Average Need Based Scholarship

[igeak691]

Having multiple acceptances I'm starting to look into the financial aspect of medical school. I am from a poor background with next to nothing income, and my parents combined income in a year does not surpass ~50k. We live in Long Island, New York.. in which case we fall below the poverty line.

As the FAFSA opens up January 1st, I'll begin to fill out the application. However, I want to preliminarily ask, how much should I expect in need based scholarships? I am a slightly above average applicant, with way below average income. Should I be expecting only a few thousand if I'm lucky, or possibly a lot?

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[ace12345]

Having multiple acceptances I'm starting to look into the financial aspect of medical school. I am from a poor background with next to nothing income, and my parents combined income in a year does not surpass ~50k. We live in Long Island, New York.. in which case we fall below the poverty line.

As the FAFSA opens up January 1st, I'll begin to fill out the application. However, I want to preliminarily ask, how much should I expect in need based scholarships? I am a slightly above average applicant, with way below average income. Should I be expecting only a few thousand if I'm lucky, or possibly a lot?

I believe it varies school-to-school, but I am wondering the same myself. Hopefully someone more knowledgable can add to this.

 

[AxiomaticTruth]

I believe it varies school-to-school, but I am wondering the same myself. Hopefully someone more knowledgable can add to this.

My understanding is that there's barely any need-based scholarships. Everyone can get loans, so why would schools give you scholarships? This of course does not apply to top tier olympic athlete Cell-published Medal of Honor recipient applicants.

Most scholarships for undergrad are from private sources (private medical scholarships are very rare) or from the government, and the government is definitely not subsidizing grad schools outside of lower interest rate loans.

 

[igeak691]

I forgot where I got this number from but perhaps it was from Stony Brook interview where they said up to 10k can come in the form of a need based grant.. that would be really sweet. Just seeing any anecdotal evidence of poor applicants with better than average stats getting money of any sort.

 

[chem4ever]

This varies greatly by school. The top ones can give you a lot (WashU will give you half assuming you have an expected family contribution of 0 and I've heard similar about many of the other top schools). Once you're out of the top ten, I don't know of many that give anything for need-based.

 

[darkjedi]

It will honestly depend significantly on which schools you get into. School's with more money and larger endowments tend to give much more financial aid in the form of both need and merit-based scholarships.

 

[muddyduck7]

I go to the same medical school as darkjedi (Penn). The need based financial aid here is pretty awesome, but we have a pretty big endowment. As others have said, it really depends on the endowment size. State schools will therefore probably not give much need based financial aid... Hopefully those state schools would be cheaper, but that is not always the case (e.g. Penn State).

 

[BABSstudent]

Having multiple acceptances I'm starting to look into the financial aspect of medical school. I am from a poor background with next to nothing income, and my parents combined income in a year does not surpass ~50k. We live in Long Island, New York.. in which case we fall below the poverty line.

As the FAFSA opens up January 1st, I'll begin to fill out the application. However, I want to preliminarily ask, how much should I expect in need based scholarships? I am a slightly above average applicant, with way below average income. Should I be expecting only a few thousand if I'm lucky, or possibly a lot?

I come from a similar background and I received zero need based aid. The school did give me a small grant, but they give all instate residents the same grant.

So the answer is you probably won't get anything except loans. But as others have said, it varies on the school.

 

[igeak691]

When is it that schools see the other schools you're accepted at? Theoretically if you're accepted at more schools, wouldn't a school be more keen on giving you more money if they want you to attend their school?

I'm trying to see if I should attend invites to schools that I may be less interested in. As conceited as it sounds, my financial situation would push more towards going to the cheapest school where I would be happy, and to be honest, it doesn't take much to make me happy wherever I am.

 

[ohioguy]

Generally speaking, I think one of the biggest advantages in attending one of the bigger name schools is the financial aid. Our tuition is a bit over $45,000. I received a yearly needs based scholarship a bit over $29,000. That, combined with living at home and other scholarships and I'm paying less for med school than my state school undergrad.

Basically, if you demonstrate need at some of these schools then you'll be taken care of.

 

[BABSstudent]

When is it that schools see the other schools you're accepted at? Theoretically if you're accepted at more schools, wouldn't a school be more keen on giving you more money if they want you to attend their school?

I'm trying to see if I should attend invites to schools that I may be less interested in. As conceited as it sounds, my financial situation would push more towards going to the cheapest school where I would be happy, and to be honest, it doesn't take much to make me happy wherever I am.

Unless a school already offered you a scholarship, you are probably not going to get a scholarship because you have multiple acceptances. Not every school has money to just hand out.

Generally speaking, I think one of the biggest advantages in attending one of the bigger name schools is the financial aid. Our tuition is a bit over $45,000. I received a yearly needs based scholarship a bit over $29,000. That, combined with living at home and other scholarships and I'm paying less for med school than my state school undergrad.

Basically, if you demonstrate need at some of these schools then you'll be taken care of.

Yep. If they have the money, they will give it out. I have a friend who received a full ride to Harvard with the need based aid. My school doesn't have that kind of money so none of my classmates get that option.

 

[gettheleadout]

Yep. If they have the money, they will give it out. I have a friend who received a full ride to Harvard with the need based aid. My school doesn't have that kind of money so none of my classmates get that option.

How? HMS's need-based aid is explained here: http://hms.harvard.edu/departments/...out-financial-aid-hms/financial-aid-packaging

The unit loan would still be given. I don't see how someone could get the entire COA paid for through need-based aid.

 

[BABSstudent]

How? HMS's need-based aid is explained here: http://hms.harvard.edu/departments/...out-financial-aid-hms/financial-aid-packaging

The unit loan would still be given. I don't see how someone could get the entire COA paid for through need-based aid.

I don't know. Maybe it was also a merit scholarship? He turned down my school because Harvard made him an offer he couldn't refuse. It was full tuition (not housing) some way or another. I never asked for specifics but he made it sounds like it was need based. He is also the type of guy to downplay everything and make it seem like not that big of deal.

 

[gettheleadout]

I don't know. Maybe it was also a merit scholarship? He turned down my school because Harvard made him an offer he couldn't refuse. It was full tuition (not housing) some way or another. I never asked for specifics but he made it sounds like it was need based. He is also the type of guy to downplay everything and make it seem like not that big of deal.

HMS doesn't give merit scholarships, but if it were just tuition then it's totally possible he took the unit loan for living expenses and the HMS Scholarship (which is need-based) covered the entirety of tuition and fees. That's actually not a hard gig to get, you just have to have a combined parental income below $100k/yr.

 

[inycepoo]

Yep. If they have the money, they will give it out. I have a friend who received a full ride to Harvard with the need based aid. My school doesn't have that kind of money so none of my classmates get that option.

The "full ride" in this case definitely means maximum need-based aid on top of the base loan package. People will just say "I got a full ride" because that sounds cool and doesn't require a lecture about FA v. scholarships.

Same goes for need-based FA at the Ivy undergrads. People automatically associate "full ride" with merit-based scholarships, and thus people say it because it's impressive-sounding. Those in the know all know that it only reflects one's income level, nothing else.