Nobody likes talking about the money part, so let's talk about the money part.

Hanna and I went to different types of programs and had pretty different financial experiences, so we compared notes. Tuition is only the headline number. There's also fees, health insurance, equipment, board exam costs, and the fact that you generally can't work while you're in school. That last one is the piece people forget when they're doing the math.

We're not telling you what to do with your money. We're telling you what the real numbers looked like for us, so you can go in with your eyes open and ask better questions when you're comparing programs.

What we talk about:

• What tuition actually covers and what it doesn't
• Fees, equipment, and exam costs nobody warns you about
• Public versus private program costs
• Living expenses when you can't work
• Comparing the total price tag between programs
• Questions to ask a program before you commit

Resources:

PA Program Map: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-platform-map

Free application timeline: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/free-application-timeline

Pre-PA counseling: https://www.thepaplatform.com/services/pre-pa-counseling

CASPA GPA calculator: https://www.thepaplatform.com/pa-school-caspa-gpa-calculator

Today in episode 71, we're getting into some money talk and talking about how to pay for PA school.

Welcome to the Pre PA Club podcast.

If you want to learn how to become a physician assistant, you're in the right place.

I'm your host, Savannah Perry.

Let's get to it.

Hey, guys, thanks for joining me.

I'm Savannah and I'm the host of the Pre PA Club podcast and also the founder of ThePAPlatform.com now today, I'm really excited about this episode because it's something you guys asked for.

You wanted to know more about the financial part of paying for PA school, which is valid and I think very wise if you are planning on going to PA school.

I brought on one of our interview coaches, Hannah, to chat about this with me because she has an interest in this area and we have very different experiences as far as the type of PA schools we went to and the cost and.

And how we paid for those.

So I think you'll get a lot out of this episode and it'll help you plan for the future a little bit better and kind of understand the process of how people pay for these huge price tags that come with PA school.

Now, since we're talking about money, what if your personal statement could get you into PA school a year early?

That would be an extra year of salary.

Your personal statement is what gets you the interview, and the interview is what gets you into PA school.

So if you're needing help with your personal statement, check out myparesource.com they're sponsoring us for this podcast.

And MyPA resource is made up of a team of PAs who edit personal statements.

You can use the code Prepa Club for a discount there, and you can also use the code at the PA platform too.

So we want to help you out.

If you have any questions about it, please, please, please let us know.

Now let's talk about how you're going to pay for PA school.

Okay, so today we're going to talk about something that a lot of you have asked us to talk about.

When I previously sent out an email to find out what you wanted to hear about, and that was finances, money, kind of.

How essentially can you pay for PA school?

And how do other people pay for PA school?

So I have one of our coaches, Hannah, who you might remember from episode 39, who's going to join me to talk about this.

And we had very kind of different experiences, but we're going to talk about what it costs to go to PA school and what some Options are for paying for it, whether that's you paying for it or someone else.

And give you a little bit of insight into that.

Now, from the start, I want you to realize that this is a very extensive topic.

There's a lot that goes into this.

We are not experts, we are not financial advisors.

So we're not going to talk logistics of how to apply for these things or what exactly a certain program covers for that.

You need to go to your registrar's office.

Program websites a lot of times will have this information.

They'll tell you how much a program cost, what's involved, the fees, the tuition, all of that, and how to apply for things.

But essentially we just, we can't really.

Everyone's situation is different.

That's what we decide.

You know, everyone comes from a different background financially.

Everyone has different savings, different plans, going to different types of schools.

So it's a very personalized thing.

But we want you to have the resources you need to figure out the best way for you to pay for PA school.

So Hannah's going to start us off with talking about just what does it cost to go to PA school?

What are the fees involved?

Awesome.

Thanks, Savannah.

And talking about this view.

So in regards to cost of PA school, and just as you just said, this is super extensive.

There's a lot of different aspects to take into consideration with, you know, about 223 programs and varying private versus public programs in state versus out of state.

That in general, right there is going to really, you know, bring down or hike up the cost of your program.

That in comparison to where I went to school, which was a private program, I was at 102,000.

And that was six years ago.

So clearly that's kind of under marking some of the programs out there, hence why it's the median.

But then we also look at the public median cost and that was about 52,000.

So again, stepping back and really looking at, you know, what schools are you applying to and really going onto that website.

And most schools have a wonderful cost breakdown of their tuition.

The cost expected for fees and lab coats, didactic versus clinical years, and really getting a true idea of what the cost basis is going to be for your specific program.

So just to jump in, so you're 102, that was for your total tuition for the whole time you're in PA school, Correct?

Correct.

So that's what these numbers are referring to.

So the 89,000 as a median cost.

That's your entire tuition fee for the two to three years you're in school.

And because schools are different lengths, you're going to have different amounts you owe each semester.

In comparison to Hannah's private program, I went to a public in state program as an in state resident.

My total tuition was around $45,000 for my 27 month program.

So that's a pretty big difference and it definitely makes a difference at the end.

But hey, we're both PAs, so it's fine.

That's another great point that you mentioned in regards to length of program.

My program was a 26 month program.

But yeah, definitely something else to consider is how long are you going to be at this program?

Because that will definitely change the cost.

Yeah.

And I think also just for people who are maybe in the process right now of deciding what school to go to, I think cost should be a factor.

I don't think it should be the only factor because you should choose somewhere where you're going to be happy.

But also think about when you would start school, especially going into application season.

You know, if you're able to start a program in January compared to September, I mean, you're going to potentially graduate earlier.

And especially if it's a shorter program that could essentially give you eight extra months of income, you know, and so you've got to weigh that because it might make it more financially sensible to go with the program that starts sooner if you're just looking at the cost of everything.

Okay, so I thought this was interesting.

Not including personal debt, just from PA school?

21.9% Said they expected 100 to 125,000, 20.8% said 75 to 100,000 and 14.5% said 50 to 75,000.

So that's a pretty good spread and a lot of money.

And I know it sounds like a lot of money.

And just to mention, coming out of school right now, the average salary for a new grad PA is around 75 to 80,000.

There are a lot of factors that go into that, you know, where you live, cost of living and specialty and all of that.

So that's again an average.

But yeah, just to give a little kind of insight into what you're coming out expecting your debt to be and also what you can come out expecting to make as a pair.

So let's talk in state versus out of state.

So I chose in state and the cost was part of it.

You know, that price tag looked a lot better than another program I was considering that was four times as expensive when it came to tuition.

And when I looked at living costs and all of that, you know.

And so one question now, what was your choice in kind of in state versus out of state?

So I knew that I wanted to go out of state.

There was a big push for me to stay in.

So I grew up in Georgia from Atlanta.

There was a big push for me to stay in state, but I've always wanted to go out of state.

And I made that decision applying to graduate school as I picked programs specifically out of state.

And one of my biggest regrets was not taking the finance into a bigger graduation process and not really having a full grasp of how the varying costs of the PA schools.

And I didn't realize that much further into my application process and ultimately didn't end up taking that into consideration with my school choice.

And I'm paying that off now.

Yeah, so.

And I think a lot of people are at this point just so I don't want to say desperate, but they just want to get in so badly that they kind of don't look at that.

And it's okay.

I mean, I think it shouldn't, like I said, be the biggest deciding factor, but it should play a role.

So one question we got in the pre PA Club Facebook group is can you switch from out of state to in state?

So if you apply to a school that has a cheaper option for in state residents, can you technically become a resident?

You know, for Georgia, I think there were a few people who were able to do this.

I think you have to live in Georgia for over a year and have a good amount of documentation in your name.

You have to have a license and bills and all this stuff to show that you are truly a Georgia resident.

Now, if you're only going to be there another year, is it worth it?

I mean, you're probably saving 10 to 15,000, but then you're going to have to move and do all that again, most likely.

So each state is going to have kind of a different, different thing there.

So you, your school didn't have an in state option.

Correct.

So a lot of the states are very.

You have to have lived in that state for one year prior, most states, and again vary that you have to live there for one year prior to starting your program.

Your program.

So with that being said, most of us aren't finding out that we're getting into a program until under that one year mark.

And it's very specific in regards to one year so not, you know, a school year, one full year.

At that point, you know, missed out on that opportunity.

And many schools, once you've come in as an out of state resident, you cannot switch to an in state further along in your.

And schools have become very strict on following this, looking at where you're paying your taxes, look, you know, where you're registered to vote.

So it's not so much, oh, my grandmother or my sister had lived in New York, which is where I went to school for.

I believe she was like at about a year and a half at that point.

I can't just start using her address and saying, I live here too.

A lot more than that.

But it definitely is something that you really have to take the time to look at what your state requirements are and really talking to the school because some of them are willing to help make it work, especially if you do come close to qualifying.

Yeah.

And I think that again, is something to look at.

And just from an application standpoint, if you're applying to schools because, you know, that process is expensive too.

That's a whole other episode.

But I mean, if you are applying to schools, I strongly discourage applying to in state programs if you are not a resident of that state.

State and.

Or if you don't have an extremely competitive application.

You know, some of these schools, they accept 90% in state residents.

So my school, we had 44 people and it was 90% in state residents.

Like we had, I think four or five people who were out of state.

And that wasn't something that was like negotiable.

They had a certain number of spots because they got public funding.

And so you could apply there if you were out of state, but your chances compared to an in state resident were so, so much less.

And you don't really want to waste your time and money applying to a bunch of programs that you are really only competing for a few spots, if that makes sense.

So one thing that I found really interesting that I didn't know existed when I applied to PA school and now that I'm living out on the west coast, who's interested at point Some.

You know, I've been helping, you know, do mock interviews and watching these acceptances start to roll in, which is very exciting, is that a lot of states participate in regional programs.

So although you may be, you know, from California, I know that there's a western regional graduate program that allows you Know, just if you're from California doesn't mean that you can't go to another western school and still get that in state tuition.

So there's a regional one for the southern region and Midwestern and New England that I was able to find and these do apply for graduate school.

So definitely looking into and seeing if you qualify for those in state qualifications.

Yeah, my school kind of did that because we're right on the border of Georgia and South Carolina.

I went to Augusta University.

And so if you were from a few certain counties in South Carolina, you were considered an in state resident for tuition purposes.

So that was awesome for them.

Okay.

And this is something that I thought was worth talking about too.

As far as you know, if you were going to switch to in state, let's say that's an option for you, you're going to try to become an in state resident.

You know, if you are still being filed on your parents taxes, you may not be able to switch.

And you know, my parents claimed me on their taxes until I got married and that was when I was 24, 23, 23.

And so you know, they were helping out with my school and as a parent helping out with my school, they got a little bit of tax benefit from that.

So they wanted me on their taxes to be able to write that off and get that reimbursement or whatever they got.

I don't really understand taxes.

So you know, they would not have probably let me switch or wanted me to unless I wanted to start filing my own taxes and paying for the rest of my school, which I did not.

Definitely communication is key with that one with your parents.

I know my parents and I went back and forth on that for a little bit because they can save.

I think it's up to like $2,500.

Per tax on interest or something.

So it can definitely add up pretty quickly.

And you also don't want to be tax fraud by both trying to file for that.

So definitely have good communication if you're having help from your parents in regards to payment, definitely.

Okay.

So how do most people pay for PA school?

So the number one, you know, starting off right off the bat, you need to apply for fafsa.

So for FAFSA Venture Federal aid for students across the board, it's kind of the best way to start.

And it's broken down into direct subsidized loans and unsubsidized or what we call loans.

They have a great website called FAFSA Forecaster and we'll add that we'll put that link up, but it predicts your expense expected contribution of your fees for graduate school.

So in graduate school, we don't actually qualify for direct subsidized loans.

That's no longer available.

But basically a lot of applicants probably do have loans from undergraduate.

But during undergraduate school and you got, when you got these direct subsidized loans, all that meant that when you got this loan, the government was helping pay for the interest while you were in school.

So that this was not accruing, which is honestly a really big deal and would be really nice to have for graduate school.

But now really for graduate school, you can only apply for direct unsubsidized loans, also known as Stafford loans.

So what that means is that you can take up, you can borrow up to 20, 20,000, 20, 20,500 per year, I believe with.

But as soon as you take out that money, you start to accrue interest on that money and you are responsible for payment once school, you know, once you get out of your program, you get a six month leeway with that, but the interest is accruing the moment that you receive that loan.

So with that, let's talk a little bit in terms of what that money does.

And so when you go through the FAFSA application, which I don't know for you, Savannah, but I felt like it's very straightforward, name, date of birth, you know, just click and press.

You know, very straightforward application.

But once you get approved, which is relatively easy, that money goes directly to your program.

So you don't ever spend money, you don't touch the money, it goes directly into your program and it gets immediately applied to tuition and fees.

If there's money left over from that, it falls into your room and board if you are rooming with a school.

And then after that they reach out to you for permission to put it towards other charges that may come with the program.

If there's still money left over from that point, then you get a check or somehow receive that money back and can use that towards your education costs.

And so, Savannah, I'll let you take it over for a little bit.

Talk about your experience with the FAFSA application and a scholarship.

Yeah, so I applied for fafsa.

I didn't have any debt from undergrad, which was great.

Georgia has something called the HOPE scholarship, where if you qualify, and it's changed a little bit since I got it, but they essentially cover all of your tuition and fees.

So the only thing that I had to pay for, or my parents helped me pay for in undergrad was living expenses, which was amazing.

And that comes with obviously keeping your grades up and all kinds of other qualifications.

But going into grad school, I did have to take out loans.

And so I took out these Stafford loans.

I filled out fafsa, and I was actually the last at the tail end of when you got subsidized loans.

So I had one semester where I got a little portion that was subsidized, which I am thankful for, but the rest of my loans were unsubsidized, and I took out the 20,500 per year.

Now, my tuition for the year was a little bit.

Or my fees were a little bit more than this.

So like I said, I ended up taking out total $45,000 in.

I guess I took $40,100, but my tuition was 45,000.

So my parents did help out with a few.

Few thousand here and there, which I appreciate.

And I was living with them, so that helped save on expenses.

And so these loans did end up getting interest right away.

Now you put the current rate here, which is 6.6.

That is a very high interest rate.

Just FYI, I think mine was around that.

You know, my supervising physician talks about her loans from medical school and her percentage was like 1%.

It's so, so low.

And it has changed so much since then.

Now I'll talk a little bit about my experience with fafsa, because when I applied, I was awarded a scholarship randomly, and I didn't know that I was applying for scholarships, but some of them do.

Pull your information from fafsa.

So I, about a semester in a PA school, got a check in the mail for fifteen hundred dollars and a little letter saying I was part of this Letty Pate Whitehead scholarship.

A few other people in my class got it, but I received those checks, I think three times during school, which was crazy.

And it was just out of nowhere.

I mean, it's.

It's one of those things where you get the check in the mail and you kind of question it.

Is this real?

Is this a scam?

What is this?

And so when I looked it up, it was a real thing.

And it's a special scholarship for women in the Southeast who are pursuing medical degrees.

And so that was awesome.

It was.

That helped out a ton with my fees and just kind of extra, extra expenses here and there.

I mean, you've got to pay for equipment and all kinds of things, but that was.

That was really cool.

So luckily for me, I didn't have to take out any additional loans, but just to clear things up, by the way, the way that most people pay for PA school is loans.

And that's okay.

I mean, I would say there are a few extremely lucky people who maybe their parents can help them out completely or they were able to save a ton of money, but for the most part, everyone's going to have loans.

Would you agree?

Absolutely.

And I think one, you know, kind of the bright light at the end of the tunnel is that we're going into a career where we should be making money to pay back those loans.

And that's incredibly rewarding and exciting because a lot of people do not have necessarily that guarantee when they get out of graduate school.

So I do think that it's, you know, and most people have already made this decision that it is an investment that is worth making, but it definitely, you really have to make sure that you're ready for that jump because it is a lot of money.

And if you're not going to follow through on it, you don't want even that first 20 grand of debt sitting on you if you don't make it through.

Well.

And I mentioned at the beginning, before we started, that when I got my loan, so I was just getting my loan money, it went straight to my tuition and fees.

I never saw a penny of that.

I did not check my interest before or throughout school.

Like, I just didn't want to know.

I didn't want to look.

I knew it was occurring interest, so I was like, I'm not gonna look.

So towards the end of school, I finally looked, and by the time I graduated, that 40, 40,000 ish had turned into 75,000 that I owed.

And that, that was a little shocking to me.

But yeah, it's what it is, what it is.

You know, you just, you knew that.

So it definitely stings.

But the motivation to get that job.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

I went to work right away.

I was like, no vacations here.

Like, put me to work.

You're like, hospital job.

I think you got three months to start.

No, thank you.

Yeah, I need to work now.

See.

So one question was, how do you know what to do?

Like, how do you know how to get these loans?

How do you know how to pay for this stuff?

Is this something the schools help with.

Out to the financial aid office?

They're definitely going to point you in the direction of FAFSA first and to actually apply, but they may also be aware of certain scholarships.

It really depends on how involved the financial aid process you know section of your school is involved in the graduate program.

I felt where I went to school it was not as involved as it was in the undergrad program because we had a massive undergrad program.

But you're really able to find some of that assistance online and they can definitely at least point you in the right direction.

And I think it's a great place to start.

How about you?

How did you feel with that?

I felt like our school was very helpful and I mean the first thing they tell you to do is fill out fafsa.

I mean they kind of tell you that and then they give you a little bit of direction as far as loans after that.

What so in your mind and I don't know what you had to take out, what would, what would be the next step after you've gotten your Stafford loans, they paid for your tuition and fees but now how are you going to pay for living expenses?

The rest of it?

Absolutely.

So and definitely with the cost of my program, the 20 not carry through my full, my full fees.

So that's when I started to look at Grad plus loans and those loans will.

They are at a higher interest rate.

They are at a higher fee.

I believe the interest rate is about, I think it's 7.12.

Don't quote me on that.

I'll have to double check it.

So it is still high, but it's not 12, 13% which you may see with some of your private loans.

And this is going to change year to year.

But with the, with the Grad plus loans they will cover for the rest of your fees for your program minus of course they take a look at what other loans you've already received and subtract that from what they will finally give you.

And so that can be used towards.

So for example, I was living in New York paying for a studio apartment in Manhattan.

Not cheap.

My sister actually shared the studio apartment for a little while because of expenses and really just did whatever we could to get the costs down.

But you know, those fees went towards that and for food and those coffees that I probably should have cut out a little bit more.

But just surviving PA school.

Yeah, I mean so when people ask, you know, how much to take out in loans, you know, you, you in my mind you want to take out the most minimal amount possible.

And, and everyone's gonna be a little bit different in their kind of thoughts on this because I definitely had people in my class who ate out every single meal and I knew that they were living on loans.

And then after School, usually they were the first ones to go buy a brand new car.

And so you have to make your own, I think financial decisions.

But you want to make sure you have enough money to live on too.

Yep, that's.

I think you just kind of have to learn semester through semester.

I know that, you know, just some of my really close friends in PA school, we talked about this a lot and was like how much you taking out and do you feel like this, you know, calculating our rent and our expenses?

I think it should be an open conversation because it, you know, it is the same cost to attend this program across the board.

And are you kind of keeping in line with like, are you paying $2,000 more per rent than what your friend, like, do you need roommates?

Should you, you know, save those expenses and.

But also just making sure like the cost of your stethoscope and your books and other fees are kind of keeping in line and holding each other accountable for some sort of budget to figure out what you should be taking out and trying to live off of.

Yeah, no, I agree.

And you can always take out money and then give it back.

You don't have to use it all or you don't have to let it sit there.

If it's sitting in your savings account that makes what like 0.05% interest or something like those that nickel you make over six months is not going to counteract the interest that you paid on it.

So this is not money that you want to take out and try to invest.

It's not for investing.

Your return is not going to be higher than your interest rates.

Again, I'm not a financial advisor, but I've read enough white coat investor to know that that is not a good idea.

Might be a soapbox there.

Now this question I wasn't sure about and you can, I don't know if you your thoughts on it or if you have any experience, but do you know if people are paying back loans from undergrad if they go into deferment?

I feel like this is going to depend on where they came from.

Exactly.

So this is definitely dependent on where the loan.

We're talking about in terms of the subsidized loans or earlier, meaning the government's paying your interest.

Those, if you are enrolled in school at least half time, those direct loans will be placed into deferment and you don't have to make any payments on those until six months.

Just kind of like your other, your per se new loans give you this grace period.

But if they're private loans if you're not sure what type of loan they are, you, you definitely need to do the research.

And even if it is a direct loan, you should still.

These things are changing constantly in regards to something we didn't mention earlier, but there was a Federal Perkins loan for a while and that no longer exists.

So loans come in and out based on the year and you really have to do your due diligence following up on what's going to happen with your specific loans.

Yeah, and I mean, I think even just, I mean I love Google.

Who doesn't?

But I mean just kind of searching for things.

You can find stuff on the PA forums and there's a of information out there.

But again, your school is going to be the best person to talk to and talk to the class above you and see what advice they have as far as what they've done and maybe mistakes they made just so you can try to avoid that.

So we want to close off this episode in regards to talking about refinancing.

So after you've made it through PA school and you've got multiple different types of loans, possibly public and private, really looking over those loans and more specifically the interest that you've accrued on them and the interest rates at which they're accruing.

So for myself, I think I had six or seven different loans after the completion of PA school and the loans really varied year by year.

So I might have had one that was, I think I had a 4% loan, a 6, 6%, a 7%, I had a 12 and a 15%.

And then I had another one that was relatively low, like 4 to 5%.

And so the first thing that, you know, I really sat down and talked with my parents about and again, this is I think an important aspect to remind you guys that we're not financial advisors.

You really should consider speaking to someone about this.

But knowing that you can refinance these loans and basically group them together as one, one specific total sum of money and reduce the overall interest rate so that you're paying maybe 6% on all of your loans rather than, you know, possibly that high 12 or 15% loan and that's really going to change year to year.

And as you guys, if anyone really follows the market, you've seen that this year interest rates have gone up quite a bit.

They were much more lower.

And so, you know, watching to see what they do over the course of your PA school career.

But with that, SOFI is one of the refinancing.

There's earnest and common bond there's many out there, but a lot of these specific programs or, you know, businesses, they look at graduates, students who are coming out of programs that they know are going to make a good salary.

And the reason why that they aim their businesses towards us is because they know if you're making a good salary, you should be able to pay off your debt, that you shouldn't, you know, become bankrupt and, you know, go out on your loans.

So with that, they're really willing to work with you and set a low interest rate in comparison to what you've been sitting on for the past, say, 26, 27 months.

So it's definitely something to, you know, look at multiple of these different options and companies to see what the lowest possible interest rate you can get so that you can ultimately start paying off these loans.

And with that, paying off as little interest as possible.

Yeah, and I mean, so I only had federal loans, so I was not able to refinance.

I kind of looked at into it, and with some of the kind of repayment or federal programs, if you do end up refinancing your loans, they kind of lose eligibility for some of that.

So you really have to look at it, think about it, talk to someone who knows what they're talking about, like a financial advisor before you decide to do that.

And I have heard really good things about the, the SoFi.

Sophie.

I don't know how you say it about that one.

Anyway, so another thing that people sometimes talk about is, and this is just a way to pay back your loans afterwards is will jobs pay for your loans?

You know, is there a way for a school or not school, but actually your employer, your supervising physician to pay back your loans or help you out with those.

And, you know, it's not out of the question.

I've heard of it happening my mind.

You never know until you ask.

And so when you're in your contract negotiations, why not throw it out there?

You know, see if there's options for some loan repayment.

Usually the way I've heard it working is, you know, if you're there for a year, you get a certain amount or two years or three years that goes straight towards your loans or it's given as a bonus for your loans, essentially.

So that's something to think about it.

Does it happen that often?

I don't think so.

Didn't happen for me.

But, you know, why not ask?

You never know.

So anyway, well, I think that wraps it up for this part.

We'll kind of definitely have to go into more details about money stuff because a little bit more involved than we even anticipated.

But I think it's good to talk about it, and I think it's kind of good to get it all out there.

Absolutely.

Thanks for having me.