Loans for Philippine Med Schools

[DrTennis]

In understand that some schools are eligible for Title IV loans. From what I have read from past posts is that Fatima and UST (please add more to this list if I am missing some), are all eligible for Title IV loans. Would anyone know what the maximum amount a student can borrow per year when attending the med schools I mentioned? I want to find out if the amount of loan money authorized will cover not only the tuition, but also housing and some necessary supplies.

-DrTennis

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[surething]

I am not sure that UE is approved. If so, where did you get that information? I dont believe it is but I could be wrong.

I know for a fact that UST, FATIMA, ANGELES FOUNDATION, SILLIMAN UNIVERSITY are all approved.

Silliman is new but a great school and great place to live there in dumaguete which is a nice quaint college town that is a hell of alot better than living in manila or valencia. I cant say enough that academically it is a great school, better then UST would be the general consensus among pilipinos (excvept those that attend UST of course).

Angeles Foundation is in Angeles City and as far as I know it is a **** school. Also living in angeles city would just be hell. Looking at all the bar girls and old fat sex tourists with no beach would just suck in my opinion.

As to loan amounts. I believe it is 18k per year when combining sub and unsub. although you should check with fafsa.

I talked to someone on this board recently who had attended fatima and told me they will do a loan for the first year and then basically cut you off after that because so many people go to fatima take out loans flunk out and never repay. Thats what he said. So I would take the time to call each school and track down a financial aid person and then get the real deal. This may only be a problem at fatima or it may be all of them.

But I would check and be sure before you commit.

I have asked a few times about loans on this board before and I either get responses that are absolutely 80% false or I get nothing at all. Call the schools and check with them and keep me posted in pm about what you find as well as on the board.

Also I know a guy who is Fil-Am and goes to Fatima for undergrad nursing and he pays his own way and is very money concious and says that he does fine on 1000 USD a month and that the only time he goes near to or over that amount is when he spends to much time cruising the gay bars of manila and what not. Point is, he says you can make it on 750 - 1000 quite well although flights home for anything rapidly become a financial bitch.

I would call Fatima first, UST 2nd, and then Silliman although Silliman just opened its med school and first class was 11 students so they may not be up to speed on international student loans. Then again they have hundreds of international undergrads (lots of koreans and iranians) who probably get loans one way or another.

Forget Angeles. Let me know if you can verify that UE can get loans.

 

[DrTennis]

Thanks for your response. I edited out UE from my original post. I must have gotten wrong info from another source. Anyways, hopefully what you said about Fatima's loan situation is not an issue in other schools. I e-mailed FAFSA to see if they have a list of Title IV eligible philippine med schools, but they have not responded yet. I will post what they say when FAFSA finally gets back to me.

 

[tantrum]

Thanks for your response. I edited out UE from my original post. I must have gotten wrong info from another source. Anyways, hopefully what you said about Fatima's loan situation is not an issue in other schools. I e-mailed FAFSA to see if they have a list of Title IV eligible philippine med schools, but they have not responded yet. I will post what they say when FAFSA finally gets back to me.

It's always better to check with the schools directly. I would prefer UST>Silliman>Fatima>Angeles.

 

[surething]

I played phone tag with this guy at the foreign schools team at the u.s. dept. of education for the last week.

he finally looks up the 4 schools i thought were eligible for loans in the philippines.

this is what he tells me. THIS ONLY PERTAINS TO MEDICAL SCHOOLS NOT UNDERGRAD!!!!!!!

he says....

Fatima and Angeles Foundation are the only two medical schools in the Philippines that participate with the u.s. dept of ed. for medical school loans.

UST and Silliman do not participate for medical school loan, only for undergrad.

I expected to hear that about silliman being that it is a new medical school.

But I was completely shocked to hear this about UST.
I asked him to double check UST and he did and said the same thing.

I still have trouble believing this is true. Is there anyone out there that attended UST and recieved loans from US Dept. of Education for MEDICAL SCHOOL???

I would hate to think that if I need loans to attend my only choices are between Fatima and Angeles University ......YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!

Any UST fil-ams out there that can let me know what they know on this?

 

[savi]

UST and Silliman do not participate for medical school loan, only for undergrad.

I expected to hear that about silliman being that it is a new medical school.

Can I try?
Disclaimer: I don't know much about student loans or how much it will pay for schooling or misc expenses, etc
FWIW, the living expenses of the city where Silliman is, is pretty low compared to other cities. And it seems like the prices of most commodities are tailored for the local student's budget--prob why Dumaguete is called "university town".
The medschool, I think costs around Php 50K/sem (maximum, i think), much lower than name schools, but of course, it hasn't proven itself yet.

SO, about the loans, could siliman and the other schools in the Visayas (CIM ranked #2 last year) be afforded without the stafford?

 

[GoldenAzn]

I played phone tag with this guy at the foreign schools team at the u.s. dept. of education for the last week.

he finally looks up the 4 schools i thought were eligible for loans in the philippines.

this is what he tells me. THIS ONLY PERTAINS TO MEDICAL SCHOOLS NOT UNDERGRAD!!!!!!!

he says....

Fatima and Angeles Foundation are the only two medical schools in the Philippines that participate with the u.s. dept of ed. for medical school loans.

UST and Silliman do not participate for medical school loan, only for undergrad.

I expected to hear that about silliman being that it is a new medical school.

But I was completely shocked to hear this about UST.
I asked him to double check UST and he did and said the same thing.

I still have trouble believing this is true. Is there anyone out there that attended UST and recieved loans from US Dept. of Education for MEDICAL SCHOOL???

I would hate to think that if I need loans to attend my only choices are between Fatima and Angeles University ......YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!

Any UST fil-ams out there that can let me know what they know on this?

I'm in UST and a fil-am...yes you can get med school loan. Better recheck with the agency. I think it's like 18.5k, using the full amount you can loan unsubsidized and subsidized. Don't know who you talked to. But seeing how i got it for this year, I'd assume it's very safe to say UST is part. But check based on your state agency..if they are already enrolled. Becuase it's a total bitch to start one if your school is not in it. California (i know of one filam from there who got it the loan so it's safe to say it's done), Florida (since i did that stupid paper work), and i think probably like New jersey (since a good amount come from there) but not sure. But basically it's easy once your school is recognized by the state already. Then you pick a bank of course to loan and then jsut fill out the paperwork. Don't forget the FAFSA

An advice: Just make sure you have an existing account with a parent in the states...since i have checks i have to cash i guess when i come back during the break...since letter of attorneys aren't good enough for banks. Becuase you need someone to deposit your check for you. Unless you really trust the mail system here..which i totally do not when sending your mail from the bank that is guaranting your loan to you. I sent mine to my parents address.

 

[lvincent7]

Silliman offers students loans to all students regardless of course but only for a limited amount, usually during downpayment/enrollment purposes. As for medical students, they can also apply for this student loan yet this student loan is only design for undergrad courses who's tuition fees are quite low compared to medicine. The medicine course is to be the most expensive course for Silliman today but is it the lowest in the province, i guess.

You can call the Student Government of Silliman University regarding this one, since they also are also part of this project.

Best Regards,

Lance
SUMS