Fee Assistance is a crock of (Cuss Word)

[nubbey24]

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So is anyone else here frustrated with the fee assistance. What the hell do my parents finances have to do with me. I am 24 years old, and have been independent of them 4 years now. I make very little money, and my parents don't make enough to dish out thousands of dollars for med school apps. Just curious if anyone else is absolutely dumb founded by the way this fee assistance system (or lack thereof) is set up.

 

[WHO]

So is anyone else here frustrated with the fee assistance. What the hell do my parents finances have to do with me. I am 24 years old, and have been independent of them 4 years now. I make very little money, and my parents don't make enough to dish out thousands of dollars for med school apps. Just curious if anyone else is absolutely dumb founded by the way this fee assistance system (or lack thereof) is set up.

I have benefited greatly from the FAP offered by AAMC. Just fill out whatever forms they ask of you and give over your financial info as well as your parents'. If it's evident that your parents can't support your application financially then AAMC will see that and decide accordingly. Honestly, I could not have afforded to apply to med schools without this program. If both you and your parents obiviously cannot afford the costs of applying then you will get the fee assistance you need. The way the program is set up is absolutely straightforward. I don't think it could be easier. Good luck with applying! 🙂

 

[Noeljan]

what about people who may have a parent who can afford it, but wont under any cicumstances give them anything? I think parents income should be irrelevant.

 

[Bluntman]

It sucks man, but you're gonna have to get used to it...even when you get to the med school financial aid process, they're still going to want your parents' financial info even if you've been independent for even longer (~8 yrs if I remember).

 

[bugmenot]

So is anyone else here frustrated with the fee assistance. What the hell do my parents finances have to do with me. I am 24 years old, and have been independent of them 4 years now. I make very little money, and my parents don't make enough to dish out thousands of dollars for med school apps. Just curious if anyone else is absolutely dumb founded by the way this fee assistance system (or lack thereof) is set up.

It's so medical schools can deceive people into thinking that attending medical school isn't a pursuit of the very rich. Sure, you can in theory get help with applying if you're willing to jump through all of the hoops, but if you can just ask mommy and daddy for a check, it's so much easier. Of course those expensive MCAT prep classes, those unpaid summers volunteering and "shadowing", that expensive education (and expensive SAT classes you took four years before), and all of those other requirements for getting in....well, you'll just have to ask mommy and daddy for more money.

 

[DrBowtie]

It's so medical schools can deceive people into thinking that attending medical school isn't a pursuit of the very rich. Sure, you can in theory get help with applying if you're willing to jump through all of the hoops, but if you can just ask mommy and daddy for a check, it's so much easier. Of course those expensive MCAT prep classes, those unpaid summers volunteering and "shadowing", that expensive education (and expensive SAT classes you took four years before), and all of those other requirements for getting in....well, you'll just have to ask mommy and daddy for more money.

😴 👎

 

[star22]

It's so medical schools can deceive people into thinking that attending medical school isn't a pursuit of the very rich.

Yeah, this process in the US does select again middle class or lower. In contrast, Australians pay $55AU to apply to all of the med schools there (no such thing as secondaries) and if they get in, the cost of school is <$6000/year.

It is pretty sad how US companies have managed to capitalize on every step of this process.... pay Kaplan $1500 to take a prep class, pay the AAMC $200 to take the MCAT, pay AMCAS hundreds of dollars to send out primaries, pay every school $100 just to look at your application.... it is a little crazy.

 

[DrBowtie]

Yeah, this process in the US does select again middle class or lower. In contrast, Australians pay $55AU to apply to all of the med schools there (no such thing as secondaries) and if they get in, the cost of school is <$6000/year.

It is pretty sad how US companies have managed to capitalize on every step of this process.... pay Kaplan $1500 to take a prep class, pay the AAMC $200 to take the MCAT, pay AMCAS hundreds of dollars to send out primaries, pay every school $100 just to look at your application.... it is a little crazy.

Pretty sad that the AAMC isn't a company...I'd certainly invest in it

 

[DropkickMurphy]

You all act like you HAVE to shell out the $1500 or whatever for an MCAT prep course.....there's the cost of your secondaries right there if you would just learn some financial responsiblity and given that you've had at least three years of college, I would hope you'd have learned how to study independent of someone spoonfeeding the information to you.

I do agree however that the mandate to provide your parents' financial information is utter, total and complete bull****. What are those of us who have zero to do with our parents supposed to do?

 

[aliziry]

It sucks for everyone. My father is dead but I have no clue where my mother is. Have not had any contact for 18 months.

 

[DropkickMurphy]

I'm disowning my parents next May once I transfer schools. As it stands now, I don't talk to them much, but I am not giving them any of my contact info once I move.

 

[ClosetNerd]

So is anyone else here frustrated with the fee assistance. What the hell do my parents finances have to do with me. I am 24 years old, and have been independent of them 4 years now. I make very little money, and my parents don't make enough to dish out thousands of dollars for med school apps. Just curious if anyone else is absolutely dumb founded by the way this fee assistance system (or lack thereof) is set up.

I have been financially independent for about 6 years. I applied to the FAP and got denied.

I called the AAMC and they said, "even if you were 45 years old we would still consider your parents income." 😱

It is hard to apply as a non-traditional student. If I applied directly out of undergrad I could have boosted my loan amount to help cover the cost.

Either way, Thank God for the Credit Card! 🙂

Good Luck Nubbey.

 

[Johannen]

You all act like you HAVE to shell out the $1500 or whatever for an MCAT prep course.....there's the cost of your secondaries right there if you would just learn some financial responsiblity and given that you've had at least three years of college, I would hope you'd have learned how to study independent of someone spoonfeeding the information to you.

I do agree however that the mandate to provide your parents' financial information is utter, total and complete bull****. What are those of us who have zero to do with our parents supposed to do?

Amen, my brother!

I studied for the MCAT out of a $15 book by Barron's. Same for the SAT/ACT. I turned out fine. Medical school is pretty premiere when it comes to selecting for intellectual ability; I was shocked to find out how many people pay for those courses.

 

[nubbey24]

I have benefited greatly from the FAP offered by AAMC. Just fill out whatever forms they ask of you and give over your financial info as well as your parents'. If it's evident that your parents can't support your application financially then AAMC will see that and decide accordingly. Honestly, I could not have afforded to apply to med schools without this program. If both you and your parents obiviously cannot afford the costs of applying then you will get the fee assistance you need. The way the program is set up is absolutely straightforward. I don't think it could be easier. Good luck with applying! 🙂

Did you read the message I initially posted?? You are responding to an entirely different situation then what I am talking about. I am glad it worked out for you, but for those of us whose parents are not poor (mine are middle class), and who do not recieve any support from them (haven't for a while now), it is very difficult to afford the process. I will be able to manage because I have saved and been extremely thrifty along the way, but it is still extremely tight. So in response to your statement that the program is "straightforward", I would argue it is exactly the opposite. It doesn't take into account the most important factor: How much money do YOU as an applicant have at your disposal for the application process? I have little but this does not seem to matter...good luck to all of you in this similar situation.

 

[lyn2006]

Did you read the message I initially posted?? You are responding to an entirely different situation then what I am talking about. I am glad it worked out for you, but for those of us whose parents are not poor (mine are middle class), and who do not recieve any support from them (haven't for a while now), it is very difficult to afford the process. I will be able to manage because I have saved and been extremely thrifty along the way, but it is still extremely tight. So in response to your statement that the program is "straightforward", I would argue it is exactly the opposite. It doesn't take into account the most important factor: How much money do YOU as an applicant have at your disposal for the application process? I have little but this does not seem to matter...good luck to all of you in this similar situation.

The only problem with this is that most people applying make very little money so many many applicants would then qualify and the AAMC would have to pay a lot more. There would be no way to see whose parents were helping and whose weren't and who really deserved the help. I'm not sure the system is very good though - I applied with the FAP and saved thousands of dollars (my parents wouldn't have helped anyway) and my fiance applied without the FAP and paid so much more even though he's been working and his parents don't support him anymore either. It just seems kind of arbitrary. Oh well.

 

[infiniti]

Well if there is one thing I have learned on SDN, it is that people will always whine. Using socioeconomic factor as the sole determinant of fee assistance will still piss people off. Hopefully this serves as a lesson to the proponents of using socioeconomic factors in admissions. The bottom line is that things will still be imperfect and those complaining now will still get the end of the stick.

Money or lack of money is such a relative thing. The money will go to those who are worse off relatively speaking. This will leave a lot of (not rich, but not poor) people feeling cheated. There is no way around it.

 

[jbrice1639]

Did you read the message I initially posted?? You are responding to an entirely different situation then what I am talking about. I am glad it worked out for you, but for those of us whose parents are not poor (mine are middle class), and who do not recieve any support from them (haven't for a while now), it is very difficult to afford the process. I will be able to manage because I have saved and been extremely thrifty along the way, but it is still extremely tight. So in response to your statement that the program is "straightforward", I would argue it is exactly the opposite. It doesn't take into account the most important factor: How much money do YOU as an applicant have at your disposal for the application process? I have little but this does not seem to matter...good luck to all of you in this similar situation.

as you said, you will be able to manage. so was i. and it sucked. but nonetheless, there are those who literally won't be able to manage, and those are the people the FAP is supposed to help. i don't think parents' income should be included for those of us who are independent (i'm married and in a different state than my parents), but you said yourself that things will be tight, but you'll manage. i think people have to expect things to be tight when applying to medical school...things are gonna get a lot tighter when school starts too...that's just the way it goes.

 

[jlweinst]

In general I agree with the whole "necessary evil" argument, what bothers me is that (at least from the instructions on the online FAFSA) parent finances are only taken into account for "health professions" - nursing and med students are the two examples they give. Is that really the case? What is the reasoning behind this? Also, the FAFSA mentions that it is only considered for the individual institution-awarded aid, not federal...

 

[TheFreshPrince]

Pretty sad that the AAMC isn't a company...I'd certainly invest in it

lol.

 

[nubbey24]

The only problem with this is that most people applying make very little money so many many applicants would then qualify and the AAMC would have to pay a lot more. There would be no way to see whose parents were helping and whose weren't and who really deserved the help. I'm not sure the system is very good though - I applied with the FAP and saved thousands of dollars (my parents wouldn't have helped anyway) and my fiance applied without the FAP and paid so much more even though he's been working and his parents don't support him anymore either. It just seems kind of arbitrary. Oh well.

What they need to do is identify whether your parents claim you for tax purposes or not. If they do, then you are a dependent and it is implied that you still recieve money from them. I think that this should be adopted as the policy as to whether you parents income is a factor in determining whether you recieve fee assistance or not. I think that this is the fatal flaw in the system.

 

[_ian]

What they need to do is identify whether your parents claim you for tax purposes or not. If they do, then you are a dependent and it is implied that you still recieve money from them. I think that this should be adopted as the policy as to whether you parents income is a factor in determining whether you recieve fee assistance or not. I think that this is the fatal flaw in the system.

Honestly, this wouldn't work either. This last tax season, my father and I calculated the size of the refunds we would get as a family if I were dependent or independent, and the difference between the two was far less than it would cost to apply to a decent number of medical schools. In such a case, my family would gladly avoid claiming me just so I could get fee assistance.

Now, my parents can't really afford to help me out either - due to a lot of unforseen expenses cropping up for them, I have far more disposable income than them just by working a job that pays $10/hr, even though I'm paying for my own school, food, and housing - but we're not the only family that would do this sort of thing. We're not eligible for FAP alone, because they make over $40,000 combined, but would certainly be under your proposed rules of independence. I could be independent, since I pay for my school, food, and housing (while at school) myself, but I also come home fairly often, and not officially being one saves my family money. Your parents' income has to be taken into account or people would cheat the system.

It sucks that someone's parents refuse to support them, but you're just going to have to deal with it.

 

[StevenRF]

Yea the fap thing is a joke. Isn't the cutoff like 20g's or something? Was going to apply, but you have to do it like half a year early or something rediculous like that. The irony is that those of lower socioeconomic status will most likely be less stronger candidates and will therefore have to apply to more schools costing more money. I just look at all my business friends who are getting their 15k signing bonuses and cry.

I think the problem is that the majority of med students are all in the same boat as the premed "experience" doesn't afford many financial opportunities, so the AAMC wouldn't be able to f' everyone over if they gave out financial assistance. The worst part is you can't take out student loans to pay it off either. And then you get to hear the financial aid counselors talk about avoiding credit card debt

They should change that kaiser permanente add to something like "Student got assraped through four years of college science classes having no life. Student is now 50-100k in debt with crappy interest rates because he had no money to begin with. Now his credit cards are maxed to pay for med school apps at 20-25% interest. With this in mind, student wanted to get a labotomy for four more years so that he can be 250k in debt with no financial future to speak of for another decade all for the pleasure of being able to listen to you bitch." Ok thats over doing it a bit, but I thought I was on a role.

Actually, anyone else becoming completely desensitized to the debt? After growing up with a small family income, I just look at the numbers and say oh well, WTF.

 

[Dr.Andrews]

Yea the fap thing is a joke. Isn't the cutoff like 20g's or something? Was going to apply, but you have to do it like half a year early or something rediculous like that. The irony is that those of lower socioeconomic status will most likely be less stronger candidates and will therefore have to apply to more schools costing more money. I just look at all my business friends who are getting their 15k signing bonuses and cry.

I think the problem is that the majority of med students are all in the same boat as the premed "experience" doesn't afford many financial opportunities, so the AAMC wouldn't be able to f' everyone over if they gave out financial assistance. The worst part is you can't take out student loans to pay it off either. And then you get to hear the financial aid counselors talk about avoiding credit card debt

They should change that kaiser permanente add to something like "Student got assraped through four years of college science classes having no life. Student is now 50-100k in debt with crappy interest rates because he had no money to begin with. Now his credit cards are maxed to pay for med school apps at 20-25% interest. With this in mind, student wanted to get a labotomy for four more years so that he can be 250k in debt with no financial future to speak of for another decade all for the pleasure of being able to listen to you bitch." Ok thats over doing it a bit, but I thought I was on a role.

Actually, anyone else becoming completely desensitized to the debt? After growing up with a small family income, I just look at the numbers and say oh well, WTF.

There is alot of truth to that. 😳

I figure when it's all said and done, because I'm from Canada, I'll at least owe $300,000 in student debt because I'll have to pay the international tuition in the US.

At least be thankful you're American. 🙂

 

[nubbey24]

as you said, you will be able to manage. so was i. and it sucked. but nonetheless, there are those who literally won't be able to manage, and those are the people the FAP is supposed to help. i don't think parents' income should be included for those of us who are independent (i'm married and in a different state than my parents), but you said yourself that things will be tight, but you'll manage. i think people have to expect things to be tight when applying to medical school...things are gonna get a lot tighter when school starts too...that's just the way it goes.

I couldn't agree with you more. I understand that money being tight is one of the consequences. I was fortunate in that a summer job that I took allowed me to save a little money in the past, but had I not been in a fortunate circumstances and taken a normal low paying summer job, there would have been no way I could have afforded this process. I guess I am just frustrated because it seems to me that the process assumes that your parents make and have made financial contributions to any part of your education (mine have not, as I have paid my entire way through working). Just frustrated, but i understand why they have to do what they have to do. Just wish it was different.

 

[Page]

So is anyone else here frustrated with the fee assistance. What the hell do my parents finances have to do with me. I am 24 years old, and have been independent of them 4 years now. I make very little money, and my parents don't make enough to dish out thousands of dollars for med school apps. Just curious if anyone else is absolutely dumb founded by the way this fee assistance system (or lack thereof) is set up.

Well they know how I feel about them, Ive told them over the phone more than once.

The problem for me is that my parent is unemployed, and we live off of the kindness of relatives for the time being. Proving that ends up taking more time and money (bull**** notarizations etc) that its better for me to just scrounge around for the money.