FAP Annual Grant

[GtownCobra]

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Folks,

I have not received my annual grant yet this year, but I have a quesiton:

I guess I'm officially sponsored for FAP for exactly 2 years and 10 months, obligating a 4 year repayment term.

I heard a rumor that the Air Force will adjust your grant for the final year if it's not exactly a complete year. In so that I will make 10/12ths of 45 thousand instead of a complete 45 thousand.

Does anyone know if this is true? I think that's total crap, as I still owe a full year of repayment for these 10 months anyway.

 

[GtownCobra]

And another question:

Do newly-minted attendings / fellows with less than 3 years experience still get VSP? I ask because on the pay tables, that field is simply left blank.

Thanks

 

[AF08]

yes they will prorate it and yes it is total crap that you will owe them a full year for that 10 months. Get used to it. You will also get the shaft on your last year of ISP unless you opt to stay an extra 3 months. VSP is based off of constructive service credit which starts the day you graduate medical school. Less than 6 years of constructive credit gives you about 416 dollars per month and once you reach 6 it is 1000 per month for a few years. I went the FAP route a few years back.

 

[Kris1]

An Air Force recruiter that I've been talking with says that if I apply for FAP now that I can begin the scholarship next July if accepted and will get two years of benefits (I'm in a three year EM program and just began). I saw a Navy website that says that I begin getting benefits immediately upon entry into the program. What gives? I know it's a DoD thing so it can't be different across services.

 

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

And another question:

Do newly-minted attendings / fellows with less than 3 years experience still get VSP? I ask because on the pay tables, that field is simply left blank.

Thanks

The short answer is yes, you should be eligible for VSP, ASP, and board certified pay. However, as long as you are under obligation, you are not eligible for ISP or MSP.

 

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

An Air Force recruiter that I've been talking with says that if I apply for FAP now that I can begin the scholarship next July if accepted and will get two years of benefits (I'm in a three year EM program and just began). I saw a Navy website that says that I begin getting benefits immediately upon entry into the program. What gives? I know it's a DoD thing so it can't be different across services.

Spoken as an ex-air force BSC, current navy physician: the USAF makes even more inexplicable policy decisions than the Navy. Now don't get me wrong, the Navy leaves me scratching my head plenty of times, just not as much as the USAF did. Just my two cents.

 

[Kris1]

So what's the best way to use that annual grant? Paying down student loans is the obvious answer I suppose, but that's no fun. Actually, I thought I would just do IBR for 10 years and let those loans stew while I invest the grant into real estate. Is that a poor decision?

 

[Kris1]

Also... what are these VSP, ASP, ISP, MSP, and board certified pay things mentioned previously? Bonuses perhaps while active duty?

 

[GtownCobra]

The short answer is yes, you should be eligible for VSP, ASP, and board certified pay. However, as long as you are under obligation, you are not eligible for ISP or MSP.

Wait, I thought all physicians were eligible for ASP (15K) and ISP (20K for pathology) as soon as residency was completed. Otherwise, what's the incentive for doing a civilian-sponsored fellowship if we can just enter active duty and make 35K more per year?

The Army fellow in hemapatopathology at my civilian institution received ASP and ISP last year; are you sure of this?

If that's the case, hell, I'm going to decline my selection.

 

[AF08]

You will receive ISP, just not MSP. MSP is something that is available to you once your obligation is up.

 

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

You will receive ISP, just not MSP. MSP is something that is available to you once your obligation is up.

my bad. AF08 is correct.

 

[Kris1]

Does anyone know how long it takes approximately from the seeing the recruiter to acceptance and payment for this program? I spoke with a Navy recruiter two weeks ago and got the ball rolling, but he told me they wouldn't know the number of available scholarships until the new fiscal year (this October). I expect it will take at least 3 months but didn't know if I was way off.

Also, it is this recruiters first time going through the process and he didn't have me fill out anything. He just took copies of all my stuff (old DD214, transcripts, diplomas, etc). Seems like there should be more to it than that.