any MSTPers taking out loans?

[mosquito]

hey all, hope your summer is well...
wondering what percentages of mudpudders take out loans (stafford, unsub, sub). i've been taking with my FA office, but it seems like they don't know. wondering if many of you out there are planning on taking out loans. im sort of torn, because im sure i can make it on the stipend, but i figure if i take out the loans then i could live a bit more 'comfortably' and then worry about paying them back after school.
any thoughts?

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[ERMudPhud]

I looked into loans when I was an MSTP, at the time the only ones with decent interest rates were the staffords and I couldn't qualify for those because my stipend theoretically covered all my expenses. One year through some sort of fluke I did qualify for 2000.00 worth of staffords and used it to buy a macintosh SE (that should tell you how long ago that was). Paying off the loan as a resident was no big deal and the computer came in very handy for many years. I would avoid unsubsidized loans since over the course of a long MD/PhD, residency, fellowship, and then low paying academic career the interest could get ugly.

 

[Neuronix]

I took out $8,000 in subsidized stafford loans for my first year. I could live on my stipend, but I couldn't do much else here in Philadelphia. I needed the extra cash to buy furniture and actually be able to do something fun (like vacation next year). I probably won't take out the money again.

It's interesting that the policies at different schools vary as to whether you are allowed to take out additional stafford loans on top of your stipend. At Penn, the computer systems that control the stipend and the loans don't talk to each other. Therefore, the loan computer doesn't know I'm getting paid $23,000/year and it gives me loans. If it ever knew I was getting paid, I would not get those loans.

At other schools, people can take out as much in loans as they want. At some schools, MSTPs are not allowed to take out any loans. Then at others, it's determined by financial need or it is capped in some way by the program or medical school. It doesn't seem to correlate too well with the cost of living in the area either. It's just a MSTP quirk, but something to think about when applying.