caribbean finances

[Symmetry11]

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what kind of loan programs do Caribbean schools offer and what kind of credit history do they expect out of an applicant? How can I best prepare myself financially being a year away from the Caribbean?

 

[bedevilled ben]

what kind of loan programs do Caribbean schools offer and what kind of credit history do they expect out of an applicant? How can I best prepare myself financially being a year away from the Caribbean?

Where are you from? The Big 4 all take US federal school loans. I don't believe SGU offers loans directly to students, but I'm unsure about the others. You could also use private loans I suppose, but you will need huge collateral and/or a co-signer and the interest would be obscene.

Have you really researched this decision? This is information that should have come up very early on when you were initially investigating coming to the Caribbean.

There is probably not much you can do to prepare yourself financially. If you're working you could try to save up some extra money for fun stress-relieving things like flights home or going to some of the nearby islands for a weekend. Obviously the more money you save the more things you can do. For SGU, which is far and away the most expensive, you might want an extra $5k in savings help out paying bills, Grenada is an expensive place to live and taking out the max loan amount doesn't leave you much for living expenses. I wouldn't try saving up to take out fewer loans, though. If you have a house/car/other large expensive object you should consider what you're going to do with it for the 2 years down here and then the 2 years at clinicals.

 

[Symmetry11]

I'm a U.S. citizen. I ask because I specifically want to know if the bill I got from a visit to the ER will prevent me from receiving loans, federal or otherwise, if I haven't paid it off yet.

 

[bedevilled ben]

I'm a U.S. citizen. I ask because I specifically want to know if the bill I got from a visit to the ER will prevent me from receiving loans, federal or otherwise, if I haven't paid it off yet.

If it goes 90 days past due, then the hospital may turn it over to a collections office, which means it will show up on your credit report. I believe, however, that unpaid medical bills are treated differently than other debt for purposes of calculating loans. I don't know of anyone that has been turned down for a government student loan due to unpaid debt, and certainly not for medical bills, but if you have outstanding collections they will make you settle the accounts with the collections office before processing your loan.

Incidentally, you should either pay the bill or if you can't afford to, contact the hospital billing department and negotiate a payment schedule. Most hospitals will allow to you pay something like $10 a month, and then after a year or so write off the expense. This avoids getting collections involved and will prevent any potential impact on your credit history.

 

[Flavie]

Do anyone know which (US or other) bank will propose a student loan for a medical student pursuing her studied in a Caribbean medical school that is not approved for federal loans? how do students finance such schools? Also I search for scholarships and grants other than those propose by my Caribbean medical school but could not find one. All I saw applied for US accredited medical school. Is there anyone having another search results? Thanks for any feedback