Financial aid doesn’t seem like its enough

[darlesthecharwin]

Starting medical school this fall. Based on what my school considers to be the cost of living, about $1560 per month. Then I subtracted the cheapest apartment they offer with a roommate, my phone bill, my car payment and insurance, and electricity/gas and I come out to $130 leftover per month.

That’s supposed to include all my costs of living including food, gas, literally anything else?

Is there any opportunities for me to request more aid if I need it?

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[grist]

Are you calculating that correctly? For most programs, the COA assumes that the academic year is 10 months long, not 12. If you made that error then the true budgeted amount would be about $1800 a month which is on the lower side but doable (albeit with little breathing room) depending on the location. Most schools budget $2300 to $3000 a month.

To answer your question, you can request a CoL adjustment and, if approved, take out more federal loans to cover the difference. These adjustments are generally for unexpected medical expenses or for people with children, but I think sometimes they're approved to cover already-existing car loans, which it sounds like you have. Would be worth reaching out to the school's finaid office about this.

 

[NegativeMargin]

Starting medical school this fall. Based on what my school considers to be the cost of living, about $1560 per month. Then I subtracted the cheapest apartment they offer with a roommate, my phone bill, my car payment and insurance, and electricity/gas and I come out to $130 leftover per month.

That’s supposed to include all my costs of living including food, gas, literally anything else?

Is there any opportunities for me to request more aid if I need it?

I'm in a similar spot, as the other person said you can get a COA adjustment. I reached out to the financial aid department and they left me feeling confident that a COA adjustment would be a relatively easy thing to do for someone like me who has my entire academic year 2022-2023 budget detailed in an excel document, and copies of all my bills, to show proof of my need.

I will say that $1560/month is low for sure. The budget you are allotted in the award letter, which is likely going to be a little bit more than what you actually get from what I have been told because of processing fees on the loans, is the amount you budget with for the academic year. Whether they say it's for 10-months or 12-months isn't really relevant for your budgeting purposes; you have to make it work either way unless you look for income somewhere. If you look up threads on working in med-school, it's not advised the vast majority of the time here.

Beyond that, there are private loans obviously, and some stipend programs. Something to note though, at least for my tuition scholarship, it will only cover up to the COA, so if you applied for scholarships to help pay for things, if you're already at that COA maximum, the scholarships won't actually get you any more money in your pocket, they'll only reduce the amount of loans you have.

 

[LizzyM]

I would say that 10 months vs 12 months is very relevant; it drops your monthly "income" by 20% to need to stretch 10 months of money to cover 12 months of expenses.

One assumption is that you "go home" to your parents and live rent free over the summer and they pay many of your other expenses. Of course, many students don't have that option or it would be impractical. Another option is to seek a research position that pays a stipend for the summer, or to get straight up employment.

 

[efle]

I repeatedly requested upwards adjustments so I could take more loans and live a slightly less impoverished existence. It was very easy just a form to fill out and email to the aid office each semester, and they approved me every time. Hopefully your school will be similar

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I know we have a Financial Aid forum though it doesn't get as much traffic as it should (because you have to scroll down): Financial Aid . Not sure if you would get more suggestions also there.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

if you can get a fixed rate loan, go for that. Inflation is just getting started and benefits borrowers (if fixed fee)

 

[chilly_md]

Thread moved to Financial Aid forum.

 

[LADoc00]

Requesting more loan money at the moment is like requesting even more Russians to invade your country.

Look at the PLUS loan rates atm.