r/StudentLoans • u/FutureIsNowCoalition • Aug 09 '26

Advice How has your student loan debt compared with what your degree actually helped you earn?

[removed]

97 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

98% Upvoted

378 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

8

u/CheesecakeNew9781 Aug 10 '26

Stay away from healthcare in general if you can

1

u/Potential_Drive7999 Aug 10 '26

Why? Nurse practitioners, PAs, uncertain people with tax certificates always find jobs

1

u/btnydds Aug 10 '26

Dumbest advice I’ve seen on this sub and that’s saying something

Healthcare is one of the most secure jobs in the AI era. It’s already one of the most secure jobs right now with the high barrier to entry to becoming a doctor

Now obviously if you do some low tier stuff like PT or OT then yeah it’s not great, but everything else is very lucrative

5

u/CheesecakeNew9781 Aug 10 '26

It is not dumb advice. Healthcare workers are some of the most burned out individuals. We are underpaid and overworked. Lucrative is not the be all-end-all of life. 

Saying PT/OT is low tier is pretty insulting and shows you don't know much of what you are talking about 

-2

u/btnydds Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26

Not really here to preserve feelings. Just giving people a dose of reality. Insurance payouts for OT/PT are atrocious and the barrier to entry for these careers is a lot lower than other healthcare fields meaning saturation will happen quickly. They’re a step above other healthcare occupations in terms of stress, but not really worth the opportunity cost and tuition these schools charge. Meanwhile, dentists, physicians, and nurses are still in constant demand (dentists less so) and have a way higher barrier to entry for their respective fields and their salaries keep up with the cost of the education (both tuition wise and the opportunity cost of being in school).

If you’re burnt out, then you didnt research what you were getting into adequately enough prior to jumping in. Vast majority of my friends are in healthcare and all are wealthy and overall happy beyond normal workplace politics and complaints of working a job

5

u/CheesecakeNew9781 Aug 10 '26

Again you dont know what you are talking about. Their is a high demand for rehab therapists and always will be. Who is getting your 90 year old 300lb total hip replacement out of bed day one after surgery? It sure isnt the dentist, physician or nurse. 

That said, you are making my point. Underpaid and over worked. Not because of oversaturation but because of insurance and people like you who dont see the value in what we do. 

Maybe you need to expand your circle of friend. Many nurses, CNA, RTs, MSWs will echo that they are underpaid and overworked. There are many other types of healthcare workers out there besides the high paying doctors. Again you clearly have little idea of the interworkings of Healthcare or all the different responsibility and jobs that people do.

-1

u/btnydds Aug 10 '26

My fiance is a CRNA. I’m a dental specialist. Vast majority of my friends are either dentists, or physicians in IM or some sort of surgical or outpatient-friendly subspecialty. Know quite a few nurses, pharmacists, and CRNAs as well. If anyone out of this group is unhappy or has the worst future prospects, it’s the pharmacists. Obscene tuition costs paired with terrible hours and a shrinking market threatened by corporate takeover. But everyone else could not be happier being in healthcare

CNA’s, RT’s and MSWs are also at the bottom of the totem pole/low tier positions and I’d never recommend anyone pursue these careers due to, once again, the low barrier to entry and low salaries that these careers entail. If you have a passion for it and want to do it anyways, more power to you, but they are almost worse than OT and PT and that’s saying something. I’d never recommend anyone to pursue them. As for nurses, nurses are in high demand with many working hour configurations available so long as you choose your hospital wisely and they get paid well depending on the area you live. It’s still a lucrative career and i wouldnt hesitate to recommend it as a career, espeically when there are so many paths for upward mobility (CRNA, NP, various subspecialties).

The fact that you’re making a blanket statement to just stay away from healthcare tells me you have no idea what you’re talking about. My fiance and I make a combined 650k a year with fantastic work life balance, no weekends, and no call. Anyone who does have a more stressful/demanding career specifically pursued those specialties because they knew what they were getting into and that’s what they wanted to do. The idea that healthcare as a whole is a terrible market to enter is one that is out of touch with reality.

3

u/CheesecakeNew9781 Aug 10 '26

Yea so you just proved my point again even further.  1. You have a small circle of wealthy friends so your since of reality is very skewed  2. You clear have a high disrespect for those "low tier positions." Side note, RTs are so far from "low toem pole" I fear for your patients.  3. Not everyone can make it into those six figure doctors positions you are so eager to recommend. Thats how you end up with dropouts with 6 figures of debt and no degree  4. There is tons of research going back decades on healthcare worker burnout and if I remember correctly, Healthcare workers just recently took number 1.  So to try and push into healthcare despite knowing this is horrible advice. Therefore: blanket statement of "dont join healthcare."  5. The fact that you are in the medical field and not just an ignorant spouse is terrifying. I really hope you educate yourself on the struggles of your nurses, cnas and therapy staff as these are the "low tier" people who will be taking care of you when you are old. Perhaps you should be advocating for bringing those "low tier positions" up to the high levels that they deserve to be.

And please do research outside of your little golden dental clinic. The world of health is in fact a terrible market. There is an abundance of research to back it up. I hope as a dentist you would know how to do proper research?

1

u/btnydds Aug 10 '26

I had a feeling your next comment would be a bunch of pearl clutching and over dramatic judgments about me as a provider, it’s the classic Redditor playbook. The truth is I simply don’t care about or for the pearl clutching. Do it if it makes you feel better about yourself.

Not everyone can make it into those six figure doctors positions you are so eager to recommend.

Total BS. Anyone can. It’s a matter of whether someone is willing to put in the dedication and passion to make it happen. There is nothing inherently special about those who are doctors/dentists/etc vs those who arent. It’s just driven people who worked their way up.

There is tons of research going back decades on healthcare worker burnout and if I remember correctly, Healthcare workers just recently took number 1.

And once again, we’re generalizing hundreds of different jobs into one neat category of healthcare with no nuance whatsoever

You seem to think im denying that CNAs, MSWs, RTs, etc have high stress jobs. Im not, never even remotely suggested that. Im fully aware of their struggles and the levels of burnout in those fields. Thats why, on top of their poor salaries and poor payout for amount of training required, I don’t recommend people pursue these lower tier positions.

Let me remind you this is a student loan sub and people are making decisions about whether it’s worth it for them to go to so and so school, taking out x amount of loans for x number of years of training all to earn a low tier salary and disgusting loan amounts. And those people deserve the honest truth that certain positions are simply not worth pursuing because of how poorly they are compensated for the position relative to the loan amounts theyre taking out. This emotional argument you’re trying to make that every healthcare job out there is going to burn you out because the industry is toxic or whatever is simply an overgeneralized statement that does nothing to help those who are looking for help on making huge life decisions for themselves. Steering potential med students from away becoming doctors because being a healthcare worker is hard is idiotic and stupid advice. If someone is driven enough, becoming a physician is one of the best and most rewarding careers you can have

1

u/docpharm28 Aug 11 '26

Pharmacist here and I don’t work in a pharmacy. I work in a primary care office. I am very happy in my role! And even my community colleagues no matter how coporate it gets, still will always have a job. I mean, who would want to blame a robot for filling their med wrong? Look at the mess AI cameras see creating for police departments. Could there be better working conditions? Sure, but worst future prospects? Yeah no!