How to pay rent during medical school

[premed1234567891011]

I have no guarantor and have never had a credit card before. My parents were originally going to be helping me A LOT, but that's no longer the case. I will be using student loans to pay for rent once I start med school in July. How do I go about finding an apartment willing to rent to me?

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[21Rush12]

Just look around - this is a common situation to be in. Consider contacting student affairs to see if they have a list of recommended places.

I'm guessing this is stressful, but don't worry. It will work out!


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[gyngyn]

They will rent to you when they see you are a medical student. Get confirmation from the Registrar's office or Student Affairs.

 

[aldol16]

You might consider asking around to see where students at the med school usually live. Those apartment complexes will be very familiar with dealing with medical students. Also keep in mind that you will have to pay a security deposit and the first month's rent up front and that might be before your student loans are disbursed.

 

[mistafab]

Just walk up and tell the truth. "Hello, I am a student who is able to take out an almost limitless amount to make sure I can pay rent."

People like that.

 

[freak7]

Just walk up and tell the truth. "Hello, I am a student who is able to take out an almost limitless amount to make sure I can pay rent."

People like that.

"Who needs a credit check when you've got stupid amounts of federal money?"

 

[LizzyM]

Concur with the above about landlords.

Unsolicited advice ahead:

Get a credit card. Most banks have a "baby credit card" for college students. Talk to a banker at a bank where you have a debit card or checking account. Your credit limit might be low to start ($1,000) but it will help you build a credit history. Don't be stupid with it but have it for emergencies. Charge a couple small things each month and pay it off every month to build a record of payments.

 

[DiscusKeeper]

I've been wondering something about this topic and figured I'd ask it here while we're on this topic rather than starting a new thread: Are federal loans based on the cost of attendance usually enough to pay for expenses (rent, utilities, car payment, etc.), or do most students end up having to take out additional private loans?

E.g. at my school, tuition is somewhere around 33k, but I will be taking out about 47k (the max amount) for cost of living. Not sure if/how much in private loans I will need to take out on top of that. I will be meeting with financial aid to discuss it, but I guess I'm just curious about what most students end up doing for cost of living expenses.

 

[mistafab]

It sounds like you live in a pretty cheap area.

I'd like to think that if you lived with a roomate, you could be very comfortable paying all your extra-curricular responsibilities off of just CoA while living pretty comfortably (that is really how they determine CoA in the first place). The thing that may make it tough for you is a car payment. These are not factored into CoA, so if you are paying down a benz or something, then that has to come from some other area of CoA. I don't think you will need additional loans to cover it since your area seems so cheap - especially with a roomate I doubt you will struggle at all unless you are a gambler or irresponsible in some way.

I don't think any student needs more than just the CoA. Since that is really the whole point of it. Every now and then I hear of a student or two either in my class or in other classes that were that *one student* who keeps needing more loan money from financial aid. Try not to be that student, especially if the other few hundred students are doing just fine off their loans, you can probably manage it too.

I've been wondering something about this topic and figured I'd ask it here while we're on this topic rather than starting a new thread: Are federal loans based on the cost of attendance usually enough to pay for expenses (rent, utilities, car payment, etc.), or do most students end up having to take out additional private loans?

E.g. at my school, tuition is somewhere around 33k, but I will be taking out about 47k (the max amount) for cost of living. Not sure if/how much in private loans I will need to take out on top of that. I will be meeting with financial aid to discuss it, but I guess I'm just curious about what most students end up doing for cost of living expenses.

 

[DiscusKeeper]

The loans based on cost of attendance are designed to cover your necessary expenses, and in my experience far exceeds what is actually needed. My school estimates $23k/year total for "living expenses" (housing, utilities, personal expenses, and transportation). I live with roommates, picked a cheaper but still nice apartment, shop sales, and budget wisely and spend an average of $850/month on rent + utilities + groceries + gas + fun stuff (going out to eat, bars, movies, travel, etc. - which I do plenty of for my preferences, though perhaps less than some of my classmates). And then obviously there's my cell phone bill and health insurance/healthcare costs as well, but I am still on my parents' plan for those and have something worked out with them, so those are separate from my monthly budget.

I would not recommend taking out the max amount for cost of living if you can avoid it because it'll bite you in the @$$ later when you start paying it off. Every dollar less you take out in loans is an extra dollar and change (don't forget interest) you can spend on a house, car, trip, etc. sooner after you graduate. Not saying make yourself miserable to save money, but you can absolutely make smart financial choices and still have a good time. Once you know how much rent you'll be paying, you can meet with your financial aid people to come up with a reasonable budget for your needs.

Thanks for the advice!!

 

[CharlieBillings]

Concur with the above about landlords.

Unsolicited advice ahead:

Get a credit card. Most banks have a "baby credit card" for college students. Talk to a banker at a bank where you have a debit card or checking account. Your credit limit might be low to start ($1,000) but it will help you build a credit history. Don't be stupid with it but have it for emergencies. Charge a couple small things each month and pay it off every month to build a record of payments.

Why not just buy everything on credit then pay it all off on time?

 

[LizzyM]

Why not just buy everything on credit then pay it all off on time?

Okay... as long as you can limit your spending to your disposable income and not go over your credit limit each month. Don't be stupid and don't accumulate huge balances on those cards, that's the bottom line.

 

[DiscusKeeper]

Why not just buy everything on credit then pay it all off on time?

In addition to what @LizzyM said, you need to consider that if you exceed 30% of your credit line (e.x. if you have a 1,000 dollar limit and exceed 300 dollars) it actually negatively impacts your credit score. It's good to keep your spending habits under control until you have established significant credit history and can request a credit limit increase/get another card to increase your credit line.

Once you have a bigger credit line, bigger spending is more acceptable, as long as you pay it on time.

 

[ortnakas]

I've been wondering something about this topic and figured I'd ask it here while we're on this topic rather than starting a new thread: Are federal loans based on the cost of attendance usually enough to pay for expenses (rent, utilities, car payment, etc.), or do most students end up having to take out additional private loans?
.

It's more than enough for the vast majority of students.
Exceptions include:
--students with multiple kids +/- a spouse and other family members. You may be able to borrow more if you have dependents, but childcare just isn't cheap.
--if your cost of attendance is for a relatively cheap area, but you end up doing a lot of rotations in a more expensive city and cheap/free student housing isn't an option
--interview season fourth year if you're doing a lot of traveling

 

[Lollygag]

My school estimates $23k/year total for "living expenses" (housing, utilities, personal expenses, and transportation). I live with roommates, picked a cheaper but still nice apartment, shop sales, and budget wisely and spend an average of $850/month on rent + utilities + groceries + gas + fun stuff (going out to eat, bars, movies, travel, etc. - which I do plenty of for my preferences, though perhaps less than some of my classmates). And then obviously there's my cell phone bill and health insurance/healthcare costs as well, but I am still on my parents' plan for those and have something worked out with them, so those are separate from my monthly budget.

I really want to know where you go to school. Because I personally don't know anyone living on their own, comfortably, off of that little amount of money. My rent alone is 850 a month with a roommate. So unless you're at a medical school that's in the middle of nowhere, Please PM me I'll seriously consider applying.

 

[ciestar]

Why not just buy everything on credit then pay it all off on time?

I actually do this. But I only use it like a debit card and only use it to buy what I need and immediately pay it off.