Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is meant for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. You should consult a certified financial advisor who can advise you based on your unique financial situation.
Allied health professionals tend to graduate with a lot of debt—in fact, the American Physical Therapy Association’s survey of recent doctor of physical therapy (DPT) graduates found that these newly minted healthcare clinicians finished school with an average total debt balance of $142,000. Whether you’re in school, in residency, or working as a full-time allied health clinician, it’s important to make some serious strides toward paying down student debt, if you have it. Read on to learn about why becoming a travel clinician is a great avenue to make more money, as well as how loan forgiveness, income driven repayment plans, and refinancing your loans can help you lower what you owe.
How much student loan debt is there in the U.S.?
The total student loan debt in the United States is $1.75 trillion as of 2024, with federal loans making up $1.62 trillion, or 91.2% of all student loan debt, according to the Education Data Initiative. The average public university student borrows $32,362 to obtain a bachelor’s degree, and 42.8 million borrowers have federal student loans.
The average graduate degree holder owes up to $106,850 in federal student debt, and 60% of masters degree holders have federal student debt, along with 74.5% of those with professional doctorates.
How does becoming a travel clinician help with paying down student debt?
Travel clinicians typically earn more than permanent allied health professionals—for example, travel pharmacists can earn 94% more than permanent pharmacists, and nuclear medicine technologists could earn 85.5% more!
When you take a travel job, your salary will probably increase substantially, and it’s important to avoid spending more when your salary increases- stick to a tight budget and take advantage of your salary increase to pay down your student loans faster. Debt is stressful, and paying it off faster will give you more freedom to live your life how you want to.
How to Pay off Student Debt: Tips and Tricks
1. Live Below Your Means
When trying to pay off debt, it’s important to live frugally. Go out to eat less and make dinner at home, or consider renting a place with roommates. The less you spend, the more money you’ll have to pay down your debt. The faster you pay down your student debt, the less interest will accumulate—unless you’re applying for federal student loan forgiveness.
2. Take Advantage of Loan Forgiveness Programs
As an allied health clinician, you may be eligible for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program to get 100% of your student loans forgiven.
The PSLF is only eligible for direct federal loans, and requires employees to be employed full time (or at least 30 hours per week) by a non-profit 501(c)(3) or governmental employer.
To qualify for this loan forgiveness, clinicians must have made 120 on-time monthly payments in an eligible program, such as an Income Driven Repayment (IDR) program before applying for forgiveness
3. Refinance Your Student Loans
Refinancing student loans may allow you to pay down your student debt faster, as it can enable you to get a new lower interest rate on your student loans. However, before refinancing your loans, it’s important to browse and compare refinancing options.
When you choose to refinance your student loans, lenders will likely ask you for information, such as name, address, university (and degree), total student loan debt, current income, and monthly housing payment to implement a soft credit check.
Before choosing to refinance federal student loans, keep in mind that you will be giving up some federal loan protections, such as opportunities for student loan forgiveness. That means it may not be worth it to refinance, even with a lower interest rate.
Here are five suggestions of companies to check out to refinance your loans, but there are other options out there. Remember, refinancing companies typically do a soft credit check (that doesn’t impact your credit score) to estimate what interest rate you may receive.
- SoFi offers fixed interest rates of 5.34%-9.99% APR, and variable interest rates of 6.24%-9.99% APR.
- LendKey offers fixed interest rates as low as 5.24% APR, and variable interest rates as low as 5.54% APR.
- Laurel Road offers a 4.97% variable APR when you open a Laurel Road Linked Checking account.
- Splash Financial financing options start at a 4.99% fixed APR.
- Earnest offers fixed loans from 4.96% APR (including their 0.25% Auto Pay discount) and variable from 5.72% APR (including 0.25% Auto Pay discount).
There is no limit to the number of times you can refinance your student loans, although multiple refinances can negatively impact your credit.
4. Use income driven repayment plans
Income Driven Repayment (IDR) plans are another way to pay off your student loan debt. Monthly IDR payments are generally a percentage of your discretionary income. You need to recertify your repayment plan annually by updating your income and family size. By the end of the repayment period in an IDR plan, any remaining balance is forgiven.
There are four different types of IDR plans.
- Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) Plan—formerly the REPAYE Plan
- Pay As You Earn (PAYE) Repayment Plan
- Income-Based Repayment (IBR) Plan
- Income-Contingent Repayment (ICR) Plan
There are no new enrollments for the PAYE plan, and new enrollments for the ICR plan are stopped as of July 1, 2024, with two exceptions—people who submitted applications before July 1, and borrowers with a consolidation loan that repaid a parent PLUS loan. To be eligible for the IBR plan, you must demonstrate partial financial hardship, which means that you may only be eligible for the SAVE plan.
The SAVE plan has monthly payments of 5% of income for undergraduate only borrowers. As a travel clinician with graduate loans, your repayments will likely be at a weighted average between 5% and 10% of your income. The repayment period for SAVE plans is 20 years for undergraduate loans, but as a travel clinician with graduate loans, your repayment period will be 25 years.
Try out the loan simulator to estimate your student loan repayments under different types of plans to find the option that works best for you.
Find a Travel Allied Health Job with Barton Healthcare Staffing
Working a travel clinician job with Barton Healthcare Staffing can help you earn more and pay down debt faster. Check out our job board or get in touch with a recruiter to learn more about how you can benefit from getting a travel job!