How to get more money in medical school??

Go talk to you financial aid office first -- they should be able to guide you through the process. I believe you can still apply for financial aid for this academic year, but I'm not sure how long it should take -- hopefully not more than a month to complete all the paperwork, so I'm not sure what you meant about not getting money until next September. Since this isn't a peak busy time for most financial aid offices, and if you explain how urgent this is, I wouldn't be surprised if they could finish your paperwork in less than a month.

You can also apply for loans from private sources like your bank -- as long as they have approval from your school financial aid office, and assuming you have good credit, that is another alternative. The approval from the financial aid office is just to make sure that you don't borrow beyond their maximum student budget, but since you have yet to borrow money, that shouldn't be a problem.

A final suggestion would be to borrow money from your family while you are waiting on your financial aid or loan paperwork. Tell them when you expect to have your loan money available, and see if they will loan you the money you need until then, at which point you can pay them back in full.

Hope some of these suggestions help. With that, I'm moving this to the financial aid forum.

 

I think you should be able to go get a loan increase from your FAO, if you're below your school's budget for the year. I was in a similar situation- since I didn't borrow the full amount in the budget this year, my FAO said that I could still borrow the extra funds for this year, as long as I did the paperwork before the end of the academic year. But once the term's up, it's too late, so do it now if you think you'll need it.

 

Here's how it works at my school:
If you received Stafford loans this year at all, you shouldn't have to do anything other than sign a form to get more money. They should already have all your tax info, master promissory note, etc. on file, since it's the same academic year. The key is you can only borrow as much money as you're eligible for, based on their budget. If you chose to initially borrow less than the school's max (last August or whenever), you're fine- you should still be able to get anything up to the full amount for the year. For example, my school initially offered me $30K in loans. Since I had savings from my year working, I only borrowed about half that amount. Now that I know I need more money, my FAO let me get the remaining $15K just by signing a form. Yeah, that unsubsidized interest will kill ya over time, but heck, you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes...It sounds like you've done your best to cut down your borrowing as much as you can- and just think, by not borrowing that extra money August, you saved yourself 6 months or more of interest payments on that money! (Interest on unsubsized Staffords doesn't begin until the day of disbursement, so you've still come out ahead, relatively speaking).

 

Regarding the loan process, there is often a significant delay between the filing of paperwork and the distribution of funds. If you need funds for living expenses right now, see if your financial aid office can get you an emergency loan. Once they've confirmed that you qualify and they know that funds will be coming, many schools will advance you a portion of the loan amount while distribution is pending. It can be a life saver!

Also, if you are going to be starting your rotations this summer, you might be interested in the Medical School Representative outreach position that Practice Opportunities has created. I've posted information on it in the Advertising forum, and you can e-mail me directly if you're interested.