KEY POINTS:
If he's lucky, Greg Selkirk will finish medical school next year with a debt of just $70,000.
Like many of his peers, the 24-year-old had completed a degree before starting medical school in Auckland.
That's eight years of fulltime study, and he still has one more year to go.
Next year, like other final-year medical students, he will receive a $26,000 trainee intern grant.
He estimates it will cover his $12,000 course fee, living expenses in Auckland and the Waikato, where he's to do part of his training, and the $6000 travel and living costs of a 10-week stint overseas - a degree prerequisite.
"If I'm careful next year, I may not have to increase my student loan ... I'm not sure how things will pan out though ...
"You can't go into hospital in ragged shirts and torn pants; you do have to dress up for it, and there are other expenses incurred as well."
Debt is a relatively new factor contributing to the direction - and location - of where New Zealand medical graduates work.
"It's a hell of a lot of money, and if you thought about it it would upset you."
Mr Selkirk said the Government's interest-free loan scheme had had a huge impact on medical students.
"It'll just mean that in future, starting a family or getting married, those things are on the backburner a little bit." But he can't say where he will be. "My family's in New Zealand, and I do feel some debt to this country.
"You do six years of a degree, you stay in New Zealand and you watch all your friends go on OEs. And you kind of want to do that yourself. And you can work overseas easily and earn great money.
"I intend to come back if I leave - I really do - but you can't predict whether it's going to happen or not."
