SoFi Blog

Anyone who pursues the medical field knows that the path to becoming a doctor is laden with student debt. In fact, 76% of 2016 medical school graduates have student loans, with a median student debt load of $190,000 at graduation. And future doctors aren’t just sitting on a pile of debt throughout medical school; even upon starting residency, they’re still accruing interest on that debt while only earning, typically, about $60,000 a year.

Working for years without a pay increase can become a struggle and cause stress, especially as the cost of living continues to rise. Whether you’ve been making the same salary for 12 months or for more than a decade, having the money conversation with your boss can be awkward. But when increases don’t come when needed, your only recourse is to ask for them.

Before you have the conversation, though, it’s not only important to arm yourself with all of the right things to say, but also to learn what not to say. Here are a few tips on language to avoid when asking for a raise.

Four years ago, we kicked off what would become our first Entrepreneur Program class. Since then, we’ve helped four classes of 70 companies founded by SoFi members get off the ground with our coaching and resources. We’ve been excited by what these alumni companies have gone on to do: for instance, four out of the five FinTech companies that have participated have had significant liquidity (Standard Treasury, Good April) events or markups (Funding Circle, Axio). Further, companies like Augmedix, CancerIQ, Metrix, Stasis, and others are working on solving huge problems through innovation and technology.

As we enter what will be year five of the program, we thought about what kinds of improvements we could make to further benefit future classes. As a startup ourselves, we understand the challenges first-hand and want to contribute back to the ecosystem, and continue to find ways to serve our members. Today we’re unveiling those improvements as part of the relaunch of the program, and we’re accepting applications now through November 17 for ten open slots.

When you’re in the personal finance business, the real human impact of debt can get overshadowed by interest rates, terms, and other number jargon. But—there is a hugely meaningful moment when that debt is suddenly gone. It’s the culmination of years of hard work, sacrifices, and pushing toward a goal of seeing a $0 balance over the span of many years. Despite all that effort, the final payment usually happens without much fanfare.

Over the last few days, we’ve been engaged with The New York Times about a story they’ve now published regarding SoFi’s business, culture, and our CEO Mike Cagney. We’re going to set aside the personnel matters raised in the story as a matter of policy, and will not address every inaccuracy in the story. However, we have some issues with the story that we want to address.