Fee Waiver Application confusion

[MedPR]

I sent mine in on Tuesday and I had to use tax return because I work full-time and am out of school.

Same here. I'm in school, but the credits are only $90 and I never had the time to fill out any financial aid information.

I should qualify for fee waivers for AACOMAS and AMCAS though. I think AACOMAS said you have to be within 150% of the national poverty rate, 300% for AMCAS. AMCAS includes your parent's income even if you aren't a dependent though.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[mcrechio]

Same here. I'm in school, but the credits are only $90 and I never had the time to fill out any financial aid information.

I should qualify for fee waivers for AACOMAS and AMCAS though. I think AACOMAS said you have to be within 150% of the national poverty rate, 300% for AMCAS. AMCAS includes your parent's income even if you aren't a dependent though.

I haven't submitted my AMCAS fee waiver. I did apply for it last year so that I could register for the MCAT and got it but it will be far more complicated this year. Any money my dad made was paid under the table (he was out of work a lot last year). My dad hasn't supported me since I graduated high school but if I use my mother, who doesn't work, I would have to include my stepdad's income, which would prevent me from qualifying. I'm a mother of two on my own....I don't understand why independent students also need to include their parents' information. If I don't qualify because of THEM, it's not like they will help me pay for the AMCAS/secondary fees. I am only interested in applying to one allopathic program though so it won't be too much of a hardship...

 

[MsBerry]

AACOMAS rejected my fee waiver today. I thought I would get it because I got the AMCAS fee waiver. I remember reading around here somewhere that if you get AMCAS, you should qualify for AACOMAS too. Can someone clarify the guidelines between the 2 for me please? What does being being within 150% and 300% of the national poverty rate mean? I don't understand how percentiles go over 100. Help! 🙁

 

[virtuoso735]

AACOMAS rejected my fee waiver today. I thought I would get it because I got the AMCAS fee waiver. I remember reading around here somewhere that if you get AMCAS, you should qualify for AACOMAS too. Can someone clarify the guidelines between the 2 for me please? What does being being within 150% and 300% of the national poverty rate mean? I don't understand how percentiles go over 100. Help! 🙁

I believe there is more leeway with the poverty level for AMCAS, meaning that your family can make more money and you would still qualify for the AMCAS fee waiver, but not necessarily the AACOMAS fee waiver.

For the percentages, here's an example. I don't know the exact numbers, so I'm making them up. Let's say for a family of three (you and your parents), the poverty level is $20,000/yr or below. AMCAS awards fee waivers for those within 300% of the poverty level, so you multiple 20,000 by 3 to get 60,000 (300% of 20,000). If your family's income is below 60,000/yr, then you should qualify for the fee waiver. However, AACOMAS only gives fee waivers to those under (20,000*1.5) = $30,000/yr for a family of 3. Their threshold is lower and thus you may not qualify for that fee waiver even if you got the other one.

 

[Whiteshoes]

So i got my approval fee waiver message but how do I know when it will be applied to my account so I can submit my aacomas?

 

[virtuoso735]

So i got my approval fee waiver message but how do I know when it will be applied to my account so I can submit my aacomas?

When did you get your approval message? My application was received on the 17th but still no word. 🙁

 

[MsBerry]

I believe there is more leeway with the poverty level for AMCAS, meaning that your family can make more money and you would still qualify for the AMCAS fee waiver, but not necessarily the AACOMAS fee waiver.

For the percentages, here's an example. I don't know the exact numbers, so I'm making them up. Let's say for a family of three (you and your parents), the poverty level is $20,000/yr or below. AMCAS awards fee waivers for those within 300% of the poverty level, so you multiple 20,000 by 3 to get 60,000 (300% of 20,000). If your family's income is below 60,000/yr, then you should qualify for the fee waiver. However, AACOMAS only gives fee waivers to those under (20,000*1.5) = $30,000/yr for a family of 3. Their threshold is lower and thus you may not qualify for that fee waiver even if you got the other one.

Thank you very much, Virtuoso! It's all clear to me now. Guess I need to start saving up and being more selective for DO apps now that the fee waiver is not available for me.

 

[mcrechio]

So i got my approval fee waiver message but how do I know when it will be applied to my account so I can submit my aacomas?

I haven't submitted my app yet but it says fee waived in green next to the school that I have listed as applying to.

 

[dudeliness]

So i got my approval fee waiver message but how do I know when it will be applied to my account so I can submit my aacomas?

yeah I'm in the same boat. Got the approval email exactly as quoted before so I emailed and asked how I would know when it has been applied to my account and I got this response,
"Ian Vickers
Yesterday 9:47 AM
It will be applied by 12pm ET today in order to submit.

Thank you."

Apparently this Ian Vickers doesn't know what he's talking about because when I go through the steps to submit and pay I see no discount being applied to my application. I really wish someone could tell us what to do because AACOMAS isn't open until Monday and I don't want to wait all weekend to apply!

 

[dudeliness]

I haven't submitted my app yet but it says fee waived in green next to the school that I have listed as applying to.

how long after you were approved did that show up on your account?

 

[Whiteshoes]

When did you get your approval message? My application was received on the 17th but still no word. 🙁

I mailed out May 8th, received status pop up on May 14, approval message under support tab May 23, but since then no updates.. if i go on to the the tab to add medical schools it just says incomplete next to all of them. so I guess it hasn't been applied yet.

I guess I'll message them too.

 

[Whiteshoes]

yeah I'm in the same boat. Got the approval email exactly as quoted before so I emailed and asked how I would know when it has been applied to my account and I got this response,
"Ian Vickers
Yesterday 9:47 AM
It will be applied by 12pm ET today in order to submit.

Thank you."

Apparently this Ian Vickers doesn't know what he's talking about because when I go through the steps to submit and pay I see no discount being applied to my application. I really wish someone could tell us what to do because AACOMAS isn't open until Monday and I don't want to wait all weekend to apply!

ah i but applying now or on monday wont make much difference. I'll probably call them on monday and update you guys if i can.

 

[VBGLL]

....

 

[Ravizzle]

I believe they use the us census poverty thresholds

http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/index.html

aacomas is 150%

amcas is 300%

In a similar situation, my last years family income is above these levels, but this year has been horrible for my family. So i guess i just need to condense my list of schools down to ones that i'm absolutely sure of.