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If you’re going to medical school in 2024, you can expect to pay between $39,905 and $64,103 per year on tuition, fees, and health insurance, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges—and that’s even before you get to living expenses or add in the complexities of going through a residency.
Luckily, there are many private student loan lenders that offer extra features and accommodations for medical school students. Here are some of the best medical school loans you can find if you still need to cover any shortfalls in your funding plan for your studies.Best Medical School Loans of 2024
- Best Overall: Earnest
- Student Loan Marketplace: Credible
- Best for Full Expense Coverage: MEFA
- Best for Interest Rate Negotiation: Juno
- Best for Low Interest Rates: ISL Lending
- Best for Flexible Loan Terms: College Ave
Always opt for federal student loans first before using private student loans. Federal student loans have much better financial protections in place that can help you when you become a doctor later.
Best Overall : Earnest
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- APR Range: 4.11%–16.42%
- Loan Amounts: $1,000–$250,000
- Loan Terms: 5–15 years
- No loan fees
- $100 rate match guarantee
- Many loan repayment options
- Not available in Nevada
- Doesn’t offer co-signer release
- Skip-a-payment “reward” limits forbearance options
You may be able to qualify based on your own financial situation, or you can choose to apply with a co-signer. One important thing to keep in mind is that, unlike other lenders, Earnest doesn’t offer a co-signer release. The only way to remove a co-signer from your loan is to pay it off or refinance it in your own name.
Earnest lets you skip one payment every year as a reward for paying on time. However, interest will accrue in the meantime, you’ll have to make up that payment later on, and it’ll shorten your forbearance availability by one month (you have 12 months total).
- In-school interest-only payment: Cover the interest while you’re in school if you want to keep your loan balance from growing. This option is only available if you have a co-signer.
- In-school $25 payment: Choose this option to pay something toward your loans, but if you’re not sure you can afford to cover the full interest portion.
- Deferment: You can choose to postpone payment in certain cases, such as while you’re in medical school, a residency or internship, or doing military service.
- Standard payment: After you finish your training and go through a long nine-month grace period, you’ll start paying your loans according to your agreement.
- Reduced rate payment: Earnest may lower your interest rate for a short period of time if you’re having trouble making your payments.
- Extended term payment: Another option for more permanent financial problems, Earnest may allow you to stretch your loan term out. This makes your payment smaller, but you’ll be in debt for longer and pay more interest.
- Forbearance: If you run into temporary financial problems, Earnest may allow you to skip payments for up to 12 months total while you pay off your loan.
- No bankruptcies or accounts currently in collections on credit reports
- Minimum credit score of 650 and at least three years’ worth of credit history
- Available to U.S. citizens or permanent residents in all states except for Nevada
Student Loan Marketplace : Credible
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- APR Range: 4.07%–16.70%
- Loan Amounts: $1,000 minimum; no maximum
- Loan Terms: 5–20 years
- Best rate guarantee
- Lender network is disclosed
- Speeds up medical school loan shopping
- Loan options may vary by lender
- Only works with eight partner lenders
- Shortens rate shopping; doesn’t eliminate it
However, don’t be lulled into a false sense of security and forget to shop with other lenders not in Credible’s network. Even if you are matched with one or more lenders through Credible, there’s no guarantee that what you’re offered will actually work for you, so you’ll still need to do your due diligence in researching loan options. However, if you do find a cheaper rate elsewhere, Credible offers a $200 gift card as a reward.
- Fixed payments
- Interest-only payments
- Deferred payments
- Immediate repayment
- Minimum credit score of 640
- Specific requirements may vary by lender
- Available to U.S. citizens and residents or permanent residents in all states
Best for Full Expense Coverage : MEFA
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- APR Range: 6.55%–7.95%
- Loan Amounts: $1,500 minimum; maximum not disclosed
- Loan Terms: 15 years
- No loan maximum
No Fees
- Low fixed rates
- No discounts
- No pre-qualification option
- Only one choice of loan term length
- In-school interest-only payment: You can opt to cover the cost of interest while you’re in school to prevent it from accruing. This will require you to have some income, however.
- Deferment: Deferment allows you to make no payments for 36 months while you’re in school. Your loan repayment would then start six months after you leave school.
- Be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident
- Be enrolled at least half-time in an accredited, degree-granting undergraduate program at an eligible non-profit college or university in the U.S.
- Maintain satisfactory academic progress as determined by your school
- Have no history of default on an education loan
- Have no history of bankruptcy or foreclosure in the past 60 months
- Meet MEFA's credit standards or have a co-signer who meets them
Best for Interest Rate Negotiation : Juno
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- APR Range: 3.83%–13.03%
- Loan Amounts: Varies by lender
- Loan Terms: 5–15 years
- Free to join
- Potential for low rates
- Rate Match Guarantee
- Only one choice of lender
- Confusing loan negotiation process
- Limited timeline for securing funding
Juno is different from any other student loan company in that it goes out and negotiates lower rates for you (and over 100,000 other members, too). You’ll enter basic information about yourself including your estimated credit score (Juno itself doesn’t do any verification), and Juno will go out every spring and solicit bids for the lowest-cost loans based on the people who’ve signed up. It selects one winning lender, and then presents you with the negotiated rate discount.
This has upsides and downsides. On one hand, you may be able to get cheaper rates than you could otherwise get, even with the same lender. (In fact, Juno offers a 1% cash-back rate guarantee if you can get a lower rate elsewhere.) But on the other hand, only one lender will be chosen, and you may or may not qualify. Even if you do, there’s no guarantee that its terms will fit what you’re looking for. Even so, there’s no harm in joining, so we still recommend it.
Repayment options vary based on the lender issuing the loan, and may include:
- Fixed payments
- Interest-only payments
- Deferred payments
- Immediate repayment
- Minimum credit score of 650
- Specific requirements may vary by lender
- Available to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, international students, and DACA recipients
Best for Low Interest Rates : ISL Lending
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- APR Range: 3.95%–11.08%
- Loan Amounts: $2,001–$200,000
- Loan Terms: 10–15 years
- Very low rates
- Nonprofit lender
- Offers death and disability loan discharge
- Potentially confusing loan options
- Not available in Maine or Oregon
- Some loans only available in Iowa
- Partnership Loans, which are available anywhere in the U.S. aside from two states
- Partnership Non-Co-Signed Loans, which are only available for people attending college in Iowa. (Interestingly, the nationwide Partnership Loans can also be non-co-signed, if you wish.)
ISL offers extremely good rates on medical school loans along with another important perk that you don’t see very often with private student loan lenders: a loan discharge clause in case you become permanently disabled or die. By contrast, many other private student loan lenders don’t have this clause, which means they can come after your estate if you die or force you to continue paying even if you’re unable to ever work again.
- In-school full payment: If your income can support it, you can opt to start paying your loans immediately to get a head start on repayment.
- In-school interest-only payment: Make interest-only payments to keep your loan balance from getting larger while you study.
- Deferment: You can put your payments off until after you’ve finished your education, but you will accrue the most interest this way.
- Full repayment: Make full interest-and-principal payments after you graduate.
- Minimum credit score of 660
- Available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents except for Maine and Oregon residents
- Maximum debt-to-income ratio of 40%, including rent or mortgage payments (not a requirement for Partnership Non-Co-Signed loans)
- No bankruptcies or defaulted student loans, and no more than two 30-day late payments on your credit reports
Best for Flexible Loan Terms : College Ave
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- APR Range: 4.07%–14.47%
- Loan Amounts: $1,000–$150,000
- Loan Terms: 5–20 years
- 36-month grace period
- Many payment options
- Wide range of term lengths
- Late payments are costly
- Credit score requirements not disclosed
- Tougher requirements for co-signer release
If flexibility is what you’re looking for, it’s hard to beat College Ave. You can choose from a very wide range of medical school loan terms with this lender, and you also have the longest runway before you have to start making payments. You can defer loans while you’re in a residency or fellowship, and after that ends, you’ll have a 36-month grace period before loan repayment starts.
On the flipside, College Ave isn’t very open about what kind of credit you’ll need to qualify for a loan without a co-signer. And if you do end up needing a co-signer, it’s one of the more difficult arrangements to get out of. Your co-signer won’t be eligible for release until you’ve made it through half of your loan repayment term, your income is twice your loan balance, and you meet credit and residency qualifications on your own. In addition, late payments are relatively expensive, at 5% or $25 of your loan payment, whichever is smaller.
- In-school full payment: Start repaying your loans in full while you’re still in school if you have the ability to do so. This will save you the most amount of interest.
- In-school interest-only payment: Cover just the interest portion of your loans if you prefer, which will keep interest from accruing on your loan.
- In-school fixed payment: This option lets you pay just $25 per month, which may not be enough to cover the full interest that accrues. It helps nip it in the bud, though.
- Deferment: You can also choose, like most students, to postpone payments while you’re in school. This is the most expensive option, since interest will still accrue.
- Forbearance: You can take a temporary pause in payments if you run into problems while you’re repaying the loan. Typically there are limits for how many months of forbearance you can have, but College Ave doesn’t disclose this information.
- Must meet satisfactory academic progress at an eligible school
- Available to U.S. citizens and permanent residents in all states and Washington, D.C.
Final Verdict
Paying for medical school can be difficult. We recommend signing up for an offer from Juno first, because it has the potential for the lowest rates that aren’t available to the general public. After that, Earnest is the best choice if you’re looking for a specific lender that offers a lot of flexibility in managing large student loan balances post-graduation.Still exploring your options, and want to see a wider selection of loans? Browse our picks for the best student loans for more.
How to Choose the Best Medical School Loans
How to Apply for a Medical School Loan
Applying for a medical school loan isn’t really different than applying for any other type of graduate study loan. After you’ve exhausted all of your options for federal student loans and financial aid, here’s how you can apply for a private medical school loan:
- Consider a co-signer: Unless you have great credit, there’s a good chance you’ll need a creditworthy co-signer to get approved for a medical school loan. Even if you don’t need a co-signer to get approved, you may qualify for better rates if you do have one.
- Gather your documents: Most lenders will want to see the same documents for you and your co-signer, including recent pay stubs or income statements, past tax returns, recent bank account statements, copies of your ID, etc. If you prepare these in advance it’ll speed up your loan application.
- Pre-qualify with lender: Visit as many lenders that offer medical school loans as you can and get pre-qualified with them. This will tell you your approval odds and what your loan options might look like.
- Choose a lender: Pick the best lender and submit a full loan application. If you’re approved, it’ll coordinate with your school about where and when to send the funds. Your school will send any leftover money to you to pay for living expenses.
Factors to Consider When Applying for a Medical School Loan
Paying back medical school loans is different than for many other graduate students. You’ll generally be taking out a far higher amount, and you’ll also have to think about how to handle your student loans later while you’re in a residency or fellowship program. A few key things can help you pick the best medical school loans:- Annual percentage rate: The first thing to consider, this is a big factor in how much your loans will cost you and how affordable they’ll be when you start repaying them.
- Loan term: A lender that offers longer-term loans can help make your monthly payments more affordable, but you will pay more in interest overall.
- Grace period: Having a longer amount of time before your repayment starts can help ease the pressure of finding a job before you start repayment.
- Residency and fellowship deferment: A lender that allows you to defer payments during your fellowship or residency can help, since you won’t be earning your full income yet.
- Loan assistance options: Some lenders offer more robust programs to help borrowers who’ve run into problems paying back their loans. Look for lenders offering long forbearance periods and reduced payment plan options for qualifying borrowers.
Federal vs. Private Medical Student Loans
Medical school loans come in two flavors: federal student loans, owned by the U.S. government, and private student loans, owned by individual companies or nonprofit organizations.Federal student loans are always the best choice because they have more built-in loan protections, including automatic COVID-19 forbearance, options for income-driven repayment plans, and even student loan forgiveness. These may come in handy if you end up practicing for certain employers later, like a tribe or a nonprofit group. They’re also easier to get as a student, especially if you don’t have a co-signer.
Private student loans are best kept as a last-ditch option if you still don’t have enough to pay for school. Private student loans can be tougher to get and may be more expensive. Each lender sets its own terms and they’re not always in your favor, especially compared to federal student loans.Frequently Asked Questions
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Are Medical School Loans Tax Deductible?
Medical school loans themselves aren’t tax-deductible. However, the interest you pay on them is—up to $2,500 each year, if you meet the IRS’s requirements.
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Do Medical School Loans Cover Living Expenses?
Yes, you can use medical school loans to cover living expenses. This may be limited depending on the type of loan you have so it’s always best to check with your lender first, whether for federal student loans or private medical school loans. For example, you can’t use federal student loans to buy a car, although you can use them for other transportation expenses.
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Do Medical School Loans Have a Grace Period?
Medical school loans generally do have grace periods, although the length of the grace period varies by lender. Federal student loans have a six-month grace period, while private medical school loans may vary from 6 to 36 months.
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Can Medical School Debt Be Refinanced?
Yes, you can refinance medical school debt if you meet a lender’s approval requirements. Generally, this means you’ll need a good credit score (defined as 670 or higher by FICO), a strong income, and manageable debt levels. See our picks for the best student loan refinance companies to compare your options.
Methodology
Investopedia is dedicated to providing consumers with unbiased, comprehensive reviews of student loan lenders. We collected thousands of data points across 30 lenders—including loan types, interest rates, fees, loan amounts, and repayment terms—to ensure that we help readers make the right borrowing decision for their education needs.:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/Primary-Image-best-medical-school-loans-of-2023-7107013-af28aacdd2a54b7c9b5c68428acdc18b.jpg)
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