HPSP: Health Professions Scholarship Program (Army, Navy, Air Force scholarships)

Figure 1: 'Nuff said.

Intro

Hpsp is the health professions scholarship program from the military. You can apply for one through the army, navy or Air Force, or all of them at once, and pick from whichever branch awards you one. It pays for all tuition, fees, books, and some equipment needed while in med school. They will NOT pay for a computer though.  You also get a $20,000 signing bonus, and a $2,100 per month stipend as a student.  The bonus gets paid out in installments three installments, starting on your first month of medical school.

Years owed to army

You owe the army one year for each year of school paid, or one year for each year of residency. Whichever is greater. Then you owe a few years of inactive ready reserve, where they only call you up for work if absolutely needed. This all has to total eight years. So if you do a 5 year Ortho residency, you owe 5 years active duty, and 3 years inactive duty. 

Why I signed up/ Residency stuff

I signed up for it because med school is expensive, I want to serve America, and I don't want to deal with the cons of the civilian healthcare system (ex: you don't need to buy malpractice insurance as a military physician). With that said, it has it's cons. If they critically need more of some type of doctors, it is ultimately their decision which residency I can do. If they need you to go somewhere foreign, like Germany, Japan, or Korea, you need to go. Also, during your inactive ready reserve period, they can call you up if there is a major conflict with another country.  This is unlikely because it apparently didn't happen with the last two wars.

I also did it for the chance to travel, and do something different from the pack. I'm honestly really excited to learn more about, and become a part of the military.  Furthermore I really do love America, and I want to support the country in this way.

I want to do something with surgery or procedures. I'm thinking Ortho or EM. On that note, the military residency match is in the early Fall. So you'll know where you're going before everyone else's match day. You CAN do a civilian residency in something if they need more of it. It's kind of a gamble though, because if you don't match they have you do primary care work or something for like 3 years. I haven't really looked to to that too much though. 

It's really up to you if you are into it.  People on the internet say to do it only if you are serious about serving the USA.  I am serious and want to, but at the same time, I do not want to have $350,000 (65 for my undergrad + 4*70 for med)  of student debt at ~7% compounding interest.  Doctors don't make as much money as they used to, and tuition is only going up, while pay for doctors is going down.

Pay in the Army

How Much Does it Cost to Go to Med School? Answer: a $hit ton

Figure 1: The way Doge sees it.

tl;dr
You'll owe $409,239.01 after residency.  Paid off in ten years, you will have paid $565,144.12.

Let's assume that you have $50,000 in loans from undergrad, $12,500 for each year, at 6.8% interest. Because let's face it, your middle class family couldn't afford to pay for your college, but you were still too wealthy to get subsidized government loans.  We will also assume that you will defer to pay off any loans until you finish a four year residency.  Let's also assume that med school will cost $200,000 total at 6.8% interest, and again, you will defer to pay until after residency.

Table 1:  Loan amount at end of medical school.*  

(How student loans will own your ass.)

Undergrad:		Initial Loan @ 6.8%	Loan Amount by Residency	Accrued Interest	Months Deffered
	Semester 1	$6,250.00	$14,101.60	$7,851.60	144
	Semester 2	$6,250.00	$13,786.30	$7,536.30	140
	Semester 3	$6,250.00	$13,176.96	$6,926.96	132
	Semester 4	$6,250.00	$12,882.47	$6,632.47	128
	Semester 5	$6,250.00	$12,313.08	$6,063.08	120
	Semester 6	$6,250.00	$12,037.89	$5,787.89	116
	Semester 7	$6,250.00	$11,505.83	$5,255.83	108
	Semester 8	$6,250.00	$11,248.69	$4,998.69	104
	Undergrad Totals	Original Principal	Loan Amount by Residency	Accrued Interest
		$50,000.00	$101,052.82	$51,052.82
Med School:		Initial Loan @ 6.8%	Loan Amount by Residency	Accrued Interest	Months Deffered
	Semester 1	$25,000.00	$43,006.03	$18,006.03	96
	Semester 2	$25,000.00	$42,044.88	$17,044.88	92
	Semester 3	$25,000.00	$40,186.54	$15,186.54	84
	Semester 4	$25,000.00	$39,288.41	$14,288.41	80
	Semester 5	$25,000.00	$37,551.91	$12,551.91	72
	Semester 6	$25,000.00	$36,712.65	$11,712.65	68
	Semester 7	$25,000.00	$35,090.00	$10,090.00	60
	Semester 8	$25,000.00	$34,305.77	$9,305.77	56
	Med School Totals	Original Principal	Loan Amount by Residency	Accrued Interest
		$200,000.00	$308,186.19	$108,186.19
Total Debt at start of Residency:	$409,239.01

Okay, so that is a shit ton.  Let's see how much it will cost me in the end if I repay it in 10 years.

Table 2: **What you will have paid 10 
years after residency

Loan Balance:	$409,239.01
Loan Interest Rate:	6.8%
Loan Term:	10 years
Monthly Loan Payment:	$4,709.54
Number of Payments:	120
Cumulative Payments:	$565,144.12
Total Interest Paid:	$155,905.11

First off, none of these assumptions include the cost of living expenses. They only include the cost of the actual schooling.  Also, we aren't taking into account increasing tuition each year (which you just know will happen).  Another thing, the interest rate is unlikely to be 6.8% for all of your loans.  This is just an exercise to get an idea of the cost of becoming a doctor.  It will probably be quite a bit different from here, give or take $50,000-$100,000 or something.

*Loan amounts calculated here.
**Total paid calculated here.