How did you pay for your post bacc?

[Cynthiabiswas]

For those doing informal post bacc, how did you pay for courses? I have to possibly take 24 courses in a year and I am struggling to save up . With bills due every month and family costs, it is difficult to save up enough for spring courses in 2023. Any tips from low income students who successfully completed their post bacc or are doing it currently?

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[Cynthiabiswas]

Btw, I finished my first bachelors and exhausted all my financial aid. So I cannot get FAFSA at this point.

 

[RocuroniumRedux]

I lived extremely frugally and paid out-of-pocket for the few remaining classes I had to take. Fortunately, my new job did have some educational benefits which I could use toward my final pre-reqs, and this helped greatly. This might not be an option for you, but seeking out a job at a university might entitle you to some educational benefits or discounted tuition.

Btw, I finished my first bachelors and exhausted all my financial aid. So I cannot get FAFSA at this point.

Previously, only degree-seeking students were eligible for financial aid, but there were some recent regulatory changes which now allow some non-degree seeking students (e.g. those doing a postbac) to receive federal direct student loans provided you are enrolled in a preparatory program for entrance to medical school or taking prerequisites required for medical school. However, there is still a limitation of eligibility for one year of federal student aid. I can't speak to your eligibility for aid, but it might be work speaking with your school's financial aid office in light of these changes. If you plan on exceeding a year--which seems likely if you have to take 24 courses--you might need to consider alternative sources like private loans.

 

[katatonic88]

I totally understand this struggle. For better or worse, I opted to do my DIY post-bacc courses at my local community college. I originally took them at university a long time ago, but now that I have bills and have to pay out-of-pocket it's what I can afford. I know this may not be possible if you're targeting upper-division courses though, but if possible I'd look at your CC options.

 

[bomba]

I think as others have mentioned, trying to find an employer with educational benefits (e.g., universities) or taking the cheaper route with a community college might be your best bet. Personally, I worked/saved for a number of years to ensure I had the financial resources to fully commit to a post-bacc.

Is there any specific reason you want to condense 24 courses into one year? Maybe you could stretch that out over 2-3 years while working? I obviously don't know your situation, but you also need to consider fitting extracurriculars like volunteering and shadowing into your schedule, not to mention finding time to sufficiently prepare for the MCAT. Seems like all that might be difficult if you're overloaded with classes.

One other thing worth mentioning is there are many costs associated with this path in addition to your post-bacc courses. One needs to consider things like MCAT study materials and testing fees, primary application fees, secondary application fees, CASPer fees, travel expenses for interviews, moving expenses should you be admitted to a school outside of a commutable distance, etc. It all adds up to a significant amount of cash outlay.

 

[FluffyCat1212]

If you're really in a financial bind and want to avoid loans at all costs, I second the employer strategy. I did a post-bacc at a fancy program for almost nothing because my employer covered all tuition costs. I was only responsible for a few stupid fees that came out to roughly $500/yr. I know several others who did this, and it worked out pretty well for all of us.

Pros:

• I ended up putting some money away to help curtail the costs of med school tuition/living expenses
• got some pretty significant research experience
• built a pretty solid list of ECs
• really had a lot of time to think through whether or not I really wanted to pursue medicine, and could jump ship at any point with really no repercussions
• all of the services that come with a bougie post-bacc (writing tutoring over 5 months for my personal statement, personalized advising, opportunity for linkages, a free and comparable institutional alternative to interfolio, cover letter, referrals to good volunteer opportunities, gym and fitness classes)

The only really significant con to this approach is time. My job required one year of full-time employment before we were eligible for this benefit. This was actually kind of a good thing because it took me a solid year of employment to really start considering medicine as a career. Then, they only covered up to 7 credit hours/semester, which was also about as much as I could reasonably handle while balancing my job responsibilities and trying to enjoy what was left of my 20s. As a result, I was taking 1-2 post-bacc classes/semester (including summers) for about 3 years. Then, glide/application year made the whole shebang take about 5 years from the date I was hired in my job to the day I started medical school. I didn't mind it so much then, but now that I'm staring 30 in the face, I'm starting to realize that giving up so much of my free time during my early-to-mid 20s was a bigger sacrifice than I ever really grasped.

24 courses is going to take quite a bit of time if you do it part time, and would be pretty difficult to balance with a full-time job. Assuming you take a full courseload in the summer (which I'm not convinced is even possible), it comes out to about 8/semester, which is more than I took when I was a full-time college student... You also have to consider course availability. Some courses may not be offered exactly when you need them, or may need to be taken in sequence (ex. many schools will require a year of gen chem before you can take orgo).

 

[FluffyCat1212]

Also a quick addendum- As much as I lament the loss of my "fun" 20s, I want to warn you not to rush the post-bacc process. Your GPA and MCAT score end up carrying an obscene amount of weight in the admissions process. Regardless of if you're a career-changer or a reinventor, the courses you're going to be taking are hard and time-consuming. Not to mention all of the ECs you may have to take on, and the MCAT if you haven't taken it yet... By taking on too much, ruining your GPA is a very real risk. It's much easier to build a strong GPA from the get-go than to recover from a bad one.

Additionally, you really don't want to burn yourself out early. Every step of this process is honestly awful, and as someone who entered med school slightly burnt out, I can honestly tell you that it doesn't get better. I'm almost halfway through my second year and still feel like I'm trying to recover from it. Things were such a disaster this summer that I legitimately contemplated dropping out. I know it doesn't feel like it when you're chasing a dream, but protecting your mental health is so crucial in this warped process.

Okay, I'll get off my soapbox now. Good luck, OP.

 

[Tryhj11]

For those doing informal post bacc, how did you pay for courses? I have to possibly take 24 courses in a year and I am struggling to save up . With bills due every month and family costs, it is difficult to save up enough for spring courses in 2023. Any tips from low income students who successfully completed their post bacc or are doing it currently?

For those doing informal post bacc, how did you pay for courses? I have to possibly take 24 courses in a year and I am struggling to save up . With bills due every month and family costs, it is difficult to save up enough for spring courses in 2023. Any tips from low income students who successfully completed their post bacc or are doing it currently?

24 courses in a year - how is that possible? Do you mean 24 credits?

 

[Sky1.3]

My community college is about $100 per course per semester.

 

[ridebiker]

I'm stretching classes out, one or two per semester. I also have taken most classes at community college, which is about $400 for a 4 credit hour class. Next year I have to take all classes at the local 4 year university, so I'm applying for FAFSA as non-degree seeking, because this university will honor the petition for "grad preparatory" classes. I believe the largest benefit you can receive is $12.5K over 12 months. Anything else I will just be paying for on a payment plan, and live super frugally. I'd love to get everything done as fast as possible, but it's simply not affordable, and not sustainable schedule-wise either.

 

[officially_apostate]

Unfortunately, I did private loans. Regret that choice now.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

Hehe jk

 

[Spiceupyourlife]

Unfortunately, I did private loans. Regret that choice now.

I did private loans, too. Damn this interest 😭

 

[PhD_to_DO]

For those doing informal post bacc, how did you pay for courses? I have to possibly take 24 courses in a year and I am struggling to save up . With bills due every month and family costs, it is difficult to save up enough for spring courses in 2023. Any tips from low income students who successfully completed their post bacc or are doing it currently?

Got a job teaching at the university where I did my informal work at. They had a tuition waiver for full and part time employees that lowered the cost of courses to $25/credit for the first 9 credits.

 

[BlackLotus95]

Wherever you go, see if they're okay with a payment plan. I did have some FAFSFA loans I took, and at one point took private loans (don't recommend at all), but for most of my out of pocket costs I did a payment plan that broke up semesters into smaller payment chunks that were easier to handle then all at once. Scholarships might exist, but I know from experience they're pretty limited if you aren't seeking an undergrad degree. Some schools have an internal scholarship that they can offer for their postbacc students, but most don't. Though that could be worth looking into!

 

[CitrusPeel]

I second the employer strategy. I work at a med school (research assistant) and they pay up to $5,000 per academic year for "career-related" courses. I'm finishing up a two-year, part-time postbacc at a public university and this has covered most of it. I would see if you can get your hands on the employee handbook for any jobs you're looking at to see if they have tuition reimbursement and what the conditions are, e.g. six months' work for mine.

 

[hawktux09]

Also, depending when you did your first degree and if you were listed as an independent vs dependent student, there may be more FAFSA money available to you. The cap for dependent students is much higher.