HPSP scholarship question

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Mcat35

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10+ Year Member
I recently received a letter in the mail from the USAF. I have a quick question that someone might be able to answer on this board.

If I go to a school that has a $40k tuition vs a $20k tuition does this imply that I will have to spend more time after residency working for the Air Force to offset the higher tuition costs or does the military have a special contract with all medical schools in the US regardless of additional tuition cost?

Thanks
 
Mcat35 said:
I recently received a letter in the mail from the USAF. I have a quick question that someone might be able to answer on this board.

If I go to a school that has a $40k tuition vs a $20k tuition does this imply that I will have to spend more time after residency working for the Air Force to offset the higher tuition costs or does the military have a special contract with all medical schools in the US regardless of additional tuition cost?

Thanks
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Cost of the tuition does not have any affect on how much time you own the military after you finish. You owe them however many years you are in school + residency. This is why this scholarship makes no sense for someone going to a state-funded school where the tuition will be drastically less than if you went to a private school with high tuition.

Also, do not do this scholarship if you're only doing it to reduce debt. It's not a good financial investment. Do it if you are sincerely interested in practicing medicine in the military. The biggest issue is residencies. You *have* to apply to military residencies and if you match, then you are forced to go there instead of a civilian residency that you really like and want to attend.
 
if i was going to do the military scholarship, i would only go to MSUCOM as an out of state student. They are going to get way more out of me than i ever expected to give, so I might as well get as much out of them as i could.
 
DrWily said:
You owe them however many years you are in school + residency. This is why this scholarship makes no sense for someone going to a state-funded school where the tuition will be drastically less than if you went to a private school with high tuition.
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I just wanted to clarify, because I have been confused about this part in the past. You owe whatever is more time, school or residency, after you have completed your residency (not sure if this is what you meant DrWily). Recently I spoke with a recruiter, and also confirmed the information in this document:

"Navy HPSP Frequently Asked Questions

What is the payback obligation incurred by attending medical school and/or residency with the Navy HPSP scholarship?

The way that the payback works is that you owe payback time for residency, but it is paid back at the same time you pay back your HPSP obligation.

Ex. 1: You do 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency (e.g., Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry). You would owe the greater of the two, or 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 2: You do 4 years of medical school and 4 years of residency (OB/GYN). The time in each is the same, and you would owe 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 3: You do 4 years of medical school and 5 years of residency (Ortho). You would owe the greater of the two, or 5 years total after you complete your residency."

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/navme...SP Student Guide by LT Brent Lacey- Final.doc
 
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Dotpats said:
I just wanted to clarify, because I have confused about this part in the past. You owe whatever is more time, school or residency, after you have completed your residency (not sure if this is what you meant DrWily). Recently I spoke with a recruiter, and also confirmed the information in this document:

"Navy HPSP Frequently Asked Questions

What is the payback obligation incurred by attending medical school and/or residency with the Navy HPSP scholarship?

The way that the payback works is that you owe payback time for residency, but it is paid back at the same time you pay back your HPSP obligation.

Ex. 1: You do 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency (e.g., Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry). You would owe the greater of the two, or 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 2: You do 4 years of medical school and 4 years of residency (OB/GYN). The time in each is the same, and you would owe 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 3: You do 4 years of medical school and 5 years of residency (Ortho). You would owe the greater of the two, or 5 years total after you complete your residency."

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/navme...SP Student Guide by LT Brent Lacey- Final.doc
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Oh you are correct. I was thinking about USUHS where you owe them time from both I believe? Since they pay you while you're in USUHS.
 
DrWily said:
Cost of the tuition does not have any affect on how much time you own the military after you finish. You owe them however many years you are in school + residency. This is why this scholarship makes no sense for someone going to a state-funded school where the tuition will be drastically less than if you went to a private school with high tuition.

Also, do not do this scholarship if you're only doing it to reduce debt. It's not a good financial investment. Do it if you are sincerely interested in practicing medicine in the military. The biggest issue is residencies. You *have* to apply to military residencies and if you match, then you are forced to go there instead of a civilian residency that you really like and want to attend.
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Could you apply with a really ****ty military match application and then use your actual application to the civ match?
 
DrWily said:
Also, do not do this scholarship if you're only doing it to reduce debt. It's not a good financial investment.
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How so? Does that apply for primary care fields (IM, FM, Peds)? It seems to me like there's little downside financially. Of course opinions about the actual experience is all over the board.

Also, to the OP, there is a sub-forum just for military medicine. It's way down on the page when you first login. Lots of great info there and some fairly active military docs!
 
IDFsoldierboy said:
they also pay u while ur in the HPSP...the pay is less but they still pay u...
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If you are prior service, have the GI Bill, go to a cheaper state funded school or go to a "yellow ribbon" school, then HSCP is the WAY TO GO! You get full E-6 to E-7 pay with full benefits (including BAH (or housing money), insurance, etc.), and it counts towards retirement. IT DOES NOT however pay for medical school tuition which is why the GI Bill is necessary. That being said, you will be the richest med student in your class, making close to 6 figures when you calculate benefits etc. The when you graduate you get O3 pay which is more like 150,000 while all your peers are still living off of top ramon while working as a first year resident.
 
Dotpats said:
Ex. 3: You do 4 years of medical school and 5 years of residency (Ortho). You would owe the greater of the two, or 5 years total after you complete your residency."

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/navme...SP Student Guide by LT Brent Lacey- Final.doc
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A little different for the Air Force. Your residency can be up to five years before accruing more obligation. So if you have a 5 year residency, you will still owe four years. If you have a six year residency, then you will owe five years. I also believe there is an inactive reserve obligation after your active duty obligation, but nobody really pays much attention to that.
 
Dotpats said:
I just wanted to clarify, because I have been confused about this part in the past. You owe whatever is more time, school or residency, after you have completed your residency (not sure if this is what you meant DrWily). Recently I spoke with a recruiter, and also confirmed the information in this document:

"Navy HPSP Frequently Asked Questions

What is the payback obligation incurred by attending medical school and/or residency with the Navy HPSP scholarship?

The way that the payback works is that you owe payback time for residency, but it is paid back at the same time you pay back your HPSP obligation.

Ex. 1: You do 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency (e.g., Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry). You would owe the greater of the two, or 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 2: You do 4 years of medical school and 4 years of residency (OB/GYN). The time in each is the same, and you would owe 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 3: You do 4 years of medical school and 5 years of residency (Ortho). You would owe the greater of the two, or 5 years total after you complete your residency."

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/navme...SP Student Guide by LT Brent Lacey- Final.doc
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My recruiter told me last week that if you take a 4 year scholarship which is what I'm shooting for, you owe 5 years of active and 3 reserve before any residency stuff comes into view. The three years you can work somewhere else like civilian hospital or whatever, but if they need you they will call you in.
 
572776 said:
My recruiter told me last week that if you take a 4 year scholarship which is what I'm shooting for, you owe 5 years of active and 3 reserve before any residency stuff comes into view. The three years you can work somewhere else like civilian hospital or whatever, but if they need you they will call you in.
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You need to find a new recruiter who knows what the hell they're talking about. They are 100% incorrect. Are they a health professions recruiter?
 
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Dotpats said:
I just wanted to clarify, because I have been confused about this part in the past. You owe whatever is more time, school or residency, after you have completed your residency (not sure if this is what you meant DrWily). Recently I spoke with a recruiter, and also confirmed the information in this document:

"Navy HPSP Frequently Asked Questions

What is the payback obligation incurred by attending medical school and/or residency with the Navy HPSP scholarship?

The way that the payback works is that you owe payback time for residency, but it is paid back at the same time you pay back your HPSP obligation.

Ex. 1: You do 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency (e.g., Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry). You would owe the greater of the two, or 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 2: You do 4 years of medical school and 4 years of residency (OB/GYN). The time in each is the same, and you would owe 4 years total after you complete your residency.

Ex. 3: You do 4 years of medical school and 5 years of residency (Ortho). You would owe the greater of the two, or 5 years total after you complete your residency."

http://www.med.navy.mil/sites/navme...SP Student Guide by LT Brent Lacey- Final.doc
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It's interesting that you got that from the Navy site because it is technically not correct for Navy GME training.
If you train in the Navy system, they decouple internship from residency training. Intern time is neutral for your payback. You earn a year of debt and you simultaneously pay one off. For example. If you did a 3 year scholarship and an inservice anesthesia residency (3 yrs of residency after internship) you would only owe 3 years as staff. If you had a 4 year scholarship you would owe 4 years. So you would owe the greater of the two, your medical school commitment or your residency training time (excluding the intern year).
You can't even trust their own sites for correct information.🙄
 
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J-Rad said:
You need to find a new recruiter who knows what the hell they're talking about. They are 100% incorrect. Are they a health professions recruiter?
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Lol yeah he is health professions and this guy have been doing this for at least 3 years. He said total 8 yrs, but active duty is 5 years
 
572776 said:
Lol yeah he is health professions and this guy have been doing this for at least 3 years. He said total 8 yrs, but active duty is 5 years
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He's sort of right in that your total commitment is 8 years for officers before you can resign your commission and be a civilian again. After you pay back your AD time, you might still have to remain in the reserves for a few years until you hit your 8 years of service. Most people do not remain in the active reserve, and transfer into the inactive reserve. It's very unlikely that you would be called up out of the inactive reserve, but certainly possible. The regular active reserve requires active annual participation and PT testing and would lead to retirement eventually if you stayed in for 20 years. You're far more likely to be called up from the active reserve.
He probably said that the active commitment is 5 years because, if you did your internship in the miliary, you would still need to repay 4 more years of AD time before you could resign from active duty (totalling 5 years). If you were selected to defer your AD time and train in a civilian program, you would only owe the length of your scholarship in active duty. (3 or 4 years). Again, you may or may not still have reserve time (active or inactive) to repay as well.
Some people continue to serve in the reserves for many years. I was very happy to get out after some IRR time.
 
Obligation is complicated and unpredictable. It depends on the outcome of your residency application, specialty choice, the current flavor of opinion on GMO tours (I'm looking at you AF) and decisions you make about deferring education or accruing additional time. Each individual situation is a little different. The rules between the services, however, are exactly the same.

There are lots of threads in the military forum about various individual scenarios. The bottom line is that there is a reasonable likelihood that a 4-year scholarship will lead to 8-10 years of obligated service (including GME time).
 
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