I would basically be homeless without my medical school loans to pay my rent right now. The family member I used to live with while I was working on getting into medical school lost her job and as a result her house. There's no one else to stay with. I don't have any real job experience to use to get a job if I take off a year from medical school. I don't even know if I could handle a job right now if I managed to find one with all of the anxiety I am dealing with. I'm basically fighting to stick it out as long as I can in medical school because I can't imagine taking a year off would be of any use if I'm homeless and/or unable to afford seeking care during that year anyway. Therapy is really expensive with my school insurance plan, so I can't afford it while staying in school either. I do see a psychiatrist...have tried several medications, and everything helps a little but not enough to make everyday life bearable. Just feeling very trapped and unsure of what to do.
Avoiding taking a LOA for mental health due to financial concerns.
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Very sorry to hear about this, OP.
I'm stumped. Just having ideas...check out resources at your local houses of worship
See if local social workers have any ideas.\
You need to talk to your deans and clinical faculty. If you just try to bulldoze your way through, you're simply going to end up cratering your grades, risking expulsion, and even worse to your psyche.
I'm stumped. Just having ideas...check out resources at your local houses of worship
See if local social workers have any ideas.\
You need to talk to your deans and clinical faculty. If you just try to bulldoze your way through, you're simply going to end up cratering your grades, risking expulsion, and even worse to your psyche.
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You absolutely should be working with your school.
Often you can get your Financial Aid increased for medical bills, so there really should be a limit to how much of your aid is going for that, and that could get you more money.
Some people are able to find something with Kaplan or test material type organizations where you can write study materials or teach and make money.
Other options are tutoring high school or college students.
If you advertise in the right places, you could also offer college and med school advising, like where you help others apply and look over essays and such.
Donate plasma.
Look on craigslist, there are all kinds of caregiver type jobs that could really work for you. Babysitting.
Uber or Lyft.
I mean, it feels ridiculous to tell you all that because it takes time, but I know med students that did some of the above. At least with plasma you can study while you do it.
You could look into private loans too, to supplement.
Also, I would reach out to the admin, but also your class. You never know what student could use a roommate or a live-in babysitter for cheap rent. Like, are you pre-clinical? Because there could be a 3rd or 4th year with a family that could use a lodger and someone to help out.
Also ditto on craigslist for trying to find somewhere cheap to live without needing a lot of credit or proof of income and all that crap.
Lastly, at my school at least, theoretically you could basically literally live on the campus. There was an old building with lockers, showers, and several rooms that I swear to god you could unroll a sleeping bag and get away with it if you just moved around. There were student call rooms in the hospital nearby (but if you do this sort of thing, you can never sleep in the same spot all the time or people will get wise). Preclinical this would have totally worked, not so much for clinical years. It really depends on the layout of your school and how well you can scope these places out, and having a good story if someone catches you asleep somewhere like that. As far as food, that was pretty easy as well because of the lockers and the set up of places, and I learned long ago to basically live off anything you can microwave or add hot water to, and we had microwaves in various spots.
Keep in mind I have quite a bit of experience being homeless and sleeping under a bridge, dumpster diving, and living out of a car and couch surfing.
I wonder if you could couch surf with students and do all of the above to save money, while you try to arrange something more affordable and stable.
But you have to get with your school and let them know what is going on. Except for the part about living on the campus. Leave that out.
ETA: I recall now there was a resident that lived in the call room for like a mo or so while they were in some sort of housing transition.
Often you can get your Financial Aid increased for medical bills, so there really should be a limit to how much of your aid is going for that, and that could get you more money.
Some people are able to find something with Kaplan or test material type organizations where you can write study materials or teach and make money.
Other options are tutoring high school or college students.
If you advertise in the right places, you could also offer college and med school advising, like where you help others apply and look over essays and such.
Donate plasma.
Look on craigslist, there are all kinds of caregiver type jobs that could really work for you. Babysitting.
Uber or Lyft.
I mean, it feels ridiculous to tell you all that because it takes time, but I know med students that did some of the above. At least with plasma you can study while you do it.
You could look into private loans too, to supplement.
Also, I would reach out to the admin, but also your class. You never know what student could use a roommate or a live-in babysitter for cheap rent. Like, are you pre-clinical? Because there could be a 3rd or 4th year with a family that could use a lodger and someone to help out.
Also ditto on craigslist for trying to find somewhere cheap to live without needing a lot of credit or proof of income and all that crap.
Lastly, at my school at least, theoretically you could basically literally live on the campus. There was an old building with lockers, showers, and several rooms that I swear to god you could unroll a sleeping bag and get away with it if you just moved around. There were student call rooms in the hospital nearby (but if you do this sort of thing, you can never sleep in the same spot all the time or people will get wise). Preclinical this would have totally worked, not so much for clinical years. It really depends on the layout of your school and how well you can scope these places out, and having a good story if someone catches you asleep somewhere like that. As far as food, that was pretty easy as well because of the lockers and the set up of places, and I learned long ago to basically live off anything you can microwave or add hot water to, and we had microwaves in various spots.
Keep in mind I have quite a bit of experience being homeless and sleeping under a bridge, dumpster diving, and living out of a car and couch surfing.
I wonder if you could couch surf with students and do all of the above to save money, while you try to arrange something more affordable and stable.
But you have to get with your school and let them know what is going on. Except for the part about living on the campus. Leave that out.
ETA: I recall now there was a resident that lived in the call room for like a mo or so while they were in some sort of housing transition.
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Can you take a research year and keep loans? I am doing that instead of a medical LOA.
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