I know there are many threads regarding cost of living+tuition for certain schools. However, I am a different type of applicant, IMO and I am concerened about affording living expenses PLUS medical school tuition. My father passed away when I was younger and my mom also left us shortly after. I have zero parental/family support. All I have is older siblings who are either far away/ struggling to make it as well. I went through four years of undergrad through loans and I plan on doing that with my medical education as well. Needless to say I have seen the darksides of life and what happens when you have no money. I have a fiance who is a socialworker but does not make a very large salary but enough to keep food on the table. I also have a little dog but all she can give me is slober and poop to pick up when it comes to finances. So how would we be able to do it. How will my fiance and I be able to pay for my Schooling AND living expenses. I am afraid she cannot on her own take care of our rent/food so how am I going to go about this? Will I be able to finance all of this through loans? I understand working through medical school is crazy, and I know its out of the question. Has anybody ever been in this situation before or is going through it right now?
cost of med school + living.
- Thread starter kypreos
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Cost of Attendance at each school is: tuition + living expenses. We are always encouraged to take out only what you need and to live frugally. Just go to any schools website and it will show how much $$ you can take out.
Our tuition is ~28k, but we are allowed to take out ~55k. So that gives you about 25k to live off and in your situation w/e your fiance brings in. You'll be fine.
Our tuition is ~28k, but we are allowed to take out ~55k. So that gives you about 25k to live off and in your situation w/e your fiance brings in. You'll be fine.
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One word: loans.
This year my COA + tuition loan amount was over $70K. It helps enormously considering I have a family and my husband took almost a 50% pay cut to move with me for medical school (and he got a job at the best paying employer in the state in his field). Money is tight, but we're making it. It's possible. Don't worry. You'll have a huge loan bill when you're done, but you will survive.
This year my COA + tuition loan amount was over $70K. It helps enormously considering I have a family and my husband took almost a 50% pay cut to move with me for medical school (and he got a job at the best paying employer in the state in his field). Money is tight, but we're making it. It's possible. Don't worry. You'll have a huge loan bill when you're done, but you will survive.
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There are a few options that you could look into to help with the cost. The first is the National Health Service Corps. They pay for the costs associated with school and give you a small stipend to live on each month. However, there is a commitment of having to spend x amount of years working a rural area.
The other one is the Military. You can check out the Military Med forum here on SDN. The one thing they stress more that anything else is dont join the military for the money becasue you will be miserable. However, if you feel the need to serve your country and want to get some money out of it, it is an option. They pay for all required fees given by the school and they give you a stipend of $1992 a month.
Also as for schools. I didnt catch whether you are in Med School already or are applying. If you are applying consider LECOM. They have the smallest tuition I have seen. I pay like $26,000 in tuition for the entire year. It is great!
Just some ideas!
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VCOM also has a very low tuition.
so you are actually allowed to pull out loans to help you with the cost of living. That sets my mind somewhat at ease. It shows theres hope for having a meal every day lol. I am DEF. applying to VCOM and LECOM. I am also however applying to pcom and nsucom. My fiance is a socialworker so she can find work pretty much anywhere and hopefully she will be able to make a larger salary at her second job. Its good to know that some other people are doing it. The military is not an option for me as A) I have no interest in bieng an officer and B) I want to be able to choose where I would like to start a family one day. I have looked into that option however. Thank you for all of your informative posts. and 70K! thats a lot of cheese and kudos to your spouse taking a pay cut for you to accomplish your goals.
Like you said, it's difficult if not impossible to work while in medical school so everybody is in the same boat. A few people have spouses or significant others in nice paying jobs, but the majority take out the loans. If you take out the maximum I think it adds up to around $2,000/mo for living expenses. More than enough if you're smart about it.
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As a graduate student you are eligible for loans to cover 100% of your tuition.
The main goal is to minimize overall cost. There are schools out there that cost 60-70k/year after living expenses are factored in. Going to such a school is a bad choice b/c your dept load will be very high upon graduation. You also have to remmember that interest loans on government loans (Stafford - 6.8% & GradPLUS=8.5%) are pretty high interest rates when you dept load is 200k+.
I suggest applying to as many schools as possible and picking the cheapest school.
Also, don't sign up for those Health Science programs b/c many hospitals & private practices now offer loan repayment bonuses as part of your sign-on contract.
What is not good about large dept is the though of how long it will take to pay off. In the long run though you will still come out on top.
The main goal is to minimize overall cost. There are schools out there that cost 60-70k/year after living expenses are factored in. Going to such a school is a bad choice b/c your dept load will be very high upon graduation. You also have to remmember that interest loans on government loans (Stafford - 6.8% & GradPLUS=8.5%) are pretty high interest rates when you dept load is 200k+.
I suggest applying to as many schools as possible and picking the cheapest school.
Also, don't sign up for those Health Science programs b/c many hospitals & private practices now offer loan repayment bonuses as part of your sign-on contract.
What is not good about large dept is the though of how long it will take to pay off. In the long run though you will still come out on top.
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I am in my fourth year and can tell you I made it through a similar situation. Both of my parents are retired and live off of social security (so no money coming in there, in fact I send them money). My fiancee is a teacher with loans of her own. I made it through undergrad with 100K in loans. It can be done, you just need to budget ahead. Keep an excell sheet or whatever works for you. Try to limit the little things (going out to eat, ect.) as they add up the most. Also, apply for the Perkins loan day one. My school never told me about this and I was eligible for 8K a year of fixed interest. Finally, some schools offer scholarships for people like you and I (some people actually get money from their parents or family) so look into that as well.
thankfully my fiance's family picked up her loans. Budgeting is the name of the game we have not gone out to eat in a LONG time. I am going to apply and go to the school with the lowest tuition and best rotation sites. Thank you all again
