Job advice

Finances & Loans

Hi everyone - looking for advice for my current situation.

I am 24 and have been working as an ortho surgery PA for about 1.5 years. I have about 160K in federal loans and about 12K left in private parent PLUS loans from undergrad. My job situation has been kind of a mess. My surgeon, who I was hired to be with, left before I started working. Then the other surgeon I was placed with left. Now I have just been floating around and am just unhappy with my current situation.

I started looking for new jobs and I have 2 offers. One offer is equal to what I currently make (135K) as it would be a lateral move in ortho surgery. The other job offer is with a private wellness/aesthetics group which I feel like I would enjoy so much more and have a better work/life balance. The hourly rate for the second offer is a little more than I am currently making.

My question is not which job is better for me, but I am currently pursuing PSLF at my current company and would like advice on whether or not I should stick it out for the next 10 years or if moving to a private practice would be a bad financial decision. I only have under a year of qualifying payments for PSLF at this point. My loans are stressing me out like I am sure many of you relate to. I am curious if others have been in the same situation where they are debating moving to private practice.

If I were to pick which job I would be happier at, I think it would be the second one, but I still do very much enjoy ortho and would stay with a non-profit if this was a much better financial decision.

Thanks!

Posted Apr 1, 2026, 8:37 PM UTC

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