so how does everyone plan on paying for med school? mainly fafsa? is there somewhere to find more resources on the max amount of student loans/best ways to get the most money etc.?
thanks!
thanks!
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they go over all that stuff at interviews. there is usually a fin aid session before or after your interview. i'm not sure where you are in the process, but more than likely you'll have access to more than enough money.
There are a couple of options out there that can lessen or eliminate loans :scholarships (although its rare...but they're out there), military committment, state committment, primariy care committment, and loan forgiveness)
We fill out FAFSA for the next school year, right? We don't fill out the current one if we aren't in school now?
Right, you would fill it out in Jan.
I'm not really sure what you're trying to get at, but I'm going to assume that you're wondering if you'll simply be able to afford school. Here are my $0.02.
You will be able to get what your chosen school deems necessary. You can usually find a budget (includes tuition / living / misc costs) at each school's website. You may take out Stafford loans up until about $38K (somebody correct me, I haven't looked at this in a while) and then you can take as much GradPlus as you need to make up the rest. It is totally hassle-free. Your school's financial aid dept. will coordinate a lot of it, but basically, you figure out how much you want. Then, it's yours. Done. You reapply every year for more loan money.
Now, there are some things you should be aware of. There are two different Stafford loans that are included in the initial $38K figure I stated. So, with the GradPlus loan, you have 3 loans that you potentially will be taking out at once. They all have different interest rates and methods of capitalizing (adding interest into the loan amount so that you have to pay interest on interest.. for example: I take out $100 in loans. Interest is 10%/year. By the end of the year, I have $100 in loans plus $10 to pay back. If the loan capitalizes yearly, then in year two (if I don't take out any more loans), I'll have to pay $100 + $10 + (110 * 0.1). I think.
So, your loans as an OMS1 will gain more interest than your loans taken out as an OMS4. You can really minimize your final debt load by taking out less as an OMS1. Unfortunately, you also need to buy a lot of stuff and have less options as an OMS1 (since you might not know anything... I had to do a lot of my housing preparations for school completely over the internet). Tricky, eh? I'd suggest trying to borrow money from your parents/relatives if possible to try and minimize what you need to borrow in the first year.
Finally, I'll suggest that you calculate how much you need each year, and then, calculate how much debt you'll be in and how long it could take you to pay it off. It's just nice to be informed about what you're getting into since by the end of residency, the amount of money you'll owe might be enough for you to buy your parents' house. If you're from a rural area like mine, it'll be enough for you to buy your parents' house and your neighbor's house as well. Do your research. Being informed will keep you safe.
(and yes, there are loan forgiveness programs and such out there but I'm not going to cover them since I don't know much.)
I calculated that if I donate sperm every 3 hrs through out the 4 years of medschool, I should be able to cover all the fee!
Better start practicing
first of all thank you very much for explaining this to me, i was expecting mostly smart as* answers. As far as the ~40,000 loans go, is that for tuition costs only, or can you use it for rent/food etc. Also, to pay the total cost of attendance, if above 40 k does one have to take out bank loans? ty
Above the ~40,000 in stafford loans you can get Grad PLUS loans to cover the rest of the cost. You can't get private loans anymore. As part of the health care bill the govt has taken over all student loans.
is there a limit to grad plus?
No you can borrow whatever you need up to the cost of attendance.
thanks!
Man, 6.8% interest... Was it always like this?
No, they were much lower pre-2006. (although, I don't think the rate was locked-in).
graph from 2005.
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No, they were much lower pre-2006. (although, I don't think the rate was locked-in).
graph from 2005.
Thanks Dr. Y. And poor Canadian med students.
The average tuition in Canada for med school is around $13,000.
Yeah... I take back what I said.
You can still get private loans, just not through the government anymore. Its not advisable to get the private loans though as the interest rates will change and they start accruing right away. Also, one would need good credit to even qualify, let alone attempt to get a competitive rate. There's not much of a reason to get private loans anymore with the locked in rate with the federal loans and the consumer protections involved. The only exception might be if you're non-trad and had a decent salary before school and built a strong credit record; then private loans may make more sense if you can get a loan that starts off with a lower interest than the federal loans.
