thekingofswing Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Hello, I have recently been invited to interview at a PA program. Despite being overjoyed at the prospects of finally becoming a PA student, I can’t help but worry about the cost of the program. The program I have been invited to interview at is Touro California. If i calculated the cost of the program correctly tuition will be over 200k. This seems really high and I honestly have no idea how anyone could pay it off with a PA salary. Does anyone have any input on this? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Tuition, student fees, and books comes to $131,144 for the 33 month program. That's a touch less than four grand a month. The reminder they list are insurance, living expenses, transportation, etc. According to the finaid website, at 6.8% and no fees over ten years, payments would be about $1500/month. Over 30 years, payments would be about $855/month. This does not take into account the programs for assistance (IHS, BOP, military, whatever Cali has out there on the left coast, etc.) that exist. Plan, live frugally, and welcome to the cost of higher education. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekingofswing Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 I am just curious as to how you found the $131,144 figure. According to the info on this link: http://studentservices.tu.edu/financialaid/cost.html the joint MSPAS/MPH degree with all three years seems to total over 236K. Please tell me your numbers are right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Disciple3 Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 I would go with just 2 yearPa personally, check out options with NHSC and military to try and come out debt free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekingofswing Posted January 11, 2016 Author Share Posted January 11, 2016 Oh I misread. I didn't see that you said the remainder are insurance etc.. Hopefully your right then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliz Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 That is not an area with a low cost of living... you will probably still be looking at greater than $200K borrowed. There are no subsidized loans in graduate education, so you will be racking up interest from the day the money is received by your financial aid department. I disagree that this is "the cost of higher education." You can find a school that will give you the same education and opportunities for much less. Find a public school, borrow about $100K less than this plan and be able to live a halfway normal life and enjoy the money you will be making instead of being a slave to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cop to pa Posted January 11, 2016 Share Posted January 11, 2016 Yup, those are the word documents that I got the data from. As I said, I calculated it for tuition, fees and books. The rest are estimates the school puts out. However, I am morbidly curious as to why you applied to a program without considering the cost of it first. Do you want that dual degree, or is there another reason you applied to this program? Loliz, I agree that there are options out there, but grad school is expensive. And going to grad school while living off of loans even more so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thekingofswing Posted January 12, 2016 Author Share Posted January 12, 2016 I chose to apply to this program because my stats were comparable to those of successful applicants. I just want to know if that type of debt is even sustainable to manage as a PA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loliz Posted January 15, 2016 Share Posted January 15, 2016 Loliz, I agree that there are options out there, but grad school is expensive. And going to grad school while living off of loans even more so. Yes, I realize this. I realize it every time I make a $1250 monthly payment to pay off my very frugal time as a PA student. I also realize how I really made a great decision by canceling an interview at a school that would have left me with $200K + in debt. My loan payment isn't fun, but it allows me to live and save without a whole lot of stress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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