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I never had any large unexpected costs during my training (e.g., medical bills, big car bills/accidents). I went to a public undergrad school(many people I know have debts in the $350K range when starting residency). I had parents who gave me money when I was short and paid my EZPass bills. This is the thing… I was better off than many residents. Problem is, that after 5 years of residency, I would have owed Ms. So, I guess I could have just paid the minimum on my loans and have had money for heat and electricity. I was left with $800 to spend on food ($100-$300, thank God for a mother and mother-in-law who have phenomenal cooking skills), gas ($160), car payments ($200) because you cannot move between three hospitals on public transportation, insurance payments ($200), cell phones ($80) with no landline, internet ($50), and, well… there is no money left. $1000 went to paying just the interest on my loans and never touching the principal, and $1200 went to paying rent. I cleared about $3000 a month after taxes. I live in northern Jersey, where monthly rent for a 1-bedroom apartment is around $1000-$1400… a 2-bedroom ranges between $1500 and $2400. Most residencies prohibit moonlighting (for reasons beyond my comprehension), so the money you get from your institution is the ONLY money you get. At 70 to 80 hours a week of work, that comes out to $9.50 to $12 an hour. Finally a salary of my own… or so I thought. The average resident’s salary starts between $40K and $50K a year. To put that into perspective: My monthly interest accrual was ~$1020 a month, and good old Aunty Sallie would capitalize the interest into the principal at the end of every year! Then came residency. I lived at home for 2 of the 4 years of med school, was single for 3 of those 4 years, had no kids, and had amazing parents that subsidized my living arrangement with home cooked meals and car insurance payments.ĭespite that, at the end of my med school education, I had acquired $180,000 in loans (close to the national average), almost all of them with an interest rate of 6.8%. I stuck with it - like many of my colleagues - because I could not imagine NOT being a doctor… and honestly, I was naive about the financial hardships I would undergo. I then entered a public medical school, with no way of paying the tuition on my own. I faced the decision of taking out loans or dropping medicine and doing something else. I went to a state undergraduate university and, thankfully, left that school with no debt. What this article is about is the absurd costs of becoming a doctor (both in medical school and residency)! Let me tell you my story to put things in perspective: