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SJMS SCHOLARSHIP LOAN FUND
Practicing local can potentially ease portion of medical school debt burden
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By Jo Ann Kirby
A calling to serve others is often a driving motivator among many who embark on the path to don the white coat.
But having a servant’s heart can come with a hefty price-tag.
It’s a long and costly journey that can add up to years of debt-laden schooling, followed by a residency and oftentimes fellowships before a doctor’s full earning potential is reached.
The San Joaquin Medical Society’s Scholarship Loan Fund has granted a total of $4 million in affordable loans to 324 students since its inception in 1962 and offers new incentives for doctors to practice locally.
Dr. Julianne Angeles, a family medicine practitioner who works for San Joaquin County Hospital Employee & Occupational Health and also sees patients at San Joaquin County Community Clinics, said the SLF loan she received was helpful from the start because it meant she could focus on her medical school studies without having to take on part-time jobs to finance her education.
After becoming eligible to apply for the fund’s new Principal Forgiveness Program, which converts a portion of the loan into a scholarship for each year they practice locally, up to five years, she has even more reason to be grateful. “Because I had to finance my own education, I have accrued a significant amount of student loan debt. This scholarship helps me alleviate the financial burden of student loans so I can continue my work to serving the urban underserved,” said Angeles, who is also juggling a mortgage payment in addition to the other bills one accumulates as an adult. The SLF also sponsored Dr. Angeles’ first year of membership with the San Joaquin Medical Society with the goal of further engaging young physicians in the community. Membership gives her the chance to network with established doctors, become involved in leadership opportunities and more.
In addition to earning an undergraduate degree, would-be doctors spend four years in medical school, followed by about three to seven years as a resident, where they train under the supervision of attending physicians, and possibly additional years if they specialize in an area that necessitates a fellowship. Even though they are officially a medical doctor when they start their residency, they earn relatively slim pay considering their debt load. According to Medscape, the average medical resident in family practice could expect to make about $60,000 in 2020.
A 2020 Association of American Medical Colleges report titled “Physician Education Debt and the Cost to Attend Medical School,” reported that nearly three-quarters of all medical school students graduate with significant debt. And while that percentage has decreased in the past few years, those who do borrow for medical school face big loans: the average medical school debt for students who graduated in 2019 was $201,490. The median four-year cost for public university students can be $250,222. For private school students, the cost is around $330,180. >>
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Originally launched in the 1960s with funds from a polio vaccine fundraiser and donations from a national travel agency, the fund is now primarily supported by returns from its investments, repayment from loan recipients and donations from generous supporters. The board welcomes donations so that it can ultimately offer more awards each year. To meet the demand and continue to offer the principal forgiveness incentives for those who return to serve our community, SLF will gladly accept taxdeductible donations. Checks may be made payable to Scholarship Loan Fund, 3031 W. March Lane, Ste 222 West, Stockton, CA 95219. A receipt will be provided.
For some doctors, including Angeles who attended Michigan State for her Master of Public Health and Doctor of Medicine degrees, student loan debt can be even more burdensome when the price includes out-of-state graduate school tuition.
It can be a shock to medical school graduates when they learn that repayments need to be made on $200,000-plus of student loan debt while they are just starting their residency, said cardiologist Dr. Richard Waters who is a Stockton native, practices at Stockton Cardiology Medical Group and currently serves as vice chair of the Scholarship Loan Fund Board of Directors. As a past recipient of the loan in the late 90’s, Dr. Waters was instrumental in shaping some of the restructuring of the loan repayment and new incentives aimed at convincing local students to return to practice in community. Waters was just one year out of medical school when he had to start chipping away at his medical school debt. After a one-year internal medicine internship, two years of internal medicine residency, he had three years of cardiology fellowship followed by a one-year interventional cardiology fellowship.
“I had to start repaying it in full while I was in my residency. I knew that. But it’s hard to realize what that means when you are in college. It’s hard to understand what going into full repayment five years later means. It was challenging to meet my repayments while I was in residency,” he said.
For that reason and the fact that the area continues to suffer from a critical shortage of doctors and nurses, Waters is pleased that a portion of loan can truly become a scholarship if a recipient commits to practicing locally and meets forgiveness program’s requirements. “When I came back to the community and was asked to be part of the board, I wanted to do it. I thought it was a great opportunity to help make it even a better loan and possibly even make it a true scholarship,” Dr. Waters said. “We made changes to extend the amount of time between completing medical school and when you enter full repayment to make it more financially feasible and realistic.”
Dr. David Araiza attended Tokay High School and then supported himself for several years before he started working his way through San Joaquin Delta College and UC Merced. He then attended medical school at UC Davis and is in his residency at San Joaquin General Hospital. Married with two small children, he said the prospect of so much student loan debt can deter medical school students from going into certain specialties if it means that delaying their earning potential would be further delayed by lengthy fellowships.
Araiza, who has always planned to practice family
Dr. David Araiza and Family
medicine, will likely be an ideal candidate for the new incentives. “My focus was to always return to Stockton and provide high quality care to Medi-Cal, uninsured and underinsured patients,” said Araiza, who was inspired to become a doctor after seeing the need for quality medical care for Medi-Cal recipients based on the experiences of his extended family.
While he is closer than ever to reaching his goal, his path to become a doctor has been a longer journey because he had
to work to support himself while simultaneously working towards his undergraduate degree. “This Scholarship Loan Fund helps,” he said.
Now in his first year of residency, Araiza said that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government temporarily set interest at zero percent and suspended loan
- DAVID ARAIZA, MD
SCHOLARSHIP LOAN FUND BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Gregg Jongeward, PhD Chair
Senior Associate Dean & Associate Professor, Biological Sciences University of the Pacific
Richard Waters MD, Vice Chair
Stockton Cardiology Medical Group
Georgette Hunefeld, Chief Financial Officer
Senior Director of Strategic Philanthropic Initiatives University of the Pacific
Elizabeth Grady, Secretary
San Joaquin Medical Society Alliance
Janwyn Funamura, MD
Pediatrician Valley Mountain Regional Center
Eric Chapa, MD Family Practice
Royce Northcott
San Joaquin Medical Society Alliance
Julie D. Kay, RN, MSN
Dean of Health and Fitness San Joaquin Delta College
Nguyen Vo, MD
Internal Medicine San Joaquin General Hospital
payments. He and his family are living with relatives to cut expenses and using the break from his other student loan payments to beef up their savings.
He said the Scholarship Loan Fund’s Loan is a great benefit for homegrown doctors and the potential to apply for the Principal Forgiveness Program lines up nicely with his goals to practice locally. “I really like what the San
Joaquin Medical Society does with the assistance they provide,” Dr. Araiza said, adding that their programs really help first-generation college and medical school students who can benefit from, not only financial assistance but mentorship. “They have Decision Medicine and Bridge to Medicine to mentor students. I also wish there were more of these repayment plans for people who want to serve in the Valley and help the neediest.” `Waters hopes the Scholarship Loan Fund can continue to help encourage medical residents to ultimately practice locally while helping to ease their financial burden. The program typically funds a maximum of two recipients each year offering M.D./D.O. recipients $10,000 a year to a maximum of $40,000 and offering nursing students studying for their R.N./N.P. or P.A., $4,000 a year to a maximum of $8,000. It could award more loans if the fund can continue to expand. “We know this is a wonderful community and we have talented people here who want careers in medicine, and we want to help them overcome the financial barriers to meet that goal but also we want to make it more attractive for them to come back home to practice ultimately,” Dr. Waters said.
- DR. WATERS
Richard Waters, MD
Scholarship Loan Fund Fast Facts
Residential Requirement
Applicants must have resided for a meaningful period of their lives in one or more of San Joaquin Medical Society’s member counties—San Joaquin, Alpine, Amador or Calaveras.
Application Timeline
Review of Fall Application Begins: May 1 Fall Interviews: May and June Review of Spring Application Begins: November 1 Spring Interviews: November and December
Loan Amounts
• MD/DO- $10,000 per year to a maximum of $40,000 • RN/NP/PA- $4,000 per year to a maximum of $8,000
Loan Terms
Doctor of Medicine and Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine Terms:
1.Medical Student Year 1 (MS-1) through
Postgraduate Year 1 (PGY-1): The loan is interest-free; no payment is required. 2.PGY-2 through PGY-3: Interest-only payment is required. The interest rate is prime plus 1% (determined annually on June 30th by the
Federal Reserve). Enrollment in medical school and residency must be uninterrupted and evidenced by proper documentation. Exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 3.Upon completion of PG-3: Repay the principal over a maximum of 60 months. The interest rate is prime plus 3% (determined annually on June 30th by the Federal Reserve). 4.The student may make payments to the loan or pay it off at any time, regardless of the repayment period.
Registered Nurse, Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant
1.The loan is interest-free during the course of study, which must be uninterrupted. 2. The month after completion of the program, the student is required to begin payments towards the principal, with an interest rate of prime plus 3% (determined annually on June 30th by the Federal Reserve) for a maximum of 60 months.
The student may make payments to the loan or pay it off at any time, regardless of the repayment period .
Physician Incentives
Recognizing the tremendous need for physicians in our communities, any recipient who returns to establish their primary practice in one of the San Joaquin Medical Society (SJMS) member counties of San Joaquin, Alpine, Amador or Calaveras, may apply for the Scholarship Loan Fund (SLF) incentives as outlined below:
Principal Forgiveness Program
• Upon employment verification, the recipient will make interest-only payments. • After completion of one year of practice in an
SJMS county, the SLF Board of Directors has the option (based on analysis of its finances) to offer forgiveness of up to 20% of the loan amount identified at the time of graduation from medical school. • The recipient may apply for the SLF Principal
Forgiveness Program annually while practicing in an SJMS county for a total of five years
The Scholarship Loan Fund will ensure first year membership dues to the San Joaquin Medical Society and the California Medical Association, organizations dedicated to promoting the care and well-being of patients and the betterment of the medical profession, as well as offering a variety of resources and benefits to its members.
For more details about the loan or to read the Winter 2013 article, including the history of SLF, please visit www.sjcms.org/programs/scholarshiploan-fund.aspx
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