Student loans and job searches

[libihero]

Hello all,

I'm an MIV going into neuro. I just finished my interviews, and now I'm starting to think about how I'm going to pay back my student loans and thinking about my future. Although it is early, I am leaning towards academic medicine, but I'm worried that the lower pay may make paying back my loans quickly difficult.

Are any of you doing academics, and do those hospitals do anything to help you with your loans? I was also wondering if there was a go-to website for neuro job searches. When I was doing my pain rotation, the anesthesiologists were using gasworks.com, and I was wondering if there was a similar site for neurologists. I just want a good idea of how much they're getting paid where so I can work out possible post-residency scenarios.

Just wanna finish off by saying I am really excited about next year! It really feels great that I will be working in a field that I love!

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[typhoonegator]

I have never seen any neuro programs that pay off your loans for you. Maybe some very wealthy private practice jobs might, but this ain't ortho or derm.

Do research, and you can apply for the NIH Loan Repayment Program.

There are a lot of recruiter services for Neuro practices. I somehow ended up on all of their mailing lists during residency, and some still somehow try to contact me. Not sure of any home-grown websites.

We academics don't make bank, but I live comfortably and can make my payments without much problem. And I owe > 300K.

 

[libihero]

I have never seen any neuro programs that pay off your loans for you. Maybe some very wealthy private practice jobs might, but this ain't ortho or derm.

Do research, and you can apply for the NIH Loan Repayment Program.

There are a lot of recruiter services for Neuro practices. I somehow ended up on all of their mailing lists during residency, and some still somehow try to contact me. Not sure of any home-grown websites.

We academics don't make bank, but I live comfortably and can make my payments without much problem. And I owe > 300K.

Thanks! Ya, I wasn't expecting any program to pay off all my loans, but I was wondering if there were some that would pay off some, such as 10k or something. But this NIH Loan repayment program looks great.

Of course, I'm not going to be foolish enough to not go into academics purely because of my loans. Mine aren't that much, and I know in the end I'm going to be doing something I love while being MUCH more comfortable than most Americans. I've just been thinking more along the lines that if I do go into academics, what can I do to make my loan repayment easier, such as the loan repayment programs you mentioned, or working where there is higher income, either based off of location or institution.

 

[danielmd06]

I know of zero academic programs that will pay anything for student loans. It goes with the academic territory.

The green journal, the AAN website, and Neurology Today all have job postings. When you become a full-fledged neuro resident, your program will likely pay for a subscription for these and the semi-regular Continuum booklets for you.

Depending on your sub-specialty, you may find specific websites for jobs. For instance, in sleep medicine, you can go the the American Academy of Sleep Medicine web page classifieds section and check around for work.

I advise you to begin paying on your loans as soon as possible. That interest compounds very, very quickly. I escaped medical school with $80k in debt, and had $60k left after 4 years of residency and 1 year of fellowship. I paid off the rest my first year in private practice (last year). My wife is a dental hygienist and so we didn't make bank during residency like some of my friends with pharmacists for wives.

 

[danielmd06]

Oh, one thing I forgot. There are numerous instances in private practice where you can get varying amounts of loan payback. It's not uncommon at all.

Basically, this depends on how geographically desirable the area you want to be in is, how acute the need for neurologic care at this location is, and how wealthy the practice/hospital is.

Peronally? I got exactly zero dollars for loan pay back at my job. C'est la vie.

 

[AlternateSome1]

Once you near the end of residency you should be getting 20+ emails a week with job postings. About half of the private practice positions will post that they participate in loan repayment. I haven't seen anything similar for academic positions.

 

[neurologist]

And I owe > 300K.

Hohly shizz!

 

[DD214]

There is probably no worse time than now to think about joining a neurology practice, private or academic. Neurologists are scrambling to cut expenses with the new severe EMG cuts in effect Jan1 and salaries are going to go A LOT lower. Academics are in no way protected from these cuts as their departments relied on the prior EMG reimbursement levels to offset the relatively low reimbursement from E/M coding.

 

[bustbones26]

Hello all,

I'm an MIV going into neuro. I just finished my interviews, and now I'm starting to think about how I'm going to pay back my student loans and thinking about my future. Although it is early, I am leaning towards academic medicine, but I'm worried that the lower pay may make paying back my loans quickly difficult.

Are any of you doing academics, and do those hospitals do anything to help you with your loans? I was also wondering if there was a go-to website for neuro job searches. When I was doing my pain rotation, the anesthesiologists were using gasworks.com, and I was wondering if there was a similar site for neurologists. I just want a good idea of how much they're getting paid where so I can work out possible post-residency scenarios.

Just wanna finish off by saying I am really excited about next year! It really feels great that I will be working in a field that I love!

In my past job searching experience, I did rarely see a few places offering some sort of educational loan payback assistance, BUT, these were NOT academic institutions, the payback was certainly not 300K, and these were places in dire need!!

 

[ButIwantneuro]

There is probably no worse time than now to think about joining a neurology practice, private or academic. Neurologists are scrambling to cut expenses with the new severe EMG cuts in effect Jan1 and salaries are going to go A LOT lower. Academics are in no way protected from these cuts as their departments relied on the prior EMG reimbursement levels to offset the relatively low reimbursement from E/M coding.

This also has been worrying me, though word on the street is compensation is taking a 25% hit across the board not just neuro....as of current I have 290k undergrad and grad combined. Have to say the 6.8% (or is it 8%?) interest is preposterous...

PSLF is not a certain thing, and even NIH funding for academia still places you well under what private guys would make. I also want to go into academia :

Anyone thinking about taking out a private loan and paying that off with a lower interest?

Damn you brain for being interesting!

 

[DD214]

There are no plans I am aware of for a 25% cut across the board - you may be thinking of the 27% cut threatened by the SGR that was recently averted but comes up every year. Neurology took it in the shorts this year, more so than any other specialty in recent memory. Even the cuts to Radiology were gradually phased in.

 

[cranberries]

Also if you are going into academic medicine and plan to do certain types of research, you may qualify for an NIH loan repayment program. Not a guarantee, though - less than half of new applications are granted awards.

 

[HeartNeuro]

There are no plans I am aware of for a 25% cut across the board - you may be thinking of the 27% cut threatened by the SGR that was recently averted but comes up every year. Neurology took it in the shorts this year, more so than any other specialty in recent memory. Even the cuts to Radiology were gradually phased in.

In all sub specialties of neurology? Can you expand on in a nutshell what happened?

 

[Thama]

In all sub specialties of neurology? Can you expand on in a nutshell what happened?

EMG cuts. Problem is that EMGs provide much of the operating budget for large neuro practices and academic departments since E&M bills so low.