Dental School Loans

On average, graduates of full-time MBA programs expect a 54% increase in salary compared with their pre-MBA earnings

The income of the average practitioner of general dentistry is well over $100,000 a year and for specialized dentists the average yearly income is almost $200,000 a year. Given this fact, do not be afraid that you can not afford dental school. There are plenty of dental school loans available.

Federal Student Loans

The first place you should start is with federal student loans.

The Perkins Loan program is a low interest loan based on financial need, and it allows grad students to borrow up to $30,000 over the course of their graduate studies, minus any Perkins loans taken out in undergraduate school.

Dental students may also be to get the a href="http://www.usscholarshipguide.org/loans/stafford.html">Federal Stafford loan program. The loan amount limits on the Stafford are much higher than on the Perkins loan. There are two kinds of Stafford loans. They are either subsidized or unsubsidized. Subsidized means the federal government pays the interest on the loan until you graduate and the grace period is several months after graduation. Unsubsidized means that you’ll be responsible for paying the interest immediately upon taking out the loan. You may elect to defer paying the interest until after you graduate. Dental students may borrow up to $30,000 under the Stafford subsidized loan, and up to nearly $190,00 total (minus any undergraduate Stafford loans), with the rest being unsubsidized. The yearly limit is $38,500 as of this writing.

Another federal source of dental student loans is the Health Professional Loan. The limits on the HPL vary, and are based partially on financial information supplied by parents.

Educational Resource Institute

The Educational Resource Institute (TERI) is a non profit group that provides up to $225,000 in loans to dental school students. For more information, please visit www.teri.org.

Private Loans

There are many banks that offer similar loans to one available by the Education Resource Institue. For example, Citibank will loan a dental student up to $220,000 for school itself, and up to $12,000 additional toward a residency after graduation. Please check with individual financial instituation regarding dentail loans.

State Loans

Many state governments offer dental school student loans. You will need to check with your state Department of Education or the dental school you’d like to attend.