How does one live on loans alone?

[TheFootDoc]

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Hello~

My family won't be able to chip in on my education and even if they do, it won't be much, a few hundred perhaps. I don't want to reach out to them unless there is an emergency. Yes I can work too for extra few bucks but I don't know if I can handle the school + PT job because I'm not a medical student yet 😀. Also I'm aware that there are scholarships available so I'm hoping that my hard work will pay-off, literally. 😀

I know frugality is the key and I'm used to living on tight budget so I have absolutely no problem with that. I'm just wondering how it is done by schools that do not have on-campus housing.
How do you do it? What happens if I find an apt nearby that is not affiliated with the school? Does the school reimburse you a check for living expenses? There must be a way to pay for rent, utilities, food, transportation etc 😀. What if I manage to receive scholarships? How does that factor into my financial aid pkg?

I would like to go to nycpm so it would be wonderful if any student/alumni from nycpm can chime in on it.

I know some of you will tell me to call the school's financial aid office and ask them about it. That is not necessary yet because I just want to hear about your stories.

thank you! 👍

 

[Sig Savant]

I go to NYCPM, live in an off campus apartment, and live on loans alone. A lot of the students do. When you put in your deposit for a school, one thing you do is a loan application. You can pick which loans you want. I laid out all of my expenses and then just took out the loans I thought I would need (If at any time you run out of money, you can go to financial aid and get more loan money). When you come to school, financial aid gets that money and pays your bill (the bursar handles all of that). The only thing the student has to do is pick up a check for the extra money, usually a few thousand dollars. This check is issued at the beginning of every semester, usually a few weeks into the semester. If you live in school housing, that money is already taken out. If you live off campus, then the money is given to you in that check. This one check is all of the money you get for that semester, so you buy food with it, transportation, books, school supplies, everything. If you got a scholarship, that money would just be added to your check.

Example: I don't know the numbers, but say your bill for semester is 12,000. You get a loan for 8,000 and a scholarship for 5,000. You essentially have 13,000 to pay that bill, so you get a check for the extra 1,000 and that is what you live on.

If you live off campus, you will get a much bigger check, but most goes to rent. At the same time, I've never not done something because I didn't have the money. I live just fine here, eat out, see entertainment, etc. Obviously, you can't throw money around, but I wouldn't say I live a poor life right now.

That being said, any scholarships you get can essentially add on to your account, so seek out as many scholarships as you can. Third year you have to travel to see programs, fourth year you are on externships that can get expensive, fourth year you have to interview at programs and possibly scramble, so I'm hoarding a little extra money each semester knowing that those costs may show up in the future.

 

[Paulywog]

I don't go to NYCPM but I live in Miami, pretty expensive, and survive. I have a couple of kids and one due next week. My wife doesn't work. We live off of students loans with NO outside family financial support. It is doable. You apply for student loans and the school receives the money, takes out the tuition and fees, then give you the remainder. Budget your money well and it will work out. If you are single, you will have no issues.

 

[dyk343]

There IS an upper limit that you can take out for loans, or at least my school runs this way. At the begginning of the year they lay out a financial sheet for all the students that has pseudo allowences... eg 3,000 for food, 14,000 for rent, books 1000, tuition, travel, leisure money, etc etc. THen you are allowed to borrow up to the maximum amount that they say you will need. They WAY overshoot what you actually need to take out. (I think they alloted me 80some thousand dollars for my 1st year)

If you really get into a bind with cash you could probably get some more out of the grad plus loans but the interest rate is really really high.

 

[TheFootDoc]

cool!
thank you all for your responses!

I have another question. Would having 9k in student loan from undergrad affect the upper limit of the financial aid that I may be eligible for? Do credit card debts play a role as well?

May be I should direct these questions to the financial aid dept but it would be great if any of you can answer these questions.

Thank you! 👍

 

[Paulywog]

Undergrad debt and credit card does not affect the borrowing amount for stafford loans or grad plus loans. Credit card debt comes into play if you want private student loans.