financing the degree

[researchvet]

Can someone give me the basic run down (who, where, when) of applying for financial aide to veterinary school? I've been searching around online and I admit to being fairly confused. I was lucky enough to escape applying for federal loans for college thanks to a scholarship. I'm aware that I have to file a FAFSA and create a CSS profile. Right? How does this work if you aren't already accepted into a school? Also, when one hears about the different loans (Pell, Perkins, etc), do you have to apply to these individually or is it all done via the FAFSA? What about the ones geared to professional school students? Also, do you have to file aide forms with each school to which you're applying? Someone who has done this before, please clue me in. Thanks so much.

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[Kymmy16w]

I have the same questions too.

 

[ri23]

Most schools have a dedicated person to help you with these issues. For example, when you take out loans they will tell yoiu what is best to take out first financially. Each school has to make its own budget and that is the total they can give out in loans per year, though the loans may be divided up differently. It is hard to differentiate what type of financial aid you will get per school, as most don't calculate that until the summer after you already committed.

 

[ferral]

Do you usually find out what your financial aid package is before you have to make a final decision?

 

[ri23]

No you usually don't. We didn't get our financial aid package until late June/early July. I think some schools may give them to you a little earlier as they start earlier, but none early enough to base a decision off of.

 

[Angelo84]

At tufts I believe if you get everything in by their deadline they will have your aid offer back to you before you have to deposit in April.

 

[Kymmy16w]

So then we don't need to worry about getting the FAFSA in for '08-09?

 

[chris03333]

So then we don't need to worry about getting the FAFSA in for '08-09?

NO. You need to do FASFA within the deadline. Just list every school you apply to so they have your information.

 

[Kymmy16w]

NO. You need to do FASFA within the deadline. Just list every school you apply to so they have your information.

Ah ok. I'm going to put my current school down just incase I don't get into vet school. Thanks.

 

[kate_g]

Do you usually find out what your financial aid package is before you have to make a final decision?

For *scholarships* (i.e. merit-based awards the school uses to try to get you to go there) you'll almost certainly find out before the decision deadline because of course they want you to consider their scholarship offer in your decision. Different schools differ widely in terms of how much (if any) scholarship money is given to first-years. One of the more common scenarios (several people I know ended up with offers like this) seems to be: you've applied to your in-state school and one or more out-of-state schools. The out-of-state school really wants you, and they also think you've got a good chance of getting in at your in-state school. They offer you a scholarship in an amount that offsets the cost difference between attending your in-state school as a resident and their school as a non-resident.

The rest of the aid you'll get is grants and loans. Grants will differ school to school, but they seem to be generally pretty small (couple thousand, max, even if you're *really* poor). The loans won't be all that different from school to school - unless you've got a huge chunk of cash in the bank, your expected contribution will essentially be zero and you'll get to take the maximum subsidized Stafford and whatever amount of unsubsidized Stafford makes up their "cost of attendance" (which includes things like books, food, rent, and transportation) for the year.

 

[researchvet]

The rest of the aid you'll get is grants and loans. Grants will differ school to school, but they seem to be generally pretty small (couple thousand, max, even if you're *really* poor). The loans won't be all that different from school to school - unless you've got a huge chunk of cash in the bank, your expected contribution will essentially be zero and you'll get to take the maximum subsidized Stafford and whatever amount of unsubsidized Stafford makes up their "cost of attendance" (which includes things like books, food, rent, and transportation) for the year.

So what must one do before being admitted? Fill out FAFSA and a CSS profile... but what else? It seems like some schools have other paperwork for applications while other do not.

 

[BobDog]

I don't know anything about how aid works or what the fafsa asks, but does anyone know if investment money is going to hurt the amount of aid I will get? This money is inheritence and IRA (retirement) money in mutual funds.

 

[VAgirl]

From the point of view of the FAFSA (and speaking to Federal Stafford loans--I think that's what I have from grad school), how much you have in the bank affects the calculation. But with Stafford loans, you qualify for the same amount (everyone does). It's just a question of how much of that amount the gov't will give you in a subsidized form. Meaning they pay the interest while you're in school. So at least for those loans, you qualify for the same amount, it's just that your financial picture determines how much interest you'll be accumulating while in school. That matters because not only do you have to pay that off later, but it also gets capitalized after your grace period ends.

 

[pressmom]

I don't know anything about how aid works or what the fafsa asks, but does anyone know if investment money is going to hurt the amount of aid I will get? This money is inheritence and IRA (retirement) money in mutual funds.

I doubt that your IRA will hurt you because unless you have a Roth you can't draw on it without penalty until a certain age. But your inheritance probably will. My savings hurt the amount they gave me. The expect you to go through that before taking loans.

 

[BobDog]

I guess that makes sense. Thanks for the response Pressmom.

 

[quakk]

i'm not so sure about that. i've been draining my ira to pay for vet school with impunity (well, sort of). the government charges me income tax on it, but no penalty, because it's for education. it's not a roth - just a traditional ira. the only penalty is that i'll have no retirement fund when i graduate.

but i believe it doesn't come into play on your fafsa because they exclude it explicitly. they don't take your retirement income into account.

also, graduate leverage will offer you stafford loans up to $40,500 per year at a 5.8% interest rate. www.graduateleverage.com

cheers!

I doubt that your IRA will hurt you because unless you have a Roth you can't draw on it without penalty until a certain age. But your inheritance probably will. My savings hurt the amount they gave me. The expect you to go through that before taking loans.

 

[pika8]

so when do you need to fill out the fafsa forms for fall 2008?

 

[nyanko]

so when do you need to fill out the fafsa forms for fall 2008?

You can't even fill one out for 2008-2009 until after 2007 is over as you need your tax information. Most schools have their priority deadlines in Feb or March. Most of the time you can file after then but you'll get less aid. You'd probably have to check with the individual schools for their financial aid office FAFSA deadlines.

 

[VAgirl]

Does anyone know anything else about scholarships? I've researched this a bit, and haven't found much information on school-based scholarships.

I have found some information about special interest group scholarships (for people going into geriatric feline medicine, etc.). But I haven't found any for my area of interest, infectious diseases (primarily livestock infectious diseases). I feel like there should be some money out there to support people pursuing this area. I did find one program, the DHS Scholarship and Fellowship Program--Graduate Fellowships. However, people pursuing DVMs, among a few other degrees, are ineligible. Anyone know of any other scholarship/fellowship programs for which vet students might be eligible?

Thanks!

 

[Karazy]

For *scholarships* (i.e. merit-based awards the school uses to try to get you to go there) you'll almost certainly find out before the decision deadline because of course they want you to consider their scholarship offer in your decision. Different schools differ widely in terms of how much (if any) scholarship money is given to first-years. One of the more common scenarios (several people I know ended up with offers like this) seems to be: you've applied to your in-state school and one or more out-of-state schools. The out-of-state school really wants you, and they also think you've got a good chance of getting in at your in-state school. They offer you a scholarship in an amount that offsets the cost difference between attending your in-state school as a resident and their school as a non-resident.

So does that mean that schools don't really give merit based scholorships to in-state applicants?

 

[pressmom]

It seems to me that more in-staters in my class have merit-based scholarships than out-of-staters.

Hmmmm....