Timeline for ASKING for Financial Aid

[Sandman23]

Thread title says it all. I understand FAFSA is delayed this year and have a rough understanding of when financial aid will be dispersed (mid-April is what I'm hearing). I have two questions:

1. If we find the need for better aid, what's optimal timing to send emails requesting financial aid / negotiating scholarships?
2. What's the convention for including the name of another school that we're using a scholarship from for leverage? For example, is the convention to say something like " I received a [insert amount] scholarship from an in-state MD school and..." or should the name of the in-state school be specified?

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[Mr.Smile12]

Thread title says it all. I understand FAFSA is delayed this year and have a rough understanding of when financial aid will be dispersed (mid-April is what I'm hearing). I have two questions:

1. If we find the need for better aid, what's optimal timing to send emails requesting financial aid / negotiating scholarships?
2. What's the convention for including the name of another school that we're using a scholarship from for leverage? For example, is the convention to say something like " I received a [insert amount] scholarship from an in-state MD school and..." or should the name of the in-state school be specified?

Have you compared COA's for both schools? How much does the scholarship cover?

 

[Sandman23]

Have you compared COA's for both schools? How much does the scholarship cover?

My lowest COA at a school is 50k, the next is 91k & another is 95k. Do any scholarships, as opposed to loans, cover COA? Thought it was just tuition/fees that it would cover

My scholarship is from one of the higher COA schools. It doesn't entirely cover the COA difference, it covers less than half of it. And it's non-renewable. So, I'm thinking it's best to focus on the COA difference between schools. What do you think?

 

[saxyotter]

I had a similar decision to make; talked with the physicians I work for. The unanimous response was go to the school where you will take out the least amount of loan money.

 

[Sandman23]

I had a similar decision to make; talked with the physicians I work for. The unanimous response was go to the school where you will take out the least amount of loan money.

Are you in this cycle or was it a past cycle?

For this cycle, I'm not sure if we're forced to go off of essentially lowest COA rather than financial aid packages which leads to my next question: Ahead of Apr 15th when we have to narrow down schools, is it worth sending an email to ask/negotiate scholarships?

 

[Hollow Knight]

Nothing wrong with asking nicely, but honestly, scholarships for med school are pretty rare. Don't bet on it. Just plan on going to a school where your debt won't be over twice as high as your annual income

 

[saxyotter]

Are you in this cycle or was it a past cycle?

For this cycle, I'm not sure if we're forced to go off of essentially lowest COA rather than financial aid packages which leads to my next question: Ahead of Apr 15th when we have to narrow down schools, is it worth sending an email to ask/negotiate scholarships?

It is this cycle. Personally, I didn’t want to try and negotiate, but I guess it can’t hurt to ask. I don’t think you are “forced” to go off of anything. From my understanding, each school has their own methods of distributing aid apart from FASFA (FASFA is just what schools use to determine your “financial need”). However, with the COA of your choices, there is a humongous difference. If I were, you I’d go with the lowest costing one. 90k + per year is a mind boggling number IMO unless you get some sort of massive merit scholarship that would bring your costs next to nothing. Even if you got enough scholarship to match COA of your lowest costing acceptance, that’s almost a full tuition scholarship in comparison.

I would also note, if you haven’t received any communication about financial aid from a school yet, it doesn’t make sense to try to negotiate anything. That’s putting the cart before the horse.

 

[Sandman23]

It is this cycle. Personally, I didn’t want to try and negotiate, but I guess it can’t hurt to ask. I don’t think you are “forced” to go off of anything. From my understanding, each school has their own methods of distributing aid apart from FASFA (FASFA is just what schools use to determine your “financial need”). However, with the COA of your choices, there is a humongous difference. If I were, you I’d go with the lowest costing one. 90k + per year is a mind boggling number IMO unless you get some sort of massive merit scholarship that would bring your costs next to nothing. Even if you got enough scholarship to match COA of your lowest costing acceptance, that’s almost a full tuition scholarship in comparison.

I would also note, if you haven’t received any communication about financial aid from a school yet, it doesn’t make sense to try to negotiate anything. That’s putting the cart before the horse.

The thing is this school will be out for me come Apr 15th is there's no FA. I heard they sent out merit scholarships to some ppl so thought that, if they're giving out scholarships now, might as well ask for it. It'll be a month between now and Apr 15th but I'd rather get ahead since I'm sure scholarship money does have a bandwidth

Btw, can scholarships (not loans) cover COA, not just tuition? That'd be a game-changer to know in terms of how I write up my request

 

[saxyotter]

The thing is this school will be out for me come Apr 15th is there's no FA. I heard they sent out merit scholarships to some ppl so thought that, if they're giving out scholarships now, might as well ask for it. It'll be a month between now and Apr 15th but I'd rather get ahead since I'm sure scholarship money does have a bandwidth

Btw, can scholarships (not loans) cover COA, not just tuition? That'd be a game-changer to know in terms of how I write up my request

I can’t offer specific advice or data about scholarships, that’s a question perhaps for a financial advisor. However, I’ll try to give you some general decision making tools that I myself used.

I think you are overthinking. Take a deep breath. Look at the facts available to you right now, don’t try to anticipate what you might receive in terms of aid. Look at what you’ve been offered so far, and compare the costs.

If I were you, I would make two lists: the first one would rank schools regardless of financial aid. The second would rank schools in order of affordability based on the most recent financial aid data you have received from your school communications. I would compare the lists and make my decision.

Something else that might yield results is to send an email to whoever is the financial aid advisor at the school you are wondering about scholarship. Respectfully ask them about what your expectations should be for receiving aid. Hope this helps!!!

 

[Sandman23]

I can’t offer specific advice or data about scholarships, that’s a question perhaps for a financial advisor. However, I’ll try to give you some general decision making tools that I myself used.

I think you are overthinking. Take a deep breath. Look at the facts available to you right now, don’t try to anticipate what you might receive in terms of aid. Look at what you’ve been offered so far, and compare the costs.

If I were you, I would make two lists: the first one would rank schools regardless of financial aid. The second would rank schools in order of affordability based on the most recent financial aid data you have received from your school communications. I would compare the lists and make my decision.

Something else that might yield results is to send an email to whoever is the financial aid advisor at the school you are wondering about scholarship. Respectfully ask them about what your expectations should be for receiving aid. Hope this helps!!!

Financial aid data isn’t there for really any schools of mine because of FAFSA timelines, but I know every dollar is gonna be more than I borrow when federal interest kicks in which is why I’m tryna see what I’m working with financially instead of take the upfront tuition and waiting for FA to roll around after the fact of choosing 1 school, when I’d have 0 leverage

About whether COA can be covered for scholarships, I hesitate to contact schools’ FA ppl bc they’ll be the same contacts I’ll send my scholarship consideration email to. Things vary from school to school, and I get that. If any schools however have covered COA (not just tuition) via scholarships, then that’d make a pretty big difference in how I’m going to write my email. It’d be awkward to ask that question to the FA department and then have them see that I tailored my email based on the info they gave me.

If anyone happens to know whether some schools at least CAN cover COA via scholarships, please let your boi know

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If anyone happens to know whether some schools at least CAN cover COA via scholarships, please let your boi know

Check out HPSP. Then it won't matter which schools can or cannot cover COA.

 

[Sandman23]

Check out HPSP. Then it won't matter which schools can or cannot cover COA.

As much as I do admire it, the military ain't for me. I did have a good few months in the app cycle when I was strongly considering it though.

 

[pablo213]

As much as I do admire it, the military ain't for me. I did have a good few months in the app cycle when I was strongly considering it though.

Have you looked into VA HPSP?

 

[Sandman23]

Have you looked into VA HPSP?

I haven't. I found this page on it but can't seem to find what they're expecting in return.

I honestly want to initially see how far I can get with scholarships before considering programs like these. Knowing whether COA can be covered with scholarships would make a pretty big difference bc tuition makes up only part of the equation when it's a med school in a big city.

Edit: found the service obligation "Service obligations are year-for-year with a minimum requirement (2-Years) and will be automatically extended for individuals attending residencies and fellowships by half the period of the training. Therefore, a 1-year residency or fellowship will add 6 months to the minimum service obligation." So for anyone else reading this, it'd be between 5.5 to 7.5 years of VA service I believe. Really interesting program! Haven't heard of it before. Thanks @pablo213