Tax Season

[NTP66]

Source of the post In retrospect I had $16k in loans for a 4 year degree when I graduated in 1999.

That's around what I paid for my 2-year degree (graduated in '01 or '02).

[skullman80]

Yeah the two year degree route ended up being the smartest thing I ever did as far as not completely putting myself behind the eight ball once I graduated. I made lots of stupid financial decisions in my 20's that screwed me over and took forever to dig out of, but that was my own fault.

[NTP66]

Yeah the two year degree route ended up being the smartest thing I ever did as far as not completely putting myself behind the eight ball once I graduated. I made lots of stupid financial decisions in my 20's that screwed me over and took forever to dig out of, but that was my own fault.

Same.

[robbiestoupe]

Source of the post My wife was lucky to make north of 80K right out of PA school.

wow, really? That's great. For some reason my wife gave me the impression PAs don't make much and it's grueling work. I assume she works in the Pittsburgh area? I know my wife makes way less than she would if she worked in a different county. She said the amount of PTs in the Pittsburgh area is way oversaturated and UPMC/AGH basically lowball all their PTs due to this. Many of her coworkers left to work in Butler/Washington county and make a lot more.

[skullman80]

Source of the post My wife was lucky to make north of 80K right out of PA school.

wow, really? That's great. For some reason my wife gave me the impression PAs don't make much and it's grueling work. I assume she works in the Pittsburgh area? I know my wife makes way less than she would if she worked in a different county. She said the amount of PTs in the Pittsburgh area is way oversaturated and UPMC/AGH basically lowball all their PTs due to this. Many of her coworkers left to work in Butler/Washington county and make a lot more.

Yeah she works at UPMC Shadyside/Presby. She started in the Leukemia ward at Shadyside doing in-patient stuff. That was grueling 10/12 hour days that could go way longer with people who were normally going to die fairly soon. She dealt with Chemo every day etc. Worked weekends, holidays etc. It drained her.

She now works in the cardio-thorasic unit as a PA for a heart doctor(s) in the same hospital. It's much more relaxed cause it's outpatient. No weekends, no holidays, much more laid back and she actually makes more. It was a transfer from within UPMC and even though she says she hates dealing with the "bullshit" of office politics sometimes I remind her that her job on the Leukemia ward was much worse and way more draining.

[robbiestoupe]

Source of the post My wife was lucky to make north of 80K right out of PA school.

wow, really? That's great. For some reason my wife gave me the impression PAs don't make much and it's grueling work. I assume she works in the Pittsburgh area? I know my wife makes way less than she would if she worked in a different county. She said the amount of PTs in the Pittsburgh area is way oversaturated and UPMC/AGH basically lowball all their PTs due to this. Many of her coworkers left to work in Butler/Washington county and make a lot more.

Yeah she works at UPMC Shadyside/Presby. She started in the Leukemia ward at Shadyside doing in-patient stuff. That was grueling 10/12 hour days that could go way longer with people who were normally going to die fairly soon. She dealt with Chemo every day etc. Worked weekends, holidays etc. It drained her.

She now works in the cardio-thorasic unit as a PA for a heart doctor(s) in the same hospital. It's much more relaxed cause it's outpatient. No weekends, no holidays, much more laid back and she actually makes more. It was a transfer from within UPMC and even though she says she hates dealing with the "bullshit" of office politics sometimes I remind her that her job on the Leukemia ward was much worse and way more draining.

I've been trying 11 years to convince my wife to work in outpatient. But she insists she'll hate it, so here we are.

Ever since she started floating between all UPMC hospitals, she hasn't had to work weekends. That all changed at the beginning of the year with her new boss. Idiot just wants to make his mark and has no common sense at all. Even that wasn't enough to push her into doing outpatient work. I give up.

[dodint]

Yeah the two year degree route ended up being the smartest thing I ever did as far as not completely putting myself behind the eight ball once I graduated. I made lots of stupid financial decisions in my 20's that screwed me over and took forever to dig out of, but that was my own fault.

GI Bill for me. I also had the AAS before enlisting so I carried the GI Bill all the way through my Masters and much of law school.

[mac5155]

Of note I'm going to be paying off my student loans this year after like 15 years... and I'd have no problem with everyone (not just my wife) getting some sort of relief overall even though I just paid mine off. The whole system is broken, but it is what it is.

She also gets hers forgiven I think after 15 years or 20 because of the field that she is in or something like that. With that said she got boned the first few years being a PA cause even though she worked for UPMC, she technically drew a check via the Leukemia department so it didn't accrue towards her years of service even after she appealed it. The role she is in now with UPMC is does accrue towards that, but she basically lost about 5 years worth of "time' towards forgiveness.

Id settle for 0% interest.
Or also, they could remove the 2500 limit on the tax deduction.
Either of those would be beneficial to those of us actually trying to pay them off.