Mike,
The Arizona Medical Association, whom I met with in June, is treating this as fact. The UofA students also believed this was a done deal.
It has been approved by the AZ legislature but is under-funded. They were planning to start 25 medical students this year but I'm not sure if it has gone that far. My opinion is that this is a done deal and could only be railroaded if funding is somehow cut off. Politically, a lot of people (e.g. the Gov.) have a lot at stake to see this through to completion.
Loans are based on what it a student to live on and cover tuition, currently around $54k. The first $38k is subsidized by the government, the rest is private loans. I know of students getting even more (!) but that probably depends on your credit rating versus need.
Nope, it's a private institution.
Great school. Didactic education, from my biased perspective, seem to be outstanding (facilities and faculty). Rotations are going to be similar to most places except that you'll be doing some traveling for 3rd year rotations. Many schools have local treaching hospitals for 3rd rotations, but almost everywhere you're going to be traveling to your desired residency institutions/locations for those audition rotations.
If you do a quick search, you'll see that this topic has been covered ad nauseum. But I really like the private "teaching first" atmosphere.
Hope that helps...