Hi, I'm finishing my 3rd quarter in the program so I'm somewhat familiar with your situation.
There are a lot of people in the program that I know have had to either take out private loans or ask family members for money to get by.
I know it seems like a lot of money to take out (especially if it's private loans), but if you're 100% sure you're committed to this path, then I think you need to do whatever it takes to take these classes. I think the money spent for a formal program is well worth it, because you have a lot more help with professors who are our academic advisors, we have a weekly seminar that brings in admissions committee members from schools like Stanford, UCSF, UC Davis, UOP, and other schools from around the US & Caribbean, and have the committee letter to show for all your work you put into it. Plus there is always workshops like personal statement help, interview help, med student panel workshops, etc.
If you really didn't want to spend the money, you could drop from the formal program and just try to take Open University courses, but honestly OpenU is only slightly cheaper and it's a lot more stressful to not have guaranteed classes every quarter (it's stressful enough trying to figure out your schedule in the program).
In terms of financial aid questions, I've found that the front-office staff at the financial aid office aren't always well informed about our program and our situation. However, Stephen Faletti has been really helpful (he's the one that gave us the financial aid presentation at orientation last fall). His email is
[email protected] if you have specific questions.
I attached a form that I'm not sure everyone knows about, but it breaks down how much aid is typically awarded.
One more thing: please keep in mind that if you are an *academic enhancer*, then ONLY upper-division classes will count towards your units for the certificate completion. If you need to re-take or take classes such as physics, G-chem, or O-chem, but are an academic enhancer, these classes WILL NOT count for your certificate. These classes only count for the *career changer* certificate, so you should plan accordingly in terms of how long it might take for you to finish the program/certificate.
Sorry this was so long, hope it helps.