Concerned pharmacy student about living costs and financial aid

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Girlinthewindow

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I was recently accepted into a traditional four-year PharmD program to start in the Fall 2015 semester.

I have some questions regarding financial aid, living costs, and health insurance.

So I have already graduated with a bachelors degree so I do not qualify for grants any longer. For those of you who went through the four years of pharmacy school with no grants, how were you able to afford the costs of living plus your education?

Also, by the time I start pharmacy school I would have turned 26 years old so I will not be able to be under my parents' health insurance. Do pharmacy programs offer health insurance to students at a cost? Again, how are you able to afford this with not being able to work full time (or even part time)?

How did/are you going through pharmacy school when it comes to the logistics of life? My plan is to save save save, but I feel like no matter how much I save it won't be enough for four years.

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take out student loans. thats how pharmacy students end up with $200k loan when they graduate.
then spend the next 15 years after you graduate to pay them back, just take out $2000 out of your pay every month, POST tax.
as for health insurance, buy private insurance, or through school. both are expensive.
as for me, i went to a 0-6 program straight out of high school at a state university. tuition was like $9000 a year when i started, when i was done i think it was $15000. they were living expenses. luckily my parents paid for everything, but ive been giving them half of my paycheck post tax. which works out for both parties. i graduated with zero loans. my boyfriend, who was also in the same 0-6 program was a recipient of some presidential scholarship that paid for tuition, dorm, food and books for the first four years, his parents paid in full for the last two. so we both have no loans. had we have to take out loans, we would never have done pharmacy school. the market is so unstable, its hard to get a full time job with full benefits in a good area, its so risky to take out that much money. and we wont compromise to move to any less than top notch areas.
 
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If I were in the situation of applying pharmacy school without any financial aid program, I wouldn't even apply any program that cost more than 20k/year for tuition. Even with that, your student loan will be exceeding 100k if you take for cost of living too.
 
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I had loans for my tuition, but all living expenses were on me. I worked about 20 hours a week during the school year and full time during the summers, and that was enough to pay my living expenses and have a little extra. Of course, if you have a family, that may or may not be feasible.
 
I keep hearing "take out student loans" .. will it be enough? In undergrad I got less than $9k a year from loans. How much do you get typically offered in pharmacy school? Does it depend on the pharmacy school?

I was accepted into a school that costs about $90k/4 years and one that costs $120k/4years. Does that mean I would get different amounts of financial aid for the two? And we are talking about federal student financial aid right? Not banks?
 
I keep hearing "take out student loans" .. will it be enough? In undergrad I got less than $9k a year from loans. How much do you get typically offered in pharmacy school? Does it depend on the pharmacy school?

I was accepted into a school that costs about $90k/4 years and one that costs $120k/4years. Does that mean I would get different amounts of financial aid for the two? And we are talking about federal student financial aid right? Not banks?

Assuming they're both established, go to the cheaper school (no brainer here). As for financial aid, you can pull out a maximum of $132,000 from federal unsubsidized loans until you dip into grad plus. I don't think you'll be restricted on how much you can pull out if you put down on the FAFSA that you're financially independent, though I might be wrong on this.

All in all if I were you, I'd go to the cheaper school and pull out only enough in loans to cover the cost of tuition. Find a job to cover your living expenses and get used to the idea of living poor for awhile.
 
Read this thread I made about pharmacy schools to avoid and how to calculate hidden costs such as accumulating interest on unsubsidized loans.

Also, health insurance costs are exorbitant in many schools. After I graduated, my school starting charging $300/month mandatory insurance cost plus $900/year student health center cost. The insurance is crap too, with high deductibles. They allowed very few exemptions, even disqualifying many parent employer insurance programs. This student health insurance could easily add an extra $20k to your student loan total. I would be seriously prepared to organize with other students and try to vote your class out of school-mandated insurance policies. Students should be allowed to buy any insurance policy they want. When I started, insurance wasn't even required.

These extra costs, plus high costs of rent, are why it is imperative not to go to schools such as USC. In school, I paid $500 a month for rent. Many students are now paying well over $1000 for their rent. These prices will balloon your student loan total. Try to find a cheap state school, and live in cheap living quarters.

I accumulated about $190 in student loan debt (counting my undergrad loans). I personally wouldn't want to take out much more than that, because it will become very hard to pay it off. In order to pay my debt off in 7 years, while also saving money, I have to work a 2nd job. Students, these days, are luck to even find a 1st job.


http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/top-pharmacy-schools-to-avoid.1098793/
 
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Read this thread I made about pharmacy schools to avoid and how to calculate hidden costs such as accumulating interest on unsubsidized loans.

Also, health insurance costs are exorbitant in many schools. After I graduated, my school starting charging $300/month mandatory insurance cost plus $900/year student health center cost. The insurance is crap too, with high deductibles. They allowed very few exemptions, even disqualifying many parent employer insurance programs. This student health insurance could easily add an extra $20k to your student loan total. I would be seriously prepared to organize with other students and try to vote your class out of school-mandated insurance policies. Students should be allowed to buy any insurance policy they want. When I started, insurance wasn't even required.

These extra costs, plus high costs of rent, are why it is imperative not to go to schools such as USC. In school, I paid $500 a month for rent. Many students are now paying well over $1000 for their rent. These prices will balloon your student loan total. Try to find a cheap state school, and live in cheap living quarters.

I accumulated about $190 in student loan debt (counting my undergrad loans). I personally wouldn't want to take out much more than that, because it will become very hard to pay it off. In order to pay my debt off in 7 years, while also saving money, I have to work a 2nd job. Students, these days, are luck to even find a 1st job.


http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/top-pharmacy-schools-to-avoid.1098793/

excellent info !! Thanks !!
 
Assuming they're both established, go to the cheaper school (no brainer here). As for financial aid, you can pull out a maximum of $132,000 from federal unsubsidized loans until you dip into grad plus. I don't think you'll be restricted on how much you can pull out if you put down on the FAFSA that you're financially independent, though I might be wrong on this.

All in all if I were you, I'd go to the cheaper school and pull out only enough in loans to cover the cost of tuition. Find a job to cover your living expenses and get used to the idea of living poor for awhile.
They are both well-established but the more expensive school is a top-5 school.
 
i think there are advantages if you go to a top 5 school.
It is true that there are advantages for going to top 5 schools such as UNC, UCSF, UI, etc.. however, if cost of tuition and living around schools are much more expensive, then it's not worth it. For example, you can go to one of Texas school with total of 50k/4 years while someone else goes to USC with total of 200k/4 years. (and one of pre-pharmacy student told me that going to USC will get them a job for sure. I quit talking after hearing that)
 
They are both well-established but the more expensive school is a top-5 school.

Factor in living costs between the two areas. Also your decision depends on if you want to do retail or non-retail pharmacy. If you want to do retail, just go to the cheaper school. If not, then consider the top 5 school. They might have better connections towards non-retail sections of pharmacy.
 
It is true that there are advantages for going to top 5 schools such as UNC, UCSF, UI, etc.. however, if cost of tuition and living around schools are much more expensive, then it's not worth it. For example, you can go to one of Texas school with total of 50k/4 years while someone else goes to USC with total of 200k/4 years. (and one of pre-pharmacy student told me that going to USC will get them a job for sure. I quit talking after hearing that)

It really depends. All of my USC friends who graduated back in '12 got jobs after graduating. USC arguably has the strongest alumni network and if someone lands a job because of that, it's already worth the extra cost in loans over someone coming out from [generic pharm school] with less debt but no job. All things considered, well, it'll be different for each person and unique situation. If I was planning to work in California, I would not attend an out of state school just because it has cheaper tuition.

As for the original post, saving money is quite simple. Budget your finances while balancing school, work and your social life. Buy only what you need, come up with creative ways to save and set goals on how or what to save. Without focus or direction, your savings will be trivial. IMO, saving money really comes down to what comforts you're willing to give up while attending school. ie., do you really need an entire room? Do you really need a car or will public transit suffice? You're a student, so your mind is your trade. Can you tutor high school or college kids to cover all petty cash needs?
 
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