At the end of August, the student loan repayment pause will end.
McGough said he's ready to repay his loans.
McGough had to work part time as a medical student to make ends meet.
After graduating from medical school in May, Joshua McGough still has over $360,000 in student loan debt despite doing the "unheard of" to survive financially and working part-time throughout his post graduate education.
McGough told Insider that the student loan payment and interest pause have been helpful in allowing his family to save up some money, but he's working toward restarting payments if the extension ends in August. The pause could be extended, according to officials in the administration.
McGough said that the discussion around student loan payments and potential forgiveness has neglected to mention that loans don't just pay for tuition but for everyday living expenses, meaning they can rack up pretty quickly.
I have a 10-month-old child and the loans for medical students don't usually go to me. McGough said that even the loans that the government tends to give don't cover all the costs of being a graduate student and a medical student.
He said that he had to work part-time during medical school. I needed a lot of money other than tuition, and that's where the system falls short for students like me.
McGough is fortunate to have two part-time remote positions where he can make his own hours, but he knows of medical students who have to take on jobs as delivery drivers, which is difficult with rising gas prices.
He runs social media platforms for the department and is involved in helping students get into medical school.
When I was in graduate school, there were positions that leaned into my medical knowledge. Like walking dogs. There was a time when I was a nanny. He said it was just to make a buck and pay rent.
McGough told Insider that while he thinks he will be alright financially in the long run, other graduates need more support.
It wouldn't really help me when I'm looking at $360,000. He said that there are people with debt that won't have the income potential that he will have as a doctor.
McGough supports loan forgiveness for people with the highest debt to income ratios, as well as those who are most in need. More small-scale efforts that would provide more support to those who had more debt compared to income has been proposed by several governors and legislators.
McGough thinks he will be able to pay off his loans in a decade, but he doesn't know if it will happen or not. The current economic climate has led his family to rethink when they can have another child.
McGough believes that there needs to be better financial literacy for teens to understand the economic burden that comes with taking out loans to attend school.
He said that as the only member of his family to go on to become a doctor, he was unaware of the long-term financial impact of student loans.
McGough is focused on restarting his payments, and while he is confident that his profession of choice will help him pay off those loans, he said there should be a common ground for reaching a solution that would help other borrowers
"If we start empathizing that a lot of us made these decisions when we were children and now that we're all paying the price for it, is a common ground that we can all agree on," he said.
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