Spend Less, Save More in PA School

“A penny saved is a penny earned”. The saying is all the more important when you don’t have an income. We’ve all heard the stories about college students eating Top Ramen and other budget friendly foods or splitting the rent in creative ways or living out of their cars to get by as they try to make it through school. There are a lot of expenses you have to pay when attending college and it is important to cut costs where you can. For some graduate school programs it is possible to work part time to help pay the bills, for most Physician Assistant programs this is not an option and was highly discouraged at the program I went to. The PA program that I graduated from was twenty-four months and there was a lot of information packed into those two years. The first year was didactic, we were in the classroom basically from 8:00-5:00. After class I would typically eat dinner, work out, then the rest of my free time was spent studying. I would spend most of my Saturday and Sunday studying as well. There was not a lot of time to have a part time job. I did have a classmate that did phlebotomy and would pick up shifts on the weekends on occasion but this was not a huge source of income.  Without the time to commit to a job the next best option is to spend less, if you have to take out student loans every penny you don’t spend now is a penny plus interest you don’t have to pay back latter.

Housing

I’ve heard a lot of creative ways people have saved money on housing expenses. You can save quite a bit on living expenses by sharing living spaces with classmates or other people. During my undergraduate training I knew some guys that shared a bed so that they each could spend less on rent. The room they shared could only fit one bed so they would take shifts sleeping. It was only for a short time but was a drastic measure to help as they didn’t have the money to spend on a better living situation. If you live close to your parents and have a good relationship with them then it is worth it in the long run to save a lot and live with them while you’re in PA school. You might be worried about how this will affect your social life but don’t worry if you’re in PA school you won’t have much a social life. You could also look at university housing for graduate students, sometimes these options are much less than having an apartment on your own or living with roommates a rented house. Whatever living situation you end up in, know that it is going to be a temporary situation and in a couple of years you’ll be moving on.

Food

People often don’t realize how much they spend on eating out. You can save a lot by buying your own groceries and eating at home. Depending on what you’re eating you can eat for a lot less; the Top Ramen diet has been a favorite for many college students over the years. When I was in graduate school I would just make rice and beans at the beginning of the week and would have my meals set for the whole week. It was easy, cheap and better than Top Ramen. It just depends on how creative you are with cooking and grocery shopping but there are a lot of options to be able to eat without spending a lot on food.

Books

Another great way to spend less is on your books. Books can cost upward of $3,000 for PA school. In both grad school and undergrad I would only buy the books I thought I would use often. I would never buy books prior to classes starting. You are already paying fees for the university library and it typically has all the text books you need so you can go the library and use the text books there and if you find that you are using some of them often you can choose to buy them later.

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Here are two books that I used a lot in PA school, but especially for Physician Assistant board review.  A Comprehensive Review For the Certification and Recertification Examinations for Physician Assistants is a good guide for what to study for the board. It has a lot of review questions that are helpful. It follows the blueprint for the PANCE. The down side is that it dose not go in depth, so I used  CURRENT Medical Diagnosis and Treatment 2017 (Lange) for further study of topics I did not know as well that I needed in depth study on.

Spend Less on Material Things

I recently saw the documentary Minimalism: a Documentary About the Important Things. The basic premise of the film is how you can live a meaningful life with less stuff. America is a nation of consumers. We like to spend money on things. We need the newest updated phones, computers and devices. Every season there are changes in fashion and the media tells us that we need to be up to date with the latest trends. If you buy an outfit this spring it’s old news by summer and you have to buy a whole new wardrobe. The documentary focuses on being happy with less, however my take away is that you don’t need to spend a lot on material things in order to be happy. One of the people that was interviewed said she only uses thirty-three items to dress for three months. The point being, you don’t have to have a huge closet of clothes. If you’re able to dress for three months with thirty-three items or less you can save a lot of money not spending it on clothes. It’s not practical for everyone to live with only thirty-three items in our closet; but for must of us if we look at our closets and see it overflowing with clothes, and we can be more mindful of how we spend our money and still be happy with less.

Let Someone Else Pay

Another option to help you spend less of your money is to get someone else to pay for your education.  For a two year commitment with the National Health Service Corps  you can earn up to $50,000 in loan repayments. For other options for loan repayment similar to this look into other branches of the military, working for the Indian Health Services or other jobs in undeserved areas. Nothing is ever totally free as there is always some price to pay whether it be your time in filling out scholarship applications or a commitment in working in a specific location, but if you’re willing to put in the time or sacrifice your ideal working location there are a lot of options to have your school paid for.

If none of  these options are ideal for your situation and student loans are your choice, then limiting the amount you have to borrow now will help you later when you’re trying to pay back your loans; so keep eating Top Ramen, find 10 other people to share a 1 bedroom apartment, don’t buy your text books, empty out your closet and let someone else pay your tuition.