How Much Does A Chiropractor Make? Not Enough
28 November 2006USAToday has an interesting series on young people who have gotten themselves into unmanageable levels of debt. It looks like it’s going to be a good set of articles, and should give a lot of guidance for twenty-somethings who haven’t yet started to run up the big debts that lead to problems in your thirties. The first one is on a 29 year old woman in California who is $165,000 in debt from going to chiropractic school. That sounds insane, until you realize that it usually takes seven to eight years. The only problem? She doesn’t make much money! The end result of all that work was a combined salary from two jobs as a chiropractor and a personal trainer of $44,000. That’s on the low end of chiropractor salaries, which range from about $45,000 at the 25th percentile to $120,000 at the 75th percentile. But it’s to be expected that you’ll come out of school and make something on the lower end, unless you performed spectacularly.
The only problem? $44,000 is nowhere near enough to pay back that debt - especially in California, with its extremely high cost of living. The result is that even though she hasn’t started paying her $680 a month debt payment because of deferment, she already uses up 58% of her monthly income on rent and credit card debts. That extra $680 is going to be a budget breaker.
The suggestions to her for what to do now aren’t all that great, but really there’s not much to do at that point other than wait until she’s older and can make more money because of experience. The lesson anyone else should learn is this: just because you’re getting a professional degree doesn’t mean you’re going to make a lot of money. You shouldn’t go $150,000 in debt to get a graduate degree unless you’re sure that you’ll make enough to pay it off - and with many professions that’s not a sure thing. There are a lot of lawyers and MBA’s who pay $200,000 to get a degree at schools where the bottom part of the class just isn’t going to get those six figure jobs. Scholarships or going to a state school will often solve this - or the alternative of paying about the same at a really prestigious school where nearly everyone does well. But you can’t just assume that you’ll be able to pay off your diploma. There’s another very good article here that goes through a lot of examples of people who have run into this problem - including a pair of married acupuncturists who are $350,000 in debt. I’d take away these lessons if you’re thinking about a graduate degree:
1) Not everyone in your class will get the salary your school touts to you. Some people will do poorly and earn less - only 10% of your class can be in the top 10%.
2) You probably won’t earn the average salary in your field until you have more experience, so don’t expect to be able to pay off your student loans that way. Again, there are lots of exceptions (based on school, class performance, and profession) - but the reality is that a lot of people get degrees when they aren’t going to be at the top of their field starting out. Yet they get loans assuming they’ll be making those high salaries right out of the gate, and it often doesn’t work out that way.
3) Not every degree is worth getting. The non-profit leadership degree for $110,000 in that story is a good example - I’m sorry, but you won’t make enough working for non-profits to pay that off for some time. If you want to get a degree in social work, you shouldn’t do it unless it’s cheap.
4) Just because you’re a doctor or a lawyer doesn’t mean you’ll be rich. Sad but true - every average has people who run far below it, and salaries in these professions are no different.
Discuss this in the Free the Drones Forums.
3 Responses to “How Much Does A Chiropractor Make? Not Enough”
November 28th, 2006 at 8:36 pm
I agree totally - it also applies to private education in secondary school. A lot of private schools with high fees justify them with a list of high-achieving ex-students. But there are also lots of examples of people who have had the ‘benefit’ of an expensive private school education and end up with an “middle management” position, if that.
Regards
http://enoughwealth.blogspot.com
December 4th, 2006 at 11:14 am
My wife is preparing for the State Medical Boards this week. We have been lucky and blessed enough for her to get through school without much debt. I know many of her friends will be facing enormous debt making living very tight for a few years.
Finance-4-Kids
February 23rd, 2007 at 9:14 pm
I am interested in becoming a chiropractor and would like more information about this career choice…..thaks a lot.