FAFSA and med schools

[willow18]

Hi Ya'll,

I've just submitted the AMCAS, so I may be reaching for the stars here but I need to know it now to be prepared.

Do med schools require you to complete a FAFSA? And do you have to have your parents' financial info..? What about someone whose not on speaking terms with parents etc.. or parents refuse?

Thanks.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[tshumard]

In all professional schools you will be classified as "independant" and you will not have to provide your parents information. Filling out the FAFSA is just a waste of time for professional school, other than just get you in the system for the federal loans. All it does it tell the school wether or not you qualify for their Perkin's Loan, which usually is very minimal. You will NOT receive any 'federal' grants or any 'free' money from filling out the FAFSA like in undergrad.

 

[willthatsall]

In all professional schools you will be classified as "independant" and you will not have to provide your parents information. Filling out the FAFSA is just a waste of time for professional school, other than just get you in the system for the federal loans. All it does it tell the school wether or not you qualify for their Perkin's Loan, which usually is very minimal. You will NOT receive any 'federal' grants or any 'free' money from filling out the FAFSA like in undergrad.

I think at Vanderibilt they said we had to fill out parents info because they consider med school a family burden even if the government doesn't and they want to know how much your parents make. Not positive though.

 

[efex101]

This has been discussed in the non-trad forum and there are links to two medical school financial aid department. If you want to be considered for ALL financial aid that the school can offer you HAVE to put in parental information on FAFSA. If OTOH you only need federal loans then you do not have to. I will post the links but all you need to do to find this out (and most medical school will state that you do need parental info to be considered for all $$) is go to each medical school website and under financial aid there should be a statement there regarding this issue. The only school that I applied to that did NOT require parental info on FAFSA was Mayo.

 

[efex101]

Vanderbilt http://www.mc.vanderbilt.edu/medsch...aid/finaid3.php

"The FAFSA school code number for the School of Medicine is E00459. Paper FAFSA forms are available from Student Financial Services. Students applying for Vanderbilt funds must include parental information on the FAFSA. Students who are only applying for federal funds do not have to include parental information. The priority deadline is March 1."


I could go on and on through every medical school in the country and come up with this statement...again BE informed. All this is available at each medical school website which can be found from the AAMC website. This is from U of Michigan here is the link http://www.med.umich.edu/medschool/...laid/index.html



In order to be considered for federal and institutional funds, applicants must complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the University of Michigan Medical School Financial Aid Application, both of which are available at Financial Aid Application and Instructions. Institutional funding consists of university grants and loans. In order to be considered for ALL types of aid available, federal as well as institutional, students must provide parental information on the FAFSA form. If no parental data is provided, students will be considered for federal loans only.

 

[willow18]

Yeah, that's what I feared. My folks will prob refuse to sign/provide info for the FAFSA. Hard to imagine eh.

 

[lyn2006]

Yeah, that's what I feared. My folks will prob refuse to sign/provide info for the FAFSA. Hard to imagine eh.

Did you have to do FAFSA for your undergrad? I've had to fill out for a few years now...
And even though your parents have to submit info doesn't mean they are supposed to pay anything. Schools just need a way to figure out what your family's means are, otherwise all students would probably be poor and need tons of aid.
Also, you might be able to get out of it if you can prove you're independent from your parents. Not sure how, but I've heard of it from my undergrad fin. aid. counselors.

 

[efex101]

Yes, in undergrad you can submit paperwork to prove/demonstrate that you are independant but this has nothing to do with medical school FAFSA requirement where they adamantly will not give school scholarships/grants unless parental info is added to FAFSA. Again, check with the medical school financial aid and see which ones do not require parental info for sure Mayo is one.

 

[jbrice1639]

Yes, in undergrad you can submit paperwork to prove/demonstrate that you are independant but this has nothing to do with medical school FAFSA requirement where they adamantly will not give school scholarships/grants unless parental info is added to FAFSA. Again, check with the medical school financial aid and see which ones do not require parental info for sure Mayo is one.

age is a factor here too...students over 25 that have supported themselves are considered independent of their parents and can fill out fafsa without parental info.

 

[efex101]

yup but not for medical school..trust me I was 38 when I was applying with two kiddos and still was going to have to provide parental info.

 

[lyn2006]

So how much do they actually use parental income info? Will it be reasonably similar to an undergrad fin aid package (at a need-based school) since they also use FAFSA? If your parents don't make much money can you expect to get pretty good aid?

 

[efex101]

That I do not know...I ended up at Mayo where the school does not require parental info on FAFSA. Hopefully someone that applied to a school that does require this can shed some light...if not you can call schools and ask, the financial aid folks are usually pretty nice and not as bogged down as the adcom office.