HPSP: Do I still qualify for student loans?

[Fabio001]

Hey everyone,
First off, I know this has been hashed out in the past on this forum, but I haven't found anything very recent. It seems that the verdict regarding whether or not one can bank on being able to take out any significant amount of money in loans is whether or not the medical school counts the stipend as a scholarship, or as income. Could those of you currently in medical school verify this? Any success stories where the school was initially considering the stipend as a scholarship, but were convinced by you to view it as income instead? Is this simply something I'll have to ask the financial aid office about?

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[DocSurgeon]

Hey everyone,
First off, I know this has been hashed out in the past on this forum, but I haven't found anything very recent. It seems that the verdict regarding whether or not one can count onbeing able to take out any significant amount of money in loans is whether or not the medical school counts the stipend as a scholarship, or as income. Could those of you currently in medical school verify this? Any success stories where the school was initially considering the stipend as a scholarship, but were convinced by you to view it as income instead? Is this simply something I'll have to ask the financial aid office about?

Yes you can take loans

 

[Fabio001]

Yes you can take loans

Have you investigated this, or are you just speaking from personal experience?

 

[J-Rad]

Yes (from personal experience).

 

[Fabio001]

*crosses fingers hoping that your experience is soon my experience*

 

[Dotsero]

The answer to your question is dependent on which school you go to. Some schools look at the HPSP as income, others as part of financial aid. The law appears to state that the stipend is FA but for some reason this has not been effectively communicated to all of the schools. Don't bank on being able to get loans until you talk to your FA office.

If they count it as FA then you will only be able to borrow the difference between the stipend/bonus and the cost of attendence at your school. Look into it and be sure your school knows the rules. You don't want to find out mid-way that you have come up short.

 

[Dotsero]

Also the reason I was given for the stipend being counted as FA is that you are getting the money BECAUSE you are in school. You are not truly employed and performing a function for pay. But the two programs that this does not seem to apply to (and I might be wrong on this) are the MDSSP (guard/reserve) and the Navy HSCP. Particularly in the case of the HSCP because you are actually active duty while in school drawing full pay and benefits.

 

[Fabio001]

So is the stipend given to the school and then credited to my account? How is the school even aware that I am receiving a stipend? It seems pretty crazy that a "scholarship" is taxed... of course this complaint isn't new 🙄

 

[militaryman]

So is the stipend given to the school and then credited to my account? How is the school even aware that I am receiving a stipend? It seems pretty crazy that a "scholarship" is taxed... of course this complaint isn't new 🙄

University of Minnesota considers it a scholarship according to the financial aid specialists I spoke to. I was going to accept a HPSP scholarship until I was told I would not be elgibile for any financial aid.

 

[BloodnGuts]

How do HPSP recipients manage a family and school?
My significant other will be having our child the first week of school, and then staying home to take care of the baby until she goes back to school full-time herself. In the meantime I am the sole financial provider. I feel like things will be okay for the first year due to my bonus, but I am concerned about my ability to meet our financial needs as time goes on... Especially if my family continues to grow as we have planned. I know it can be done, but what are my resources if my school's financial aid office is unable to help me out?

 

[Dotsero]

So is the stipend given to the school and then credited to my account? How is the school even aware that I am receiving a stipend? It seems pretty crazy that a "scholarship" is taxed... of course this complaint isn't new 🙄

The stipend is not given to your school, it gets paid to you. But your tuition goes to the school and there is paperwork involved with that and at that point everyone knows you are doing HPSP.

I went round and round with my school on this, "why is a scholarship taxed?". But to no avail. Actually when you subtract the tax you end up with less cash in your pocket than if you had taken out loans (but then you have more debt).

Apparently a lot of people used to get on HPSP and take out the max loans for their program. The feds got wise to this and put the brakes on it as they consider people who do this as "double-dipping" the sysytem.

 

[Perrotfish]

How do HPSP recipients manage a family and school?
My significant other will be having our child the first week of school, and then staying home to take care of the baby until she goes back to school full-time herself. In the meantime I am the sole financial provider. I feel like things will be okay for the first year due to my bonus, but I am concerned about my ability to meet our financial needs as time goes on... Especially if my family continues to grow as we have planned. I know it can be done, but what are my resources if my school's financial aid office is unable to help me out?

Well, between your 45 days of AT, your stipend, and your bonus, the HPSP program gives you an average of 25K/year (plus your personal health insurance). The students I know with large families supplemented that with Medicaid and food stamps, which you should be eligible for, and of course the time tested tradition of buying every textbook for every class and then selling most of them new on Ebay, which might net a couple of grand if you're diligent about it. It's not comfortable, but even without loans that should be just enough to live on.

 

[militaryman]

Blood and guts,

I am in a similar situation as you. My wife just graduated from college and is staying home rasing our infant. I am the sole financial supporter for my family, I have a mortage, wife's student loan debts, insurance olbigations for a family, etc. I was looking at HPSP but decided againist it because I could not support my family, pay my mortgage, etc on the 2,000 dollars a month stipend and I would have been inelgibile for other financial aid. My house payment, utiliites, and medical insurance for a family is more than 2,000 dollars a month.

Are you prior service? If so you can use you Chapter 33 benefits.

I am using my Chapter 33 GI Bill benefits to pay for medical school in addition to taking out loans. I was told by my financial aid department that chapter 33 GI benefits do not effect your financial aid award and you can take full loans out in addition because of recent legistative changes.

You can always take out private loans, which currently are around 9 percent but there is no guarantee banks will give you a loan without significant collateral. I would counsel against this option.

Your wife can take out student loans to support herself when she starts school.

Your wife could find a job and your daycare costs are elgibile for financial aid according to what I was told by the financial aid office.

Join the National Guard, take tricare reserve select for a family (200 dollars a month for medical insurance for the family), use your GI Bill once you are elgibile for it (some chapters effect your financial aid elgibility), and take MDDSP which is paid directly to you per month.

I would contact your financial aid office and schedule a meeting to come up with a budget and see what suggestions they have.

 

[IgD]

Blood and guts,

I am in a similar situation as you. My wife just graduated from college and is staying home rasing our infant. I am the sole financial supporter for my family, I have a mortage, wife's student loan debts, insurance olbigations for a family, etc. I was looking at HPSP but decided againist it because I could not support my family, pay my mortgage, etc on the 2,000 dollars a month stipend and I would have been inelgibile for other financial aid...

Do they still have the HCSC program? You serve on active duty for med school, get paid as a Navy E6(?) but have to pay loans I think.

 

[haujun]

Hey everyone,
First off, I know this has been hashed out in the past on this forum, but I haven't found anything very recent. It seems that the verdict regarding whether or not one can bank on being able to take out any significant amount of money in loans is whether or not the medical school counts the stipend as a scholarship, or as income. Could those of you currently in medical school verify this? Any success stories where the school was initially considering the stipend as a scholarship, but were convinced by you to view it as income instead? Is this simply something I'll have to ask the financial aid office about?

Yes you can borrow. I was unable to support wife and three small children on HPSP stipend. I was able to enough borrow unsubsidized stafford loan to cover additional expenses. I think schools consider HPSP stipend as part of income which makes sense. My advice to you is borrow less as all loans will need to be paid back with interest.

 

[Fabio001]

It seems that this is still an issue that depends on the school, with some (haujun, jrad, spartanbob) having the experience of the stipend counting as income, while others (dotsero, militaryman) say it is generally viewed as scholarship.

In a nutshell, i'm not sure whether I want to bring the whole stipend/financial-aid dilemma to the FA offices attention. I think I will just accept any subsidized loans and grants that I can for the moment. If they ultimately end up taking them away once they find out that I'm on hpsp, I'll just bite the bullet. If not, I'll just continue to fill out my fafsa each year, taking any available grant money and some subsidized loanage, and not worry about this issue anymore.

Thanks for your responses so far! btw

 

[militaryman]

It does not help that is stands for health profesional scholarship program. 🙂

 

[Roberie]

At my school the max loan amount is determined by the difference between the estimated Cost of Attendance and the amount of stipend we receive. They determine this number BEFORE taxes are deducted, thus you are really getting less.

I am eligible for 5k or something. I know other students with multiple dependants have been able to work with the FA department to squeeze more loan money out of the situation. They basically require you to submit a list of your monthly expenses in order to justify the additional funds.

but that's just my school...

 

[DoctaJMa]

try this on for size. I was selected for a 3.5 year scholarship through the army. They informed financial aid in like november...and told them that I was to receive the funds starting January 1st. So knowing that I was getting the scholarship, I couldnt take out any federal student aid...the worst part? My money didnt arrive in January or February and not even the beginning of March. I had to pay rent and food out of savings i accrued during college. I was on the verge of cashing in stocks to pay for rent when I finally got my money at the end of March (after having to call my congressman)...the cereal and sandwiches got pretty old and I was blowing through my savings with rent and utilities (heat during winter is not cheap)...not fun...at least when i got my money I got the last three months together along with my signing bonus so like 25K in a matter of 10 days...i actually had a friend that didnt get his until april (he had to max out his credit cards to stay afloat before he got his money)...havent heard anything like this happening to last years class at my school which is good news. Thought you all would enjoy my hurry up and wait story characteristic of the military haha