The Growth of Family Medicine Resident Debt

The history of people and their relationships with debt is an interesting one. Although some embrace debt as necessary or even opportunistic, for many, debt represents stigma–a scarlet letter and constant reminder of something that is owed or has been left incomplete. For many, debt is something that should carry shame. I grew up harboring ideas of good debt and bad debt. My education, the one that my parents instilled in me was essential but that they could not quite pay for, was good debt. Educational debt was not something to be ashamed of, rather, it was a marker of my future earning potential. Of course, I understood that this too would have to be paid back, but educational debt was respectable, at least. After 4 years of undergraduate training and (almost) 3 years of medical school, I watched as colleagues were driven to choose their specialty based on any number of factors. Lifestyle and indebtedness were high on the list, as were availability of mentorship and prestige. As I decided on family medicine, I knew that I was making a decision that would significantly lessen my earning potential, and admittedly this made my decision more complicated. By then I was sufficiently disabused of the notion that my debt was good or bad, but I still had a lot of it. Ultimately, I found myself making a decision that had less to do with respectability or debt, and more to do with choosing a career and a specialty that had my respect.