Canadian In the United States

[Camrichie]

Hello

I will be attending medical school in the U.S this coming year. As I am being kept busy looking after financial aid, housing ans other things, I find myself a little lost. My school doesn't seem to offer to much guidance towards Canadian Students, as it's trend seems to only accept one or two a year.

I was wondering if there are any Canadian Medical Students or Doctors out there studying in the Unites States that has any advice for those of us that will be or wish to be heading south for our future studies.

I would especially like if you could touch on funding, the loan systems here in Canada are changing just as they are in the U.S, it is getting more and more difficult to get a loan, outside of the little $210/wk the government gives us, which is hardly enough to cover the 70K + that we have to pay yearly.

Any and all advice is welcome, except if you are going to tell me that I should stay in Canada, Because them obviously you don't know how difficult it is to get acceptance here


Thanks

Camrichie

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[PistolPete]

Congratulations on getting into medical school! That is a great achievement, and you've cleared the biggest hurdle. Another hurdle is finances. Unless you have a green card you cannot get US federal funding. The only other option is to go talk to banks and ask about their medical student line of credit. Most should be willing to give a loan to you, but will require that you have a strong co-signor who is a Canadian citizen and has a good credit history.

I had to get two lines of credit from two different banks, because they usually max out at 150k each. I recommend going to talk to RBC (they are most familiar with Canadian students studying abroad), TD Bank, Scotiabank, MD Financial and maybe CIBC.

Another option is to get a loan from a US bank, but you'll need to have a US citizen co-signor, so that may or may not be an option for you. '

Good luck!

 

[WellWornLad]

I would especially like if you could touch on funding, the loan systems here in Canada are changing just as they are in the U.S, it is getting more and more difficult to get a loan, outside of the little $210/wk the government gives us, which is hardly enough to cover the 70K + that we have to pay yearly.

The Canadian gov't actually gives you money just for being a student? Even while you're studying overseas?

 

[Camrichie]

The Canadian gov't actually gives you money just for being a student? Even while you're studying overseas?

Give's us money.....

It's a Loan, It's not FREE money, we have to pay it back, and the worst thing about it is, it isn't a whole lot when converted to USD.
Currently 1 Canadian Dollars is worth 0.797 U.S Dollar,

 

[Camrichie]

Congratulations on getting into medical school! That is a great achievement, and you've cleared the biggest hurdle. Another hurdle is finances. Unless you have a green card you cannot get US federal funding. The only other option is to go talk to banks and ask about their medical student line of credit. Most should be willing to give a loan to you, but will require that you have a strong co-signor who is a Canadian citizen and has a good credit history.

I had to get two lines of credit from two different banks, because they usually max out at 150k each. I recommend going to talk to RBC (they are most familiar with Canadian students studying abroad), TD Bank, Scotiabank, MD Financial and maybe CIBC.

Another option is to get a loan from a US bank, but you'll need to have a US citizen co-signor, so that may or may not be an option for you. '

Good luck!

Thanks for the info!
I am already in the process of getting an RBC line of credit, but I wasn't sure if I could get two, from different banks. Did you apply for them both at the same time or did you wait till one was maxed out before you got you second one.

I looked up the MD financial, they look promising 200k, not enough to cover all four years, but that better than 150K.

I've been looking into US bank loans, not many offer to international studnets, I have been looking into Sallie mae and Citibank.
But Citi doesn't work with my school. Right know Sallie mae is my only option.
Any Ideas on other banks that provide loans to internationals/Canandians.

 

[PistolPete]

I applied for both LOC's simultaneously. When I was approved for the first line of credit, I obviously told the second bank, and they factored that into their calculations (they would find out eventually anyway since my SIN is attached).