Advice for new graduate with $190k in student loans

Quote from Jeffbx : Oh crap didn't mean to insult you! Sorry! I've always operated under the assumption that the title of 'Professor' was reserved for PhDs, which is why I put it in quotes when referring to adjunct professors. Not to say that there are no PhD adjuncts, but I'm guessing there are far more non-doctorate level adjuncts.

Nope. Just 2 Masters Degrees no PhD here..... but you CAN and SHOULD call us Professor Lastname... just not Doctor Lastname.

Quote from Jeffbx : Staff, yes - however, adjunct 'professors' don't even have to have a master's degree in many cases. Guess who teaches more classes ;-)

Sample size of 1:

Girl I know works at an annex teaching a class for local branch of state college system. Makes $2100 for the semester. Only has a masters, not even masters plus.

Adjunct 'professors' without a phd will never become tenured or go fulltime, which is what they want.

The growth I see is in Nursing. Lots of local annex schools will hire a nurse with bachelors to teach classes. But that will disappear when the phd's in that career flood the market.

Quote from lerlerler : Nope. Just 2 Masters Degrees no PhD here..... but you CAN and SHOULD call us Professor Lastname... just not Doctor Lastname.

Yup, certainly would if requested. However, if I ever took on an adjunct role I'd still stick with Mr. Bx or just Jeff - despite the masters I wouldn't think of myself as a professor if that's not my full time job.

Quote from Jeffbx : Yup, certainly would if requested. However, if I ever took on an adjunct role I'd still stick with Mr. Bx or just Jeff - despite the masters I wouldn't think of myself as a professor if that's not my full time job.

It's not how YOU think of yourself, it's how the students think of you, I like the respectful distance. I start each semester with:
" In class, please call me Professor Lastname. You can call me Lisa is you are at a bar and you're buying or you are older than me.... but I won't tell my age. "

And adjunct prof or lecturer is often a full time job... usually for the Mommy-track or pre-retirement crew.

Quote from lerlerler : It's not how YOU think of yourself, it's how the students think of you, I like the respectful distance. I start each semester with: " In class, please call me Professor Lastname. You can call me Lisa is you are at a bar and you're buying or you are older than me.... but I won't tell my age. " And adjunct prof or lecturer is often a full time job... usually for the Mommy-track or pre-retirement crew.

"In the United States and Canada the title of professor is granted to all scholars with Doctorate degrees (typically Ph.D.s) who teach in two- and four-year colleges and universities, and is used in the titles Assistant Professor and Associate Professor, which are not considered Professor-level positions elsewhere, as well as for Full Professors."

Mr./Ms./Mrs. it is...although I think if you're teaching at the college level, students tend to naturally call you professor anyways (even if you're not an assistant, associate, or full prof).

Quote : However, I spoke with a financial adviser and they said that's an okay plan, but why not build assets at the same time since ultimately, it's my net worth that matters. They recommended paying the minimum each month, and the extra put into investments. However, I know paying off student loans in a guaranteed 7.9%/6.8%/5% on my money so I'm not sure..

Of course a financial advisor will tell you to buy financial products. Unless you can find risk-free 5/6.8/7.9% after-tax returns, just pay off the debt and forget about investing.

I would say put a little more than the minimum per month, and after having 3-6 month contingency.

If you will be getting a job as a pharmacist, you should be looking at 90-130K a year, or around 10K a month before taxes/retirement. I would say you would be looking at 2-3K a month in just paying off your loans, but you never know what will happen in the future so you shouldn't just pour it all into your loans just to pay off the interest. I'd say you could do more with your money than paying off your loans right now, as I'm expecting inflation to outgrow the interest rate that you are seeing (meaning that your loans will be worth less 20 years from now, making them easier to pay off).

My friend considered paying off his loans as much as he could for 10 years, but I told him whats the point of working so hard to be a pharmacist when he can't enjoy it? Be reasonable, pay off your loans in a moderate amount but don't oversave or spend too much.

Sign up with the NHSC if you can. I just got 30K tax free to put towards my loans. I expect the same amount next year. Become debt free as quick as you can (within reason). I expect inflation to pick up as well but I just can't stand seeing 6 figure liabilities. Maybe the market will tank again (if they don't go ahead with QE3) and it will be a good buying opportunity, but I wouldn't but now.

I like your plan of living frugally and paying off as much as you can for the next few years. Only then should you consider buying a home. I know way too many docs, dentists, pharmacists, attorneys, etc who go crazy spending after graduation, with the mentality that they "deserve it" after slaving away in school.

Remember- it's a lot easier to live frugally right now. You don't want to live lavishly and then have to cut back in the future.

Where did you go to school?
My wife just finished PharmD program She has 80k loan.

As has been stated by many, financial advisers typically get a fee of your assets under management. So yeah, the more assets they manage, the better for them.

If I was in your position I would definitely start tackling the highest interest loans. But yeah, you should look for all ways to raise income AND reduce expensive. It will suck for 5 years but then you'll be able to breathe.

Quote from gnuel : Hi everyone, long term lurker here. Just graduated pharmacy school with about $190,000 in student loans. Approximately, $45k @ 7.9% $100k @ 6.8% $42k @ 5% My assets include: $5k Roth IRA $19k Gold My original plan was to continue living frugal and keep my total expenses at around 20k a year and pour the rest (~60k) into loans a year. However, I spoke with a financial adviser and they said that's an okay plan, but why not build assets at the same time since ultimately, it's my net worth that matters. They recommended paying the minimum each month, and the extra put into investments. However, I know paying off student loans in a guaranteed 7.9%/6.8%/5% on my money so I'm not sure.. Any opinions? Thank you.

they told u that to make money off you

work swing shift at a walgreens. Dual income. loans gone.