Major expenses in PGY1 / Transition to Residency

[James Nystead]

As a fourth-year medical student, what costs should I be aware of/account for during the next 1-2 years? I understand that there will be a cost associated with CaRMS applications (no interview fees this year), LMCC Part 1 and 2 writing fees, USMLE Step 2 CK and CS for those with US fellowship aspirations. There will also be costs associated with relocation and home purchasing/increase in rent if moving to a HCOL city. 

I was wondering what else I was missing and the approximate costs of these things (eg CPSO fees? Surgical foundation exam fees?)

Do people still use their medical student LOC in residency? I feel like it'd be hard to afford a semi-decent lifestyle in a potentially HCOL city like Van or Toronto on a resident's salary. 

[ellorie]

Depends what you mean by "decent lifestyle".  I did not use my LOC at all during residency and in fact steadily paid down about 30k while living alone in Toronto.  If you are not supporting any dependents and live relatively frugally it's pretty fine.  We make decent money.  If you are supporting kids or a partner who does not work, maybe more dicey.

[Hanmari]

You still pay tuition in residency, it's some hundreds of dollars per year. CPSO fee is $345 per year for residents and there is a one-time fee for the application to get your CPSO license. CMPA fees do get charged but if you're in Ontario, the gov't will reimburse 90% of it.

PARO website has a guide for starting residency: https://myparo.ca/starting-residency/

I think doing what ellorie did takes financial discipline. If you're living by yourself in one of the big cities you may find it difficult to save any money for the first few years unless you have lots of tax credits. The upper year salaries do get better but your tax credits run out so it balances out. I'd say it's not hard to maintain an average Canadian standard of living but don't expect to be saving a down payment or anything. There are also costs in your last year of residency for the royal college exam, FRCP/SC registration and whatnot.

[ellorie]

Helps if you stash all your call stipends into a savings account. That savings account pretty neatly covered my Royal College/CPSO application/other final year expenses. 

[rmorelan]

37 minutes ago, ellorie said:

Helps if you stash all your call stipends into a savings account. That savings account pretty neatly covered my Royal College/CPSO application/other final year expenses. 

I did the same thing ha

 

[rmorelan]

22 hours ago, James Nystead said:

As a fourth-year medical student, what costs should I be aware of/account for during the next 1-2 years? I understand that there will be a cost associated with CaRMS applications (no interview fees this year), LMCC Part 1 and 2 writing fees, USMLE Step 2 CK and CS for those with US fellowship aspirations. There will also be costs associated with relocation and home purchasing/increase in rent if moving to a HCOL city. 

I was wondering what else I was missing and the approximate costs of these things (eg CPSO fees? Surgical foundation exam fees?)

Do people still use their medical student LOC in residency? I feel like it'd be hard to afford a semi-decent lifestyle in a potentially HCOL city like Van or Toronto on a resident's salary. 

yes a lot of people do use that LOC later as well to augment things a bit. 

There are also a lot of fees about becoming staff at the end - you have to pay to get licensed in the province you will work for instance, and various other up front fees for the now more expensive insurance, etc. There is of course a lot of expenses as well with moving and setting up, some don't start right away for various reasons, and there is lag between billing the government and actually receiving the payment. 

[LittleDaisy]

7 hours ago, rmorelan said:

yes a lot of people do use that LOC later as well to augment things a bit. 

There are also a lot of fees about becoming staff at the end - you have to pay to get licensed in the province you will work for instance, and various other up front fees for the now more expensive insurance, etc. There is of course a lot of expenses as well with moving and setting up, some don't start right away for various reasons, and there is lag between billing the government and actually receiving the payment. 

I second. I am still using my LOC as a staff as I was not paid in July. I  used mainly my LOC for moving.

I was very frugal during residency, I lived on my own in Toronto. Half of my pay went to the rent. I saved 10% of monthly salary; which unfortunately all went to CPSO licensing fees & tuition & LMCC2 & CFPC fees.

CMPA fees are only reimbursed 75% by the government. 

Unless you do your residency in a medium-sized city with low rent or live with your parents; it would really hard to save your residency salary for tuition. 

[James Nystead]

5 minutes ago, LittleDaisy said:

CPSO licensing fees & tuition & LMCC2 & CFPC fees.

CMPA fees are only reimbursed 75% by the government. 

How much would you budget for these roughly? By tuition do you mean UG + Med tuition or PGME tuition?

[rmorelan]

39 minutes ago, James Nystead said:

How much would you budget for these roughly? By tuition do you mean UG + Med tuition or PGME tuition?

There is PGME tuition - it was for me a relatively small amount of 1000 but it was an expense. 

The CPSO license fees were about 2K for me. They royal college also wanted 1000 dollars to track my CME stuff. The monthly CMPA fees vary by specialty - as an example for rads that is 700 a month. You do get it back in Ontario at 80% but you do have to wait for that 3 mons - so there is an up front part to this. 

The exam fees vary by field - for rads as an example again it was 5K. It really did use up most of my call stipends for a number of years to pay for the exam. Fortunately like LittleDaisy I am a frugal type so I was able to save that. 

The provincial organization (for me OMA) also wanted a piece of the action. 

Everyone has their hand out ha

 

[MD2015:)]

Depends where you live. Vancouver can be tricky as pay is about $10K less per year than many other provinces. You used to pay all of your CMPA but now I think it is getting covered. Car insurance and gas is expensive in Vancouver and so is rent of course. Toronto is obviously very expensive too but income is higher and most of your CMPA fees are reimbursed. Other cites/provinces would be easier to manage.

LMCC part 1 was $1K, LMCC part 2 is 2-3K (price keeps going up), royal college is about $5K. Tuition during residency is about 500-1000 depending on where you live. LOC interest payments (or other student loans), disability insurance payments payments,  potentially car payments depending on if you need a car, etc all add up. Carms is expensive. If you end up doing IM, peds, family plus ER etc you pay for carms twice. Exams like ACLS & ATLS you may have to pay for yourself. You pay for your resident licence. Getting a moonlighting and staff licence are more expensive later. You may pay for electives in other provinces and you have to get a licence for that province plus pay for your travel/living expenses. You get money taken off your income for dues and benefits. You can get a lot of tax money back in the first couple years of residency and you can claim some of the above expenses to lower tax as well.