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PA Student Yearly Personal Expenses?


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Hey all,

 

Hoping to get some feedback regarding MONEY as a PA student. I was recently accepted into a program and now I have started the process of investigation into everything I need to do before school starts regarding money. My main question is this: how much in loans is a reasonable amount to take out; i.e. what is a reasonable cost for my yearly expenses not including tuition?

 

Obviously this depends on cost of living and how lavishly I'd like to live. I will be studying in Denver, CO, and I'm not a very lavish person. Tuition for the entirety of the program is has not been confirmed yet, but a max estimate of how much the program will cost is $77,000 not including books. Monthly rent I'm thinking of is $950-1200 for a 1 bedroom, 1 bath.

 

Therefore, not sure how much I will need per year for income/loans. I would like to know this so I know how much to take out in loans.

 

Thanks, hoping to hear some feedback from you guys. 

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Your school provides cost of attendance, and yes it is an average. Don't be surprised if it isn't quite enough to live off of. (You might want to get roommates). If you do think you need more based on budgeting, then you have to prove through showing your expenses that you need more than the school will allow. Even with private loans, the school dictates what your COA is and the private loan companies will defer to them. We are a family of 6, I stay at home with my young kids while my husband is in PA school. We live off student loans, but we had to show proof of our need for more money. Lease, bank statements, utility bill, etc. We are frugal as possible. Went into PA school without credit card debt, or car payments. We maxed out what the school was willing to give us for federal loans and then had to get the rest in a private loan, luckily it wasn't too much left over for the private loan to cover living expenses.

 

Good Luck!

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Advice:  They offer $77k.  Fill out your loan forms for that much and then, once you get there you can always return some (w/in like 14 days of disbursement) at no penalty.  Maybe you'll return some, maybe you won't.  But it's easier to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

 

They will likely give you a breakdown (i.e how much of that 77 is allotted for tuition, how much for books, how much for room/board, etc).  That's usually a good starting point.  

 

Other than that - it's highly variable.  Account for rent, bills (electric, water, etc), internet, cell phone, groceries, transportation (gas, car insurance, bus pass whatever), and credit card bill each month.  It's not much different than being a real adult - there's just someone else deciding how much your max budget is.

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As far as the Stafford and Plus loans I am almost certain you will need the maximum amount. I live in a cheaper area (rent 575) and go to similar cost program and took the max amount. I also get 50% tuition via GI Bill and get that refunded as well (extra 6250/ term) . I mostly manage my available cash by shifting money between credit card balance transfer offers. If you have decent credit you should be able to create the equivalent of a private loan for additional expenses at a lower interest rate than with a bank loan. Its important to realize that there are "private" student loans thru cos. like Discover that are still limited by the maximum available you can borrow based on the school estimates. So basically these are like PLUS loans w/ slightly higher rates. So just take the PLUS loans. Getting an actual private loan can be tough if you dont have a lot of equity ie a house. I tried to borrow against by car and motorcycle and was rejected. Rates on these tend to be high too. If you have existing credit cards sometimes using some of the student loan money to pay down balances will trigger their algorithm to offer you a balance transfer/advance offer for 12-18 mos. If you apply for a couple other cards that offer balance transfers and are accepted you are in business and can shift the balances between cards as the introductory offer periods expire. In the end you just pay the 3-5% balance transfer fees and any (usually zero or nominal) interest rate on the introductory period balance. It's not that hard to do over the relatively short period of PA school.

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Thanks, this has been helpful.

 

So I understand the federal unsub loans have a max of $20,500. Is there a limit to the grad PLUS loan money? 

And would you recommend the PLUS loan over other loans?

 

The school determines how much PLUS you get. It is credit based, but most people get approved. There are benefits to PLUS because it is federally back, and if you have issues paying your loan then you can get on income based repayment unlike private. PLUS has a 4% ish loan fee tacked on. So unless you can get a good low interest rate on a private loan to offset the interest and the loan fee, I would stick with the PLUS for maximizing what you need. But again, you have not much help if you run into tough times with a private loan. We maxed out unsub stafford and PLUS. The remainder of what we needed we got through Discover private student health professional loan. 

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Thanks, this has been helpful.

 

So I understand the federal unsub loans have a max of $20,500. Is there a limit to the grad PLUS loan money? 

And would you recommend the PLUS loan over other loans?

 

The only 'limit' on PLUS loans is that it can't exceed what your school determines as your COA (minus of course what you take out in unsub.  Total loans can't exceed COA).

 

I researched private loans and the benefit (from what I found, in my opinion) of the PLUS loans vs a bank loan is a set interest rate and the ability to consolidate/be eligible for a variety of repayment plans (IBR, PAYE, the rest of the alphabet soup, etc).  Granted, I take that with a giant grain of salt because who knows if those programs will be honored from year to year and 10+ years out is a long time to rely on the government's word.

 

As a grad student. those are pretty much your only options.  We don't qualify for Pell grants, etc so you get Unsub Stafford and PLUS loans.  Or you go private.

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Hey CJT_082,

 

I'm currently a second year student at CU so I am familiar with Colorado and cost of living (I've lived in Colorado for 16 years). Like others have said they will give you a set amount each semester and then break it down (tuition, fees, books/supplies, travel expenses, health insurance, Cost of living, etc). I would definitely recommend living with someone, it will just help alleviate some of the stress around money. I want to say the amount most programs offer is about $1500-$1800 a month equivalent (at least from when I researching the programs I had been accepted in). The average rent for Colorado right now for a 1 bd 1 bath is more in the range you stated, but it is also about location. You can probably find a 1 bed 1 bath for like $950, but it may not be the safest area. You'll just have to do your research.

 

If you want any specifics feel free to let me know.

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  • 4 months later...

@Holly_Diana

 

I am a PA-S1 in TN trying to set up several rotations in CO. Do you have any information about the additional insurance requirements needed? I was told that general liability and workers comp are needed but I would love some more info

 

Thanks!

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