exceptional financial need??

[alina_s]

I applied for the NHSC and my financial aid office said that I qualified for the "Exceptional Financial Need" priority status on the application. Does anyone know what this means, though? Does EFN matter only for the NHSC scholarship or are there other scholarship/aid programs out there that I should be taking advantage of? Thanks for any advice.

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[mpp]

Yes, being EFN places you in the First Priority pile for the NHSC Scholarship. You will more than likely get an interview. Good Luck!

 

[quaileggs]

alina--yes there are federal programs which you might want to find out about. There is the EFN scholarship and the FDHPS program--both of which have primary care requirements. There is also the SDS (Scholarships for Disadvantaged Students) which to the best of my knowledge has no service or specialty requirements.
These are all programs I am looking into and trying to find out more info. I don't know how resource poor you have to be to be considered for these scholarships. There is the potential with at least some of these programs to have your full tuition and living expenses paid. All of these sound more desirable to me than the National Health scholarships because you have a lot more freedom to decide where you want to practice and even what you want to practice.

 

[alina_s]

Thanks Quaileggs! Could you tell me what the FDHPS program is and what the initials stand for? I couldn't find anything on it.

 

[quaileggs]

FDHPS--(Financial Assistance for Disadvantaged Health Professions Students)
To quote from my Kaplan "Medical School Admissions Advisor" book: "Grants from this programs are made to students who have exceptional need and come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Funding is limited to students who agree to practice in primary care fields....Awards may be made up to the amount of tuition and fees and required books."
For SDS---Awards may be made up to the total standard on-campus budget. The scholarship does not have a primary care practice requirement. Funds for this program are limited.

EFN- Exceptional Need Scholarships--"A student with exceptional financial need is one whose EFC is less than $5000. Awards may be made up to the amount of tuition and fees and required books. Primary care practice requirement"

 

[gmendese]

Do you folks know how to apply to these programs. I guess I'd qualify for EFN scholarship and I'm interested in primary care, so the others sound great to me too. Can you tell me how I can go about applying?

 

[alina_s]

Talk to your school's financial aid office. You have to apply through them. The programs apparently involve a lot of government paperwork and your school may have chosen not to participate (mine did).