Student loan debt among physicians in the US

How much is the average student loan debt for doctors? How many doctors graduate with student debt? How long do doctors spend paying back their student loans? How can they pay off their loans more quickly? How would an employer student loan repayments benefit help? We'll dive into all this and more below.

How much student loan debt do physicians have?

In 2025, the average student loan debt for a medical school graduate is $216,659 (excluding undergraduate and other student debt). The average debt for medical school graduates with both medical school and undergraduate debt is $246,659. 

How many physicians have student debt? 

Perhaps unsurprisingly, due to the high costs of medical school, a large majority of physicians graduate with some amount of student debt. According to the Education Data Initiative, 70% of doctors who graduated in 2025 took out student loans to pay for their medical school education and 74% of currently practicing physicians hold student debt. Nearly ⅓ of those borrowers still owe over $250K in student loans. 

How long does it take physicians to pay back student loans?

Repayment timelines for physicians can range wildly based on their initial student loan terms and repayment strategies post-graduation. Most physicians with student debt repay their loans within 13-20 years, but repayment timeline can be shorter or longer depending on factors like the type of loan (federal vs private), whether the physician is enrolled in an income-driven repayment plan, whether the physician pursues Public Service Loan Forgiveness, whether the physician receives student loan assistance from their employers, etc. 

Most physicians with student debt repay their loans within 13-20 years… 

Despite federal recommendations that borrowers pay off their loan in 10 years, nearly 1/3 of all physicians with student debt (30%) expect to pay off their loans in more than 10 years. 

A little more than half (57.6%) of all physicians in the class of 2025 with student debt will likely pay off their loan in 10 years by pursuing PSLF (This assumes they work continuously for a qualifying employer for 10 years, but not all doctors will). 

Those who enroll in income-driven repayment plans could take 20 or 30 years to repay their loans under Income-Based Repayment (IBR) or the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) introduced by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. 

How much will physicians pay over the lifetime of their student loan?

Depending on the initial terms of their student loans, their repayment strategy, and medical career path, physicians with student debt can end up paying 1.5x-2x+ their original loan balance over the lifetime of their loan.

For example, a physician with $200K in federal loans, borrowed at a fixed 8% interest rate, may end up repaying over $350K, including interest. If the loans are unsubsidized, they could end up paying even more if the interest they accrue during their years of school and and years of mandatory forbearance recapitalizes into the loan.

By taking advantage of PSLF, physicians can reduce the total paid over the lifetime of their student loans by a significant amount, sometimes even over $100K. It’s no wonder more and more graduating physician borrowers (65.1% in the class of 2025) aim to pursue PSLF post-graduation.  

How can physicians pay off their loans faster? 

20-30 years is a long time to be paying thousands of dollars each month on your student loans. Luckily, there are ways for physician borrowers to pay off their loans faster if they want to. 

These strategies include pursuing available loan forgiveness options, prepaying their loan principal, or working for an employer that offers extra student loan repayment as a benefit.

How can physicians receive student loan forgiveness? 

Physicians with federal student loans can receive student loan forgiveness through two primary avenues: Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and forgiveness via income-driven repayment plans. 

Under both programs, physicians with qualifying federal student loans will need to repay their loans for some period of time before any remaining loan balance is forgiven. 

Physicians who want to apply for PSLF will need to make 120 qualifying payments (or 10 years worth) on their student loans while they work for a qualifying employer, such as the government, 501(c)(3) nonprofit, or other qualifying nonprofits in order to have their loan forgiven at the end of the repayment period. Luckily, payments made during residency can give physician borrowers 3+ years of qualifying employment as most residency programs at teaching hospitals qualify for PSLF. 

Physicians on an income-driven repayment plan may have their outstanding loan balance automatically forgiven at the end of their repayment period, but it’s not necessarily guaranteed. At present, student loan forgiveness under IDR plans (other than Income-Based Repayment) is on hold as the fate of these plans remains in limbo with the courts. Forgiveness for borrowers on IBR is allowed to continue as the plan was created by Congress and explicitly allows for student loan forgiveness at the end of the repayment term. 

How can physicians get student loan repayment assistance from their employers? 

Physicians have a few options available to them when it comes to paying off their student loans with employer-sponsored student loan repayment programs: 

• they can take advantage of a government-sponsored student loan assistance program 
• they can work for a corporate employer that offers employer student loan repayments as a benefit. 

Government-sponsored loan repayment programs

Physicians who commit to work for certain government organizations or in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) or other underserved, high-needs locations, may be able to take advantage of special loan repayment programs designed to bring healthcare workers to areas that desperately need them.  

Examples of these student loan repayment programs include: 

• The Navy Health Professions Loan Repayment Program and Army Health Professionals Loan Repayment Program - under this program, doctors could receive up to $40,000 per year in loan repayment assistance (minus 25% for taxes) in exchange for a service commitment. It’s important to note that this repayment assistance:
  
  • Has a lifetime cap 
  • Requires some level of service commitment
  • Is not tax-free and may be subject to state and federal taxes
  • May only cover qualified education loans, including some private student loans

• The VA Education Debt Reduction Program or Student Loan Repayment Program - will repay $40,000 per year (up to $200,000 and $100,000 respectively) 
• The National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program - The NHSC has three possible loan repayment programs for working physicians that will repay between $50K - $100K per year, with a possible bonus of up to $5,000 for proficient spanish-language speakers. The programs require either a 2 or 3 year commitment at NHSC-approved, NHSC-approved Substance Use Disorder (SUC), or NHSC-approved Rural SUD sites. 
• The NHSC also has a program for medical students in their final year of medical school (the NHSC Students to Service Loan Repayment Program) that will repay up to $120K in exchange for a commitment to service three or more years at an approved NHSC site in an HPSA with the greatest need.
• The Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Recovery (STAR) Loan Repayment Program - will repay up to $250,000 for healthcare professionals who commit to work in approved facilities for six years. 
• The National Institute of Health (NIH) Loan Repayment Program - will repay up to $50,000 annually for physicians doing qualified biomedical or biobehavioral research. 
• The Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program - will repay up to $25,000 per year ($50,000 total) for healthcare professionals who commit to working for two-years in an American Indian and Alaska Native community in need. 
• State-run student loan repayment programs - States like Arizona, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, and many more, have student loan repayment programs available for health professionals who commit to working in HPSA and underserved areas in need. 

For information on more available student loan forgiveness programs for physicians, check out the American Association of Medical College (AAMC)’s free searchable database. 

Employer student loan repayment benefits

One last option for physicians to quickly repay their student loans (federal or private), is to work for an employer that offers a student loan repayment benefit. Employers offering this benefit can contribute up to $5,250 tax-free annually to each physician’s student loans. Employers can absolutely contribute more than $5,250 to each employees’ student loans, but the excess will be considered taxable income. 

With these contributions, physicians can save thousands of dollars in principal & interest payments. When these contributions are applied as additional payments to their student loan principal, physicians can even pay off their loans years faster.  

An employer student loan repayment benefit is a powerful, prescriptive tool that hospitals, physician networks, private practices, and group practices can leverage to attract and retain top talent, while simultaneously tackling one of the biggest sources of financial stress for physicians with student debt.

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Interested in learning more about employer student loan repayment benefits? Highway Benefits can help! Schedule a call with a member of our team today.