Marriage & Financial Aid

[DrWuStar]

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i am applying to med school for 2004 and am also thinking about getting married... maybe summer after M1 😍 . i am concerned about financial aid though.

my would-be-husband has a nice little chunk of money which he inherited from some rich relative. he has no intention of spending it. he is a very smart guy and just wants to let it grow and give it to his (our?) kids some day. if we got married, would that money become "ours" in the eyes of financial aid officers, and would i therefore be inelligible for financial aid? 🙄 i think spending all of his money on school would be a terrible way to start a marriage.

am i right that we would be forced to spend it? cause it's really his, not mine. if we bought a house with the money, would that protect it?

thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

 

[mpp]

Although you are not 'forced' to spend it (i.e., nobody's gonna break your knee caps or nothin') but it will become part of your savings when you are married and the financial aid office will 'expect' you to spend it...meaning the amount of loans/scholarships they offer will likely be adjusted to take into account you using part of that money for school and associated expenses. The house option is a great one as it will make that money 'disappear' in the eyes of the FAFSA. However, this isn't the greatest time to sink a ton of money into a house since interest rates are so favorable and its almost better to take money out of house than to put more money into it if you get my meaning.

There may be some sort of other 'legal' option that might require a pre-nuptial agreement in which that money stays as his money...perhaps in some sort of trust...and is legally separate from your savings. I'm not a lawyer (nor do I play on one TV) and so I'm not sure how you might go about doing this but perhaps someone more finance or legal savvy than I might know how to do it.

 

[jhug]

we are in a slightly similar situation....we (my wife and i) inherited some stock that sums to a good amount....it didn't effect our FA at all (we still were awarded the full amount of both sub/unsubsidized loans, and work study)
I would give you a different opinion on buying a house (no offense mpp) With interest rates so low now is a perfect time to buy a house....you could use a big chunk of the inherited $$ for a large down-payment and then have a really low interest loan for the remainder of the home...real estate has been one of the most stable investments so you are bound to make $$ if you get a nice house in a nice area (and with rates so low i would splurge a bit) you may, in the long run, make even more than you would just leaving the $$ alone...even though that is usually a really wise thing to do.

 

[mpp]

I think I what wrote earlier is a bit confusing. Buying a house is a great idea right now and I would highly suggest doing so. What I meant earlier was that if you have say $100k it would be kind of silly to put it into a house when the mortgage rates are so favourable. Put $10k into the house and get a mortage for $90K then put the $90k that you didn't spend on the house into something that will make you money and in this way it is as if you just invested $180k ($90k in the house and another $90k somewhere else)....that's what I meant by taking money out of the house. Sorry for the confusion...and no offense taken.

 

[DrWuStar]

thanks you guys... very helpful information. i guess we will have to see where i end up getting in and then think about buying a home there. but either way, i'm glad to hear the FA offices won't screw with me too much over this.😛

 

[Ms. Dawson DO]

As a single student, med schools, it seems, want my parents information also. If I get married during med school (which seems likely to be the case) does this make my parents(well mother) exempt from giving information..oir now do I require my husband's parental information also?

this whole financial aid thing for older students with families is very confusing.

 

[jhug]

check with your FA office....i think (but i'm not too sure) that if you are married, have kids of your own, or are over 24(?) than you don't need your parents information. I didn't have to put my parents info (and i'm all three🙂)

 

[Ms. Dawson DO]

Oh good. I am two out of three...over 24 and have a son..hopefully will be married soon. I will make sure I check with finaid.

thanks

 

[thackl]

Originally posted by Ms. Dawson, DO
Oh good. I am two out of three...over 24 and have a son..hopefully will be married soon.

OMG, how do you do it as a single mom? Do you have custody? I couldn't imagine this as a single dad😱

 

[Ms. Dawson DO]

Single but not so single....my son is still a baby. (I sat for the april mcat still pregnant with him...to give you some idea) My boyfriend and I have been together for three years and we are now engaged. I am grateful he understands my yearning to be a doctor and is so supportive. He is four years older and more established in his line of work (marketing) so it works out ok. I will admit that I am thoroughly stressed breastfeeding and typing secondary applications LMAO.