even before the new bankruptcy laws. I knew this 40 years ago when I obtained my first student loan. I never became a doctor. I don't feel sorry for her at all. Most of her problem is self inflicted.

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Specializes in Flight, ER, Transport, ICU/Critical Care.

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Maybe the magical "thought" process went like this....

OMG! That money that you get to go to college and professional school is not free? Ugh-oh! You mean that that contract I signed when they gave me those checks is REAL! Ugh-oh! And didn't "they" know that I am going to be a doctor, not a CNBC reporter - why would they expect ME to call and work out any arrangements with them - I am an IMPORTANT DOCTOR and this is just aggravating! I have to get a house, car, stuff - I work too hard to have to pay these people - I am me - They should have just given me the money - I am having to take care of sick people - I should not have to pay them!!!!

Nah - I don't feel a bit sorry for her. Stupid girl.

Wow!

:dzed:

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Military members as well, a lot of guys I knew in the Army would go out and buy a house, a boat, an RV then file for bankruptcy. Being a federal employee protected them from having bankruptcy negatively affect their credit record, basically getting a bunch of stuff for free.

Being in the military does NOT protect you from bankruptcy affecting your credit record. It goes on the record of military members the same way it does everyone. This isn't new either.

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I wonder if she was in the medical field before? By reading it I am guessing not!I have a couple of family members who are doctors one went to medical school in 90s and the one went around the same time she went. They are not high in debt or even filed bankruptcy and the reason for that is because they worked a part-time job on Friday ,Saturday,and Sundays when they were in med.school. Now don’t get me wrong yes medical school is hard but that does not mean you cant work a job part time so you don’t have to take a 20,000 to live off of. I don’t know I kind of feel sorry for her and I kind of don’t. And I wonder how long she going to wait to have kids she 41 years old well that’s another subject…

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Being in the military does NOT protect you from bankruptcy affecting your credit record. It goes on the record of military members the same way it does everyone. This isn't new either.

Military members are disciplined for poor management of personal finances. In some instances they lose their security clearance and their career. Depending upon how long they have managed to remain in the service, they can lose a lifelong military retirement check too. Money management skills are taught to young servicemembers in formal classes, something this young doctor missed out on along the way.

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I've always found my student loan agencies to be the easiest to work with when it comes to figuring out payment options. I was more than 12 months overdue on some college loan payments that never got sent over to collections.

I'm guessing she ignored her personal life and got wrapped up in residency.

That's certainly not a universal experience with student loan companies- I have a few friends who have been trying to rehabilitate loans, and they have been struggling with it. One friend was on a rehabilitation plan and was 10 payments in to a 12 payment rehabilitation plan when the loan company decided the repayment amount wasn't enough and told her in order to rehabilitate her loans she needed to pay a monthly amount twice what they had previously worked out with her and that her rehabilitation cycle had to restart. Another friend wasn't able to get a deferral during rehabilitation to have her baby. And another was more successful negotiating with credit card companies than with her student loans. They're all making it work, but not because the student loan companies have been easy to work with.

A problem with the article: "The rest is in default, or in deferment, which means that payments and interest are halted, or in "forbearance," so 60% of loans are in default OR deferment OR forbearance? Deferment and forbearance are terms worked in to the loans, and it seems misleading to clump them with the money in default.

Part of me feels bad for her, part of me thinks her "reading the fine print" excuse is lame and that it sounds like she just tried to avoid it for as long as possible. I admit that I didn't fully comprehend what repayment would be like when I took out loans to go to school, but I sure figured that out right quick when it came time to repay them!

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
your story reminded me of a story i heard on the news tonight.

a father of 11 had unexpectedly died.

mom did not work outside of the home.

their house was just about ready to be foreclosed.

the community held a fundraiser, and got enough money to pay off their mortgage...

AND, will continue w/fundraisers so all age-appropriate children can go onto higher education.

there are very, very decent people on earth.

i'm sorry for your hardship.

leslie

That is something I can stand behind no doubt!!!! That is wonderful the community did that and that seems like a truly deserving situation.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Unfortunately, the article doesn't mention whether she attended a public of private medical school. I wonder if she applied to any government programs, like the ones that forgive your federal (though not private) loans if you practice in a medically underserved area.

It's easy to get over your head with student loans. It's easy to condemn people for getting over their heads. Why does higher education have to be so expensive? Even state schools are expensive now. If I decided to get my BSN at my local state U, it would cost $15,000 a year, without living on campus. For many people, loans are the difference between attending school and not attending school, especially if your employer doesn't offer tuition assistance.

I'd like to see a student loan bailout. The feds have bailed out airlines and banks, so why not Americans with student loans?

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Its a tough situation, and many people don't realize the hole they're putting themselves in. Especially after the bankruptcy reforms of 2005 these private lenders are/were giving out student loan money like it was candy. They know people have no chance to get away from these loans and they make tons more when someone defaults just like you've seen with the Dr in this article...these companies pray you miss a payment or worse go into default. Along with this, they saturate the market with easy money for tuition so anyone in their mother can "afford" to go to college...increase the funds, increase the number of students, increase demand, REALLY increase tuition to compensate for that increased demand. Not everyone was meant to go to college, and many would be far better off had they gone the trade school route. You ever see how much electricians make?!?! I still get upset that in HS all they pushed was college, college, college on kids.The bankruptcy reform of 2005 was floated on the idea that it would curb bankruptcy abuse, but what it really did was make us slaves to the financial lending institutions. The risk for them dissapeared and they took off on a mission to get everyone they could "hooked" on student loans. You want $100,000 to go to school to get a teaching degree and make $35k/year, no problem here ya go. Want to get a degree in basket-weaving, here's $75k, actually why don't you take another $25k for living expenses so you can focus on those baskets, BAM theres another $100k loan and associated fees collected.

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