As I stated in several of my prior articles, medical school is far from cheap. With annual tuition averaging over forty thousand dollars, it is imperative to cut costs wherever possible. When I was set to begin my first year of medical school, I took out the maximum amount of federal student loans I was able to borrow, equaling around $55,000. While this funding covered the cost of my medical school tuition (which was slightly discounted due to my status as an in-state student), it was not enough to cover the majority of my living expenses. Rather than borrow high-interest student loans, I knew I had to limit my expenses in order to minimize my debt. Although living at home during medical school was not the most appealing option, I swallowed my pride and did the almost unthinkable: I moved back in with my family.
In this article, I will show how living at home during medical school certainly has a number of advantages. Sure, you may revert back into an angsty teenager (I know I did), but the move can save you tens of thousands of dollars over the course of your graduate school education.
At the start of college, my family relocated from New Jersey to Florida in order to form a new business. I only visited my family’s Florida home on rare occasions as a college student, and admittedly, I did not like the house at all. It was much smaller than the old one, and had little connection with my prior life growing up in New Jersey. When I applied to medical school, I used the Florida house’s address as my own so that I could apply to Florida medical schools as an in-state student. This tactic worked, and before I knew it, I was all set up to attend medical school about thirty minutes away from my family’s new home.
Now for me, moving away for college was the right decision, even if it was a bit more expensive. Since my college was far away from where I grew up, I was forced to come out of my shell, make new friends, and become more independent. While living on my own as a college student, I had to learn how to do laundry, pay utility bills, and feed myself (even if many of my daily meals consisted of cereal). My undergraduate years were definitely my most formative ones, and my overall college experience would have been completely different if I had picked a university closer to home.
Because of these factors, I initially was hesitant to move back home in preparation for medical school, as I had gotten used to my independence from family. I also was moving to a new city and state in order to attend medical school, and knew only a few people living there. As such, I was nervous that living at home would affect my ability to make friends and have a normal social life. Ultimately, though, the idea of taking out private loans to live independently seemed overly wasteful, and so before I knew it, I claimed one of the small, spare bedrooms in my family’s home as my own, and began my medical school career.
While living at home during medical school may sound unpleasant, and perhaps immature, it was one of the smarter moves I made while trying to minimize my student debt. I lived at home for only two years of medical school, as I had to move out for the last two years in order to be closer to my required clinical rotations. During those two years though, I did not spend a single cent on rent, which allowed me to save at least one thousand dollars a month. Although I did have to pay for all the utilities, I had a washer/dryer in the house, my own bedroom, access to a pool, and a clubhouse with a gym. It also was nice to eat home-cooked meals, although this did not occur as often as I would have liked.
I also was pleasantly surprised that living at home during medical school had little impact on my social life. While many of my friends had strangers as roommates, my roommate was my dad. Back in high school, my father made several attempts at being strict (creating curfews and other house rules), but now that I was an adult, and frankly, helping him out with many of the bills, I found that he was much more lenient. Sure, he did check in with me every now and then, but I certainly did not have a curfew, and I otherwise came and left the house as I pleased. I eventually found out that several of my medical school classmates lived at home as well, and those who did not, were often envious of the fact that I did not have to pay rent or cook my own meals.
Of course, medical school is not the only advantageous time to live at home. In fact, many people in my generation have lived at home for a number of years both during and after college in order to save money. There is no shame in this, as living at home allows many people more time to explore career options and goals, without worrying about paying the rent in addition to their burdensome student loans.
If living at home during medical school is a viable option for you, I highly recommend doing it. You may want to redecorate your room, though, for fear of reliving your awkward high school years!
Adam Rothman is a guest writer for Student Debt Diaries and is currently a medical professional in the New York City area. He is a brother of Jordan Rothman, the founder of Student Debt Diaries. You can reach Adam through email at adam@studentdebtdiaries.com