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Chiropractors Are Treated Horribly Under Student Loan Rules

If you’re a chiropractor, or want to become one, you should know about the extreme unfairness toward the profession that exists today. Chiropractors are treated horribly under student loan rules.

Students who graduate with huge chiropractic student loan balances aren't eligible for the best forgiveness options. They also don’t earn high enough incomes to pay back their debts.

To top it off, their higher-earning MD peers have access to a massive loophole in the student loan rules that chiropractors do not. This will result in chiropractors paying hundreds of thousands of dollars more on their student loans than health care practitioners making three times their salaries.

YouTube video

This piece should serve as a call to action for the chiropractic profession. If you've got chiropractic debt, check out our free Student Loan Calculator and keep reading to learn about your repayment options.

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Chiropractors' student loan balances are among the highest of any profession

I’ve worked with many chiropractor borrowers since starting Student Loan Planner®. We regularly see an average debt of $250,000 for chiropractor student loan debt, with some being much higher. This is wrong for so many reasons.

First, the average med school graduate we help has a lower balance. Regardless of what schools tell you, it has to be more expensive to educate a med student than a chiropractic student. Why do chiropractic educations cost so much then?

One reason is there’s not many accredited chiropractic schools to choose from. The ones that are around are typically private or for-profit institutions, like Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa.

Furthermore, the federal government doesn't impose any caps for practical purposes on how much student debt you can borrow. That means the schools that do exist have an unlimited amount of federal and private student loans they can sign students up for. If you've already gotten through your first year of chiropractic college, you're probably going to stick around and accept whatever tuition increases they throw at you.

In the absence of any market-imposed restraint on the cost of tuition, it grows steadily higher each year. The fact that there aren't really any low-cost, state-funded programs adds fuel to the fire. If there's money to be made, why wouldn't the schools keep raising the prices until people stop paying them? Administrators, faculty, lenders, and in some cases private shareholders have an incentive to mislead you about the return on a chiropractic education or at least not give you the full unvarnished picture. If they did, many would lose their jobs or their investments.

Hence, most chiropractors start off with a crushing debt load. Unfortunately, I have far more serious evidence that chiropractors are treated horribly under student loan rules.

Chiropractors have almost no eligibility for the best forgiveness option, PSLF

Assume you earned your chiropractic degree and ended up with a loan amount of $250,000. You receive an offer for $60,000 a year as an associate at a practice. Your loan payments will never be enough money to touch the high balance unless you dedicate 50% of your pre-tax income to your debt. That’s not a realistic proposition.

Consider lawyers and medical doctors for a moment. In the legal profession, a student could graduate with a similar federal loan debt load and work for the government for 10 years. After this period, the government pays for the lawyer’s entire remaining federal student loan balance as a tax-free benefit. The same is true for medical doctors who work for 10 years at a nonprofit hospital. Once this service period is finished, the government covers the entire remaining student loan burden. Keep in mind this doesn't include any private loans.

Chiropractors have almost no in-field nonprofit jobs available to them. Sure, there are scattered opportunities here and there, but nothing widespread like prosecutor or public defender jobs in the legal profession or resident or attending physician jobs at nonprofit hospitals. For that reason, virtually all chiropractors graduate and take a job in the private sector.

Because of the lack of nonprofit jobs, almost no chiropractors qualify for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which is by far the most generous benefit available to students today.

Again, there might be scattered loan forgiveness opportunities available. However, the federal PSLF program makes them look irrelevant by comparison.

Chiropractic pay is high enough to owe something each month, but not high enough to make a dent in your chiropractic student loans

Chiropractors certainly make more money than the average American household, with a median income of $70,340 across the profession as a whole. Unfortunately, chiropractic salaries are far below those of their physician peers.

Even so, chiropractic salaries are high enough to require large payments under federal income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. Paying $5,000 to $10,000 per year towards your student loans is no joke.

That said, only paying $5,000 to $10,000 on a $250,000 principal balance doesn't even cover the interest. The federal student loan rules trap chiropractors. They may have to pay significant monthly payments when they graduate, but they aren’t able to pay down their debt.

Chiropractors can still come up with a chiropractic student loan repayment strategy to save thousands

I do flat fee consults to help chiropractors save as much money as possible paying back their student loans. So, I'm very familiar with the options that do exist for chiropractors to save money on their chiropractic student debt. If you've got questions about your debt, contact me. I love hearing from readers.

Why should you believe what a random guy on the internet is saying about chiropractic student loans? Here's a quick video showing how chiropractors leave thousands of dollars on the table by not optimizing the options available to them, made by yours truly.

YouTube video

So, what does this video show? Most chiropractors are making a ton of student loan mistakes.

They're either paying on the wrong student loan repayment plan (e.g. IBR, Extended, Standard, Graduated, etc.) or making liberal use of forbearance or deferment. They simply might not be making optimal use of the programs that do exist.

For example, chiropractors can receive an indirect match on their 401k contributions. This match comes in the form of lower total student loan costs simply by maxing out their 401k and Health Savings Accounts.

Even so, if you want to see what I mean when I say chiropractors are truly treated horribly under student loan policy, see the deal physicians receive in the section below.

The physician loan forgiveness loophole should make chiropractors furious

Take a look at this two-minute video I made to explain the physician student loan loophole below. In this video, I show how a physician making $250,000 a year can pay less than 50% of the cost of her $250,000 medical school debt using federal student loan forgiveness programs.

YouTube video

What prohibits chiropractors from taking advantage of this same Public Service Loan Forgiveness program? Availability of jobs. Over 50% of all employed physicians would qualify for this benefit as most physicians are employed by nonprofit hospitals.

Doctors of chiropractic work mostly at for-profit clinics. There are very few nonprofit or government employers that hire chiropractors full-time. The ones that do exist don't need many people or might not utilize a chiropractor's skills.

For example, I searched online for chiropractic jobs that would qualify for tax-free loan forgiveness. I found one position as a health administrator for the prison system in Colorado and another job at a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to chiropractic research.

Physician employers are tailor-made to take advantage of the government's loan forgiveness programs. That's probably due in part to the strong lobbying power of the American Medical Association. Regardless of how it happened, the difference in treatment of chiropractors compared to their peers is clearly inequitable especially given that physicians make substantially more money.

Chiropractors are treated horribly under student loan rules, and it’s the federal government’s fault

How is this you ask? Physicians work for nonprofit institutions during their training. Therefore, they qualify for super low payments during residency and fellowship that count towards the PSLF program. After 10 years of payments, the federal government forgives their debt tax-free.

Chiropractors work in the private sector as there aren't many nonprofit or government employers that hire chiropractors. That means the forgiveness chiropractors get comes after 20 to 25 years of payments under an IDR plan.

Furthermore, the United States government treats that forgiveness amount as if someone handed them a check for $500,000. This dramatically increases their taxable income for that year. So, the IRS turns around and tells you that you now owe $200,000 in taxes.

I don’t believe Congress ever worried or thought about the horrible impact on the chiropractic profession they had by passing new higher education loan rules. If I was a member of the American Chiropractic Association (ACA), I’d be up in arms.

I’d write letters to all of my congressmen and congresswomen demanding equitable treatment for chiropractors compared to their physician counterparts. The federal student loan program does not work correctly. It’s time for the chiropractic profession to rise up. It’s time to put pressure on elected officials. Chiropractors deserve fair treatment under the law.

Our business model here at Student Loan Planner® provides chiropractors and other medical professionals with solid student loan strategies. I only charge a one-time flat fee. We perform a holistic loan analysis to see what your best available repayment options are. We'd love to help you.

Comments

  1. John C April 22, 2017 at 1:34 AM
    Reply

    I heard that you might be able to get your loans forgiven if you claimed insolvency with the IRS at the end of the IBR program, is that true?

    • Travis April 22, 2017 at 1:38 AM
      Reply

      Under the income driven repayment programs (REPAYE, IBR, PAYE, and ICR), it’s true that your loans are “forgiven” at the end of 20-25 years. However, that forgiveness is taxable income depending on your net worth. It is technically true that under current rules the way the taxation of the forgiven debt works is that they take your assets minus your liabilities and tax that net amount. If that number is at least as much as the debt forgiven, then you owe tax on the full amount.

      What I tell clients is that if you benefit significantly from the insolvency benefit in 20-25 years, that means you’re also not very well off and will have to work for a long time before you’re able to retire. So to answer your question the answer is yes, but I wouldn’t recommend that. I’d suggest maxing retirement accounts, HSA accounts, and putting away $500-$1000 a month for a tax penalty lump sum payment. Any excess beyond that you could say and improve your net worth and ability to be financially independent once your debt is gone

    • Patrick Montgomery, DC October 9, 2018 at 11:03 AM
      Reply

      All chiropractic educational institutions in the US are non-profit

      • Travis Hornsby October 9, 2018 at 2:37 PM
        Reply

        Are you positive about this? I was under the impression that a few were for profit institutions. Maybe I’m mistaken. If they are non profit, the leadership of these institutions certainly doesn’t get paid like they’re non profits.

        • CK December 19, 2018 at 7:02 PM
          Reply

          They may be “non-profit”… but trust me, they are all about profit… cramming in as many students in a class as possible as long as they have the gpa and weeding people out after they have thrown in a year or so of tuition money.

          • Travis Hornsby December 19, 2018 at 7:37 PM

            Yeah that stinks. I try to limit what I say sometimes so I dont get in trouble but good points.

      • David Durkop February 23, 2020 at 1:53 PM
        Reply

        “Non-profit” does not mean “not making money.”
        As long as the colleges continue to have students sign up for an education that does not return a profit on the investment and chiropractors will continue to sign up for predatory loans that will pay the chiropractic college, no matter the outcome rate, those chiropractic colleges will continue to raise tuition and fees.
        They will pay the college presidents more money, build bigger buildings, make things look nice, but charge the student grand sums of your money to make the campus look nice to sucker new students into a loan debt that will crush the student, unless the student is “lucky” enough to get into a practice that makes money. Then, the chiropractor has to have the entrepreneurial capabilities to propagate the practice.
        The college will bring in the “successful” chiropractors to sell the idea that you will be making money hand over fist. You want to believe, like every every timeshare owner out there, that this is a true island paradise. They sell that chiropractic is better than sliced bread with cinnamon sugar on top.
        What they don’t tell you is that people have been trained since the 1980s that HMOs and PPOs with “low deductibles and co-pays” are the way to go and they don’t value the service to take money out of their pocket.
        Work Comp? The system hates chiropractors and will do its most to ruin you. The same with regular insurance.

        Don’t feel bad, they are doing the same thing to English Majors at Harvard or the University of Texas at Austin.

        Chiropractic schools are first and foremost a business and the goal of any business is sales. Whether YOU make it, is not their worry or problem.

        • Travis at Student Loan Planner February 23, 2020 at 3:52 PM
          Reply

          Great point. New report just released said average graduating DC has a debt to income ratio of about 7.3 to 1. That’s horrendous and not reported by the schools.

  2. kate July 28, 2017 at 1:12 PM
    Reply

    This is real bad. I am considering to study as a Chiropractor.

    • Travis July 28, 2017 at 8:23 PM
      Reply

      Hey Kate I wouldn’t do it honestly. Unless your only passion in the world has always been chiropractic, the debt loads I’ve seen just aren’t worth it in my opinion.

      • Dr. Mike Calarco, D.C. October 12, 2017 at 4:18 PM
        Reply

        Go become a PT . You can shadow chiro’s and PTs, there is alot of overlap now . Pts could replace chiros soon with all the changes coming to health care and pressure with financing being the nail in our chiro coffin. If you do soft tissue, adjust (chiro) or “Mobilize” (PT) and do rehab exercises (which good chiros should be doing), your essentially doing the same thing. You get paid better as a PT by insurance too and can get a job in a hospital.

        • Travis October 12, 2017 at 4:40 PM
          Reply

          Good points though PTs have about 150k student debt on average from what I’ve seen. But yes I think it would prove to be a more stable career path. Some DCs that don’t have the personality for business who associate instead truly don’t get paid what they should.

    • Dr. M October 26, 2017 at 12:40 PM
      Reply

      I am a chiropractor and Love what I do. Nothing is more gratifying when the Medical profession (PT included) have no idea what to do because their options are exhausted and chiropractors are able to get people functioning better and stay that way. Far different than a P.T. Chiropractors need to not give up on the profession but stand together to make a change. The debt is terrible but we shouldn’t let it abolish the profession. There are so many different techniques and the impact a chiropractic adjustment has on a person is much more specific (in most cases) than any “manipulation” that a P.T. does.

      • Travis October 26, 2017 at 1:51 PM
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        That’s what I’m concerned about is keeping the profession economically viable, particularly if something happened to loan forgiveness programs.

      • Nadir December 17, 2017 at 7:41 PM
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        Yeah it’s all good in all being able to help people but that will not help feed you and your family when chiro schools charge as much as md schools knowing thousands of chiropractors are not able to make a living.

    • shana November 3, 2017 at 7:15 AM
      Reply

      I would STOP immediately and go into a different profession. Expect a salary of 30-40k yr max working your butt off. The saying “Chiropractors eat their young” is true. Insurance companies do not reimburse well at all and chiropractors have ZERO cultural authority…. meaning no one gives a crap about D.C.’s education. PT/OT are the preferred route for body work. Its not worth the stress of seeing your student loan go up by 10k+ each year. There are no programs to help D.C. with their loans. Even if you have your own office its still very difficult to be profitable. You will not learn business strategies in school. Mentoring groups and practice management companies will eat you alive. RUN AWAY!!!!!

      • Travis November 3, 2017 at 12:28 PM
        Reply

        I would say that there are ways for DCs to deal with the debt once they already have it. That’s the reason I have a business is because most are not planning adequately with the available rules. But much of your criticism is fair. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

    • Justin January 4, 2018 at 7:02 PM
      Reply

      Become a DO instead. You can practice manipulation (same thing as a chiropractic adjustment) plus get more reimbursement from 3rd parties (insurance and Medicare). Plus you can practice medicine!

      Trust me, I’m a D.C., DO. It’s a way better gig over here.

  3. Jon Trainor December 19, 2017 at 11:29 PM
    Reply

    I got a DC degree and I opened my own clinic and I see people everyday who are grateful for what i do. I assume I will be on IBR until i die because as this article points out if you accept the big forgiveness check at the end of 25 years you then owe a huge tax bill. But from what I’ve read you can just keep paying the IBR even in retirement which still sucks but at least when you die, the loan goes away completely and is not passed on. And you lived doing a great profession. I assume all student loans will have to be forgiven at some point anyway, because it’s over a trillion dollars now. In thirty years, what are they going to do, foreclose on the whole population? Put out stormtroopers to throw us in the streets by the thousands? Nah. Tuition will be socialized once these old republicans die off and you will get to keep helping society just like always. It’s good to own a skill. CCiropractic would be in demand even if nuclear holocaust happened. Remember that. The govt can’t take your house or garner your wage as long as you make the measly IBR payments forever.

  4. Mary January 30, 2018 at 8:14 PM
    Reply

    My son will graduate in May with his 4 yr. and is planning on going on to Chiropractic studies. He is planning on following my very successful Chiropractic brothers path. My son will be borrowing almost the entire amount for school. He does not owe much for his yr degree. Hmm, this article does make me nervous. He really wants to do this and is a motivated student. He is not even 20 and graduates this Spring. He is planning on finishing Chiro school in 3 years. I wonder if the DO option wouldn’t be better for him. I will need to consult with my brother about all this. Any advice for him going forward?

    • Travis January 31, 2018 at 2:34 AM
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      Based on what I’ve seen Mary working with hundreds of folks the DO path would be much more financially rewarding. Perhaps some others can chime in.

  5. CO February 4, 2018 at 4:35 AM
    Reply

    I have been a chiropractor for 11 years and my student loans continue to rise every day! I currently have 280,000 in federal and almost 90,000 in private loans. That’s around 370,000 total. I started as an associate making 2400/month and my minimum loan payments were around 2200/month. Immediately I knew my dream was turning into a nightmare. Started own practice and since grossed between 45-60,000/year. Now associate Doctor again after the stress of ‘cracking the code’ almost killed me. I accrue $40 every day in federal interest. That’s $1200/month just in interest on 2/3 of my loans. I’ve already heard all the comments of how horrible I am for putting myself in this situation and I take full responsibility for it. I simply write this to save one person from making the same mistake I did. Unless your tuition is paid for or you have 100% certainty you can be in the top 5% then don’t go to Chiropractic School. The schools should be held responsible for the student loan defaults as I have been held responsible to work my ass off. People commit murder and serve less of a sentence then Chiropractic student loan debt. Please save your comments of how I have failed myself as I will wake Monday morning and work just as hard if not harder than you. Instead let’s all share the truth of how Chiropractic schools should be responsible for its own default and SELLING a career that doesn’t add up on paper. Save yourselves as Chiropractic debt will make you a slave!

    • Marc Bobrow September 3, 2018 at 3:07 PM
      Reply

      “Whats the code? I too graduated 11 years ago and been in own practice for 11 years now with no payment on my student loans. Any suggestions?
      Thx, Marc

    • kh April 4, 2019 at 11:42 PM
      Reply

      CO I have a similar story. Its going to be a life long chain on my ankle.

      • Travis Hornsby April 5, 2019 at 6:08 PM
        Reply

        Remember worst case it should be a 25 year chain. long yes but not permanent

  6. Dr. Kelsie Moore February 14, 2018 at 9:47 PM
    Reply

    I am a chiropractor and so is my fiancé. As great as it is to work in the same field, we now BOTH have the debt burden of graduating from chiro school. We did our masters degree as well so EACH of us have close to $200,000 in student loan debt. We had a big wake up call when we started working and realized the earning potential is incredibly low compared to the debt burden and I would be lying if I said I’ve thought many times that I might’ve done it differently. Since graduating, I’ve worked as an employee in private practice, as an independent contractor in multiple clinics, I’ve run my own private practice for a short time, and I’ve worked in corporate chiropractic..out of all of that, the maximum salary I’ve gotten to is $75,000. My fiancé is a co-owner of an all-cash practice and I think there is big earning potential there, but is still proving to be a difficult route with slow growth. We consulted Travis last year, and as disheartening as the whole loan situation is, he has helped tremendously to educate us about our options and to guide our planning to make it work, especially since we both have the debt load. We’re both under 30 and have our savings plans all laid out which is relieving, thanks a ton to Travis. Hope this helps give some perspective.

    • Travis February 14, 2018 at 10:00 PM
      Reply

      Thanks for sharing Kelsie. Happy to help

  7. Jason S April 11, 2018 at 1:02 AM
    Reply

    I’m a 2010 graduate with about 275k when I graduated. I made the concious decision to default, and I’ll explain why. The US government is broke, we just havent declared bankruptcy yet. The only way out is a sharp devaluation of the dollar. Considering this debt is denominated in dollars, I think we live in a soon to be (unsecured) debtors paradise, and a savers nightmare. Even though I’ve been charged with about 160 in collection and interest charges, I do not regret defaulting.

    • Travis April 11, 2018 at 2:40 PM
      Reply

      Each person has to make their own decisions, but I believe that is an extremely poor one. The only person you hurt when you default is yourself. Your credit will be wrecked, and you’ll be asked to pay more in interest for every loan you ever take out. You can pay a percent of your income that’s only 300-500 a month. You could easily lose that and more with a higher interest rate on a home equity loan or a mortgage. Even if there’s extremely high inflation, that’s not going to help folks who’ve defaulted.

  8. AC June 17, 2018 at 3:04 AM
    Reply

    I think with any profession there are those who succeed in making it profitable living and those who do not. It’s not all about money, in my opinion service is number one, but If you’re a chiropractor and make 60,000 dollars a year you should rethink your route of practice. It will be very difficult to make a decent living as an associate. You need to build your own successful practice. Trust me it can be done.

    • Travis June 18, 2018 at 3:38 PM
      Reply

      I agree. Ive seen some very successful private practice owners doing well, but unfortunately this is not the norm. If you are in an area that’s not super saturated where real estate costs aren’t sky high, you can do ok and even thrive. However, most docs are really struggling under the weight of all the debt with incomes that just don’t cut it with what they borrowed. I think your average chiro school should be ashamed of themselves for not doing more to adequately warn students.

  9. Vince October 24, 2018 at 9:05 AM
    Reply

    I’ve worked non-profit and govt jobs for at least 30hrs a week for the past several years to qualify for PSLF. There’s a way out of debt, but two jobs (chiro + 1) is not for everyone.

    • Travis Hornsby October 24, 2018 at 5:18 PM
      Reply

      Yeah that’s pretty difficult to do for sure.

  10. RG November 12, 2018 at 3:51 PM
    Reply

    I have been in practice for over 20 years and I have watched my income due to insurance reimbursement decline go right down the tubes. Unfortunately, I have been unable to pay off my student loans and currently on IBR. I will be on that until I die! For a number of years now I have been looking for another job… not much out there with my DC degree!?!

    • Travis Hornsby November 12, 2018 at 4:50 PM
      Reply

      That’s correct. Out of recent grads, my guess is 1% to 5% have six figure incomes within 5 years of graduation. That’s a far cry from the promises made by many of theses programs when they’re trying to convince you to enroll

      • kh April 4, 2019 at 11:48 PM
        Reply

        Yes its a huge scam! The chiropractic school I went to was as much of a fraud as Fyre Festival , and now Im left powerless with big debt.

        • Travis Hornsby April 5, 2019 at 6:08 PM
          Reply

          Watch out world! Ja Rule Chiropractic School coming to a town near you

  11. John Wulff December 1, 2018 at 9:30 PM
    Reply

    Why cant’t we make a push to get into the Healthcare Provider Shortage Area Programs. We could work under the “Primary Care” designation.
    I’d be willing to travel 18 miles to an established clinic and provide Chiropractic care to Medicare/Medicaid patients in lieu of loan forgiveness?
    I’m 61 years old and have 30 years of experience. It seems a waste to not be using my DC when the primary care physicians, PA’s and Nurse practitioners are overwhelmed in daily practice.

    • Travis Hornsby December 3, 2018 at 4:43 AM
      Reply

      There certainly isn’t enough advocacy on behalf of chiropractors who have big student debt. Hopefully the readers of this site can help change that

  12. Dk December 18, 2018 at 4:19 AM
    Reply

    Wow , I’m surprised hearing these stories. I graduated in 1999 and my chiropractic education cost me 100K back then (and that was the most I took max loans out) . Seems to me that the price of these schools have sky rocketed. Earlier today I saw in life univ. magazine , they had gotten over 1 million dollars in donations in 2018. I feel bad for the recent grads and others with over 100K In loans.
    What bothered me was that on graduation day they talked me into refinancing my loan at 8.5%(on campus at life University) what they didn’t tell me was that I’m refinancing and will NEVER be able to do so again. Years later interests rates dropped and I was of course surprised I couldn’t refinance. From that day on I made double payments and paid it off in 11 years. These schools have gotten greedy!

    • Travis Hornsby December 18, 2018 at 2:08 PM
      Reply

      Really surprises me anyone would be willing to donate money to Life or other chiro schools when students are leaving with 250k and up for four years of education.

      • JB May 30, 2019 at 6:20 PM
        Reply

        The individuals donating money to these schools have done well for themselves in the chiropractic profession. Unfortunately, the inflation of tuition has exponentially bypassed the median income for chiropractors which is the discrepancy we are beginning to see. I myself had nearly $200,000 in student loan debt after matriculating in 2014. With a stroke of good fortune and hard work, I am happy to report I should be able to have it paid off in 10 years.

        • Travis Hornsby May 31, 2019 at 4:15 PM
          Reply

          That’s an amazing accomplishment. Would just make sure that folks know the implications of paying off their chiro loans vs investing

  13. Beth Marti January 12, 2019 at 1:44 PM
    Reply

    I am married to a Chiropractor , though our clinic grosses between 215,00 to 200,000 a year, We have to keep our combined wage low in order to afford payment on both our student loans. We took the loans & that is on us but the fact that the Federal Government can capitalize the interest s on the loan is one of the biggest problem! After 20yrs of practice, my husband is feeling the wear & tear on his body. We are looking to find someone (who would be a fish in a barrel) to buy our practice. Email if interested.
    bethmarti@rocketmail.com

    • Travis Hornsby January 14, 2019 at 2:28 AM
      Reply

      There aren’t a ton of practice listings in chiropractic that I’ve run across compared to some other professions. Remember that your husband can do any profession he wants and can still pay based on his income. Doesn’t need to be chiropractic related.

  14. Dano January 13, 2019 at 1:22 PM
    Reply

    My current situation is no different than any of these other stories. My total loan amount continues to rise , and I make my measly IBR payment each month, which doesn’t even make a mark on the interest I compile. Right now my 2 options seem to be:
    1) continue what I’m doing, and die with these loans
    2) find a job in the public sector (which defeats the purpose of the reason I have so much debt in the first place).
    But I’m looking for option 3. Somebody commented on the federal student loans forgiving everyone debt…maybe? Doesn’t seem likely, but I’m on board if the ydo! If you have come this far and have gone down this long and windy road then you have done your research and know these public sector jobs operate off of the 501(c)3 form. This is grace from the federal government that makes a business a “non-profit” and allows you to qualify for the 10 year loan forgiveness. The only stipulation with this program is that you have to work “full-time” or 30 hours a week.
    My question is…..can I start a non-profit, 501(c)3? And it truly doesn’t matter if I am doing anything related to chiropractic or if I’m making the world more aware of cat videos on the internet. If it’s an approved 501(c)3 shouldn’t this be a way out. At this point in my life, I’m looking for anything. I’m not proposing to be mishonest or misleading, I’m simply playing the game by the rules and looking for angles. Thought? Anybody? Bueller?

    • Travis Hornsby January 14, 2019 at 2:36 AM
      Reply

      I think joining a 501c3 completely unrelated to chiropractic is something that I’ve seen a lot of DCs decide to do so they can have an opportunity to get the loans wiped much sooner than 20 to 25 years. You should make the decision that makes you happy. My opinion is that you can’t start your own non profit very easily and have it comply with PSLF program terms.

  15. DMarn December 29, 2019 at 3:19 PM
    Reply

    Thank your for sharing this information! It is truly discriminatory and wrong that chiropractors are left out of loan forgiveness almost entirely when we are educated as physician level, portal of entry providers who provide cost effective, non-pharmacological approaches to pain and disability. I have lobbied in the state and federal legislator for inclusion into loan forgiveness for the past 4 years, and know chiros who’ve been doing it for 20+ With no movement – the AMA has too much lobbying power. Chiropractors have been shown to save health systems tons of money in the long term and improve outcomes, so it is all very unfortunate for chiros AND patients alike.

    Anyway, I wanted to ask you about the PSLF program. I will be going back to school in January to complete a BSN and Family Nurse Practitioner. This will cost me additional money, however, I will be able to start around $55,000 as an RN, and $90,000+ As an FNP, both with benefits. While completing my FNP, I can work full time as an RN and part time as an associate chiro which will hopefully add at least $10,000 in annual income. I will also be able to practice dually as a chiropractor and FNP upon completion, which will bolster my income as the services I will be able to provide will be widened by combining the two. This is compared to an associate chiro position with no benefits, and the highest salary starting in my area being $45,000. I know grads who’ve been in the same position for 3 years In my area and still making $41,000 with no benefits or bonuses. I will also have a much broader access to interdisciplinary jobs/working in ortho and jobs in general with the FNP licensure.
    Another reason (BIG reason!) I decided on this path was because there are many loan forgiveness programs for nurses and nurse practitioners. Am I right in thinking I can enroll in PSLF working as an RN (and eventually an FNP), and still receive loan forgiveness for ALL federal loans including those from chiropractic school and my first bachelor’s degree? Additionally, do you feel the PSLF is worth it compared to say, throwing half my income at my loans until they’re paid off? It does make me very nervous to depend on a program rather than of my own accord, but I also realize how much money I would be able to pay myself if my loans were to be forgiven. Thank you so much!

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner January 6, 2020 at 3:16 PM
      Reply

      That is correct you can get everything (chiro plus nursing) loans forgiven w PSLF. That said, sounds like you need to become a FNP as fast as possible and use a hospital based job to get forgiveness.

  16. LOST2 January 21, 2020 at 7:33 PM
    Reply

    As a 57 yr old, single individual who was accepted into Chiro. school giving up a new federal job to go into debt to pursue a dream is it worth the debt? As long as I can manage the payments under the IBR it seems it would be better than what I’m doing now! Advice needed

    • Travis at Student Loan Planner January 27, 2020 at 3:15 PM
      Reply

      Don’t go back to chiro school w those details. Stick with the govt job get a nice pension and volunteer with a chiro in retirement instead.

  17. Kiro November 4, 2020 at 4:09 PM
    Reply

    Will Joe Biden erase some student loan debts?

    • Amy at Student Loan Planner November 13, 2020 at 12:19 PM
      Reply

      It’s hard to tell what Biden’s student loan reform might look like.

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