Another day older, deeper in debt
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* Susan Pinker

When Andrew Nice finishes medical school at McGill this spring, he will have accrued debts totalling about $75 000. His wife Karen, an actuary who has also earned 2 degrees, will probably owe more. “At the end of this year we're starting out with $150 000 to $170 000 debt between the 2 of us,” he says. “It's daunting at times.”

When Nice started medical school it wasn't difficult to get a loan, although a preferential loan rate was more elusive. “My banker knows me quite well and is quite [helpful] to me,” he says as he prepares to graduate. However, “whether they'll give me any more is the next question.”

As a Quebec resident, Nice is not obliged to pay back his $15 000 in student loans or the interest on the principal until he completes his residency in anesthesia 5 years from now. But he hopes to pay down the “big hunk” on his line of credit gradually. “You don't have the opportunity to work summers as a medical student,” he says. “So you really need a line of credit. Paying down bits of that would be a first step.”

His immediate plan is to keep his personal line of credit flat at $60 000 and then to pay down 10% to 15% of it annually once he starts his residency this summer. Unlike graduates who leave the province, Nice doesn't have to pay back his student loans right away. However, with his debt load and a medical resident's salary fixed at $36 000 annually by the Quebec government, he doesn't have much room to manoeuvre, at least for the moment.

Ultimately, with a well-paying position virtually assured and his wife having a good job, he feels things will be under control. He certainly feels more fortunate than some fellow students. “There are 25 to 30 international students in McGill medicine and these people are leaving with $200 000 to $250 000 US in debt. At the end of the day, I still see myself in a lucky position.”

![Figure1](http://www.cmaj.ca/https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/164/12/1735.2/F1.medium.gif)

[Figure1](http://www.cmaj.ca/content/164/12/1735.2/F1)

Figure. **Andrew Nice: the debt is daunting at times** Photo by: Susan Pinker