Ok, a few things I learned when doing this last year...
1) Get on your parents' booties about getting their taxes done ASAP, get your own done ASAP as well. It'll make life easier.
2) Fill out FAFSA as soon as you have some numbers. Use the ones from lat year if you think they're about the same and then you can change them later.
3) About parental information: as a rule, if you just want to be eligible for FEDERAL LOANS, you don't need to enter it into FAFSA. You'll get the loans. If you want to be eligible for NEED-BASED AID, as well as University-based loans (usually have lower interest/ allow more leeway when you pay them back) you will almost definitely have to enter parental info. Yes, it usually hurts you. Yes, you can argue until you're blue in the face that your parents have zero intention of helping you out and therefore you should be considered independent. It's entirely irrelevant. If you apply for need-based aid, you will have to suck it up and enter your parents' information. Sorry.
4) In order to avoid it, you have to have all kinds of proof that you have zero contact with your parents, etc. I promise, it's not easy.
5) For people who had a job last year: your "expected family contribution" on FAFSA, even if you only fill out your own info (aka not your parents') will be higher than you'd like because it'll count the money you made at your job. Oftentimes, med schools have their own mini-financial aid apps that include some kind of "comments" section, so you can explain that yes, you had a job that made you X number of dollars a year, but you won't have that job come med school, so that money shouldn't be counted as expected income. They may or may not care.
6) Each med school has its own system. FIGURE IT OUT. Don't just fill out FAFSA and assume you're good to go. Some places have their own financial aid apps that you actively have to look for online. Each school has a different deadline for getting stuff in. Some want official copies of tax returns, W2's, etc. Some don't. Others want other online applications, like NeedAccess, if you want to apply for need-based funds. Do the research yourself and don't expect to be spoon-fed information. This stuff is for your own benefit, and it's not the school's responsibility to remind you once a week that you haven't done everything you were supposed to do.
7) Need money runs out, so do stuff quickly.
8) Do your homework on loans, interest rates, repayment guidelines, etc. Not all loans are created equal. You could get two loan packages that look exactly the same, but one has more interest and expect you to start paying them back soon after you graduate. Others will have lower interest rates and can be paid back after residency. GradPlus are notorious killers, and school-based loans tend to be more lenient.
9) As far as AMOUNTS are concerned, you can accept less than they predict, but not more. So, when they give you numbers for "cost of attendance", that's the max they can give you in loans. This amount doesn't include car payments, btw. So, if you're planning on buying a car right before school, your payments will have to come out of your housing budget or food budget or whatever (each financial aid website should have a breakdown of cost of attendance). If you want to live in a 1400$ a month condo, you won't eat. It's as simple as that. However, if you can live for cheaper (live at home, share a tiny apartment with people) you can take less money and you'll have to pay back less. A lot of people choose to take the max the first semester and see how much they have left, and then they adjust their numbers accordingly after that.
10) If your parents have money, and you're expected to take everything out in loans anyway, you might want to ask your parents for a loan instead. Chances are, they'll let you pay them back without interest/with lower interest than a bank, and they'll be nicer to you about it
😉.
Ok, that should do it.
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