Quote Originally Posted by Andarvi View Post
I am going to pay off all 18k I have in undergrad loans right off the bat with money my mom has saved for me my whole life, so those are not an issue.

I cannot anticipate the future dental school loans interest rate, but I know that its irrelevant based on how much money ive got now. For example, i went to Tufts undergrad, and if I end up there for dental school, the first year is 65k, by the 4th year is 75k (granted Howard is 32k first year, 28k 4th year. Tufts is top three most expensive in the country =/). Thus thats roughly 280k in school loans after 4 years I could potentially be paying off if I ended up at Tufts and got no financial aid. 15k isnt going to dent shit in that sadly. However, the school itself and the many graduates I speak to assure me that loans aren't and issue because you can often get very manageable interest rates and you start off making more than enough money to handle them.
Even then, that 15K neatly takes a chunk off the top. You want that. It reduces the overall impact of the loan on your income, which means you're more financially fit in the long run.

Remember, debt is like investment in reverse. If you don't put money into it, you LOSE more money as a result, in the form of interest payments that will be larger based on the larger amount owed. Further, it'll mean you can cut down the interest effect faster for having payed less interest to begin with.

Get whatever loans you need, then pay as much off as you can immediately, and be aggressive on paying more than requested. Credit raters love someone who doesn't putter along paying minimums or holding onto a loan till the last second to pay off. My last car was like that. Financed, but I then proceeded to pay 10K of it right off the bat.

Ford regularly sends me letters informing me I now have a 50K line of credit whenever I want to sign up for it...not like I'd use it!