Indebtedness at graduation

[Krabbeman]

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My pre-medical adviser told me that often times top private schools like Harvard, Mayo, Pritzker, etc have higher tuition, but since they have more funding than state schools, they can give more aid. And thus, they actually have less indebtedness at graduation despite having way higher tuition than state schools.

The MSAR data seems to agree with this. Can anyone shed any light onto this? I was thinking that maybe it is because typically students from wealthier families attend these top tier schools, so perhaps they just get more financial backing from their parents, and that is why they have less indebtedness. Or maybe it is a combination of the two factors, idk. That is why I am asking, to get other people's thoughts who probably know more about this than I do.

Thanks.

 

[GrapesofRath]

When talking about schools giving merit scholarships/other forms of money yes the top ones are often more likely to give them to their acceptees.

 

[md-2020]

Just like undergrad, top privates hand out better need based aid

 

[NickNaylor]

I'm an alumnus of Pritzker and can vouch for the fact that they have substantial merit aid available to students each year (it used to be $10 million/year for a class of 88; they may have changed that since then).

Some of the "top" schools are more or less known for giving out merit aid. I suspect that for those that aren't known for that, the lower debt loads at graduation are likely due to family support. When I was in school, for example, it wasn't that uncommon for some students' parents to buy a condo/apartment and allow their kids to live in it rent free (and subsequently rent it out after they graduate to recoup the cost). That alone can save ~$12-20k/year which is substantial when multiplied over the course of medical school. Some likely receive even more support than that.

 

[NotYou20]

Both. More wealthy kids also means those schools have a higher % of kids they don't have to give aid to. That'll increase what's available to everyone else, further contributing to lower debt overall.

 

[TheMelloMan]

I voted for help from parents only because before this thread, I was completely ignorant to the fact that some schools may give out aid.

I have only recently found out that some students receive any kind of Financial Aid from their school. I did not know that this existed. They being said, how is this Aid usually determined? How helpful can this aid be? If course, it would be different with each situation. Would anyone like to share some numbers as it relates to their own experience with aid coming from the school? I may sound like a noob; however, I'm only trying to get a better understanding of this.

 

[starlite911]

I voted for help from parents only because before this thread, I was completely ignorant to the fact that some schools may give out aid.

I have only recently found out that some students receive any kind of Financial Aid from their school. I did not know that this existed. They being said, how is this Aid usually determined? How helpful can this aid be? If course, it would be different with each situation. Would anyone like to share some numbers as it relates to their own experience with aid coming from the school? I may sound like a noob; however, I'm only trying to get a better understanding of this.

I'm not yet in medical school, but for undergrad, about half of my tuition was paid for by a need-based University scholarship my last two years (~$12,000/year)
However, I know several of my peers who received full tuition scholarships and only had to take out loans to cover the cost of their room and board.
Although you must meet certain academic requirements, "financial need" must typically be demonstrated as well.
Aka, if you have a 4.0 but your parents make $250,000+ a year, not going to get Financial Aid, at least from my school

 

[Goro]

Outside of my knowledge base.

Thanks for all the responses guys. I am really interested in what some of the adcoms/physicians on sdn think. @Goro, @gyngyn, @LizzyM