Financial Aid deferrment situation

[Hopefullpremed]

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I'm doing a post-bacc program that I can no longer afford on my own and my psych doctor says he wants me to work before I can take out anymore loans. My past loans for undergrad are a few years forgiven as I finish up my premed classes. If I dont take up any extra time working rather than volunteering at my school or taking more time off how will I be able to take add'l classes in biochem, genetics, statistics, etc.? Are there other possibilities? --Hopefullpremed

 

[DrMidlife]

I'm doing a post-bacc program that I can no longer afford on my own and my psych doctor says he wants me to work before I can take out anymore loans. My past loans for undergrad are a few years forgiven as I finish up my premed classes. If I dont take up any extra time working rather than volunteering at my school or taking more time off how will I be able to take add'l classes in biochem, genetics, statistics, etc.? Are there other possibilities? --Hopefullpremed

Get a 2nd & 3rd opinion on what your shrink's telling you. If you take out another loan to finish your postbac and apply and THEN work full time for a year before med school, that's infinitely preferable to inserting a distracting hiccup of a menial job in your current progress.

That said, if you're NOT doing well in your postbac, then I'm in favor of doing the working year now vs. later. Take a break, make some money, then go at it again. But don't take a $10/hr part time job and think that's helping pay back loans.

Also, keep track of the total loan amount you're taking on. If you're expecting to borrow in med school, and you've taken heavy undergrad loans, then your shrink is right. You could be looking at a quarter million in loans, which is about $600k by the time you pay it back.

Best of luck to you.