Married Dental Students

[MavsFanForLife]

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I will be attending dental school this fall. My wife is expecting and therefore wont be able to work for a while. The financial aid information I received from the schools saying that your spouse or children are not factored in COA and the loans you can receive. I am a little worried, but see alot of families attend dental school. Will i truly only receive the loans on the COA even if it isnt enough to support my family?

 

[zToothinator]

I don't have experience with this, but I believe there is some leeway in how much you can receive. Here's the government's definition of COA: https://fafsa.ed.gov/help/costatt.htm which indicates that "if applicable, dependent care". So you children might be slightly factored in COA, but I doubt that your wife will. From my experience, the estimated COA provides for a decent lifestyle as a student so I'll be able to cut back in certain areas to save money. If your school is the same way, the extra cushion could be used to support a little of your family.

Your best point of contact though would be to reach out to your school's financial aid office ASAP since they're likely working on putting aid packages together soon and can provide you better information and potential aid before the aid packages are sent.

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

It's enough, just gotta find a way to make it happen. Live super cheap (maybe you have to live in an apartment without granite counter-tops, woe is you), take Medicaid and Food Stamps if possible to ease the pressure. (Even though some people frown on it and complain about it on these threads, you do what you need to do to make it happen and don't pay others heed).

Personally, I picked up a super easy part-time job on campus. My wife is a full-time mom (read: superhero and works harder than anyone ever), so we don't have childcare costs which is huge. We have 2 kids. The health insurance is through the state and saves us a bunch each year on those costs, in addition we're on SNAP right now and that helps a lot again.

Basically, even if you had to contract with a family member for a small private loan each month to make it work, you make it work. What other choice do you have?

 

[wjc]

Every situation is a little different. My wife works full time and we are able to get additional loans to cover childcare when school is in session. We will borrow a little money from family to cover the few weeks of the year when school is not in session. This makes the difference for us. Definitely contact your financial aid department and also see what kind of other help is available in your state for low income families.

 

[956139]

Congratulations on the baby my man!

 

[Star-Lord]

I'll echo what has already been said. Most schools will list their COA pretty liberally so that you'll have enough or just enough to make it. You do need to budget and live like a student though. My advice would be to plan a realistic budget and compare that to what your financial aid office estimates that students will have monthly after tuition and fees (they know this information). If you find that your budget is higher, cut back on the things that are more wants than needs. If that is still not enough and you have not applied for family Medicaid, then apply for Medicaid. If that's still not enough and you haven't applied for food stamps, then apply for food stamps. If that is still not enough, consider taking out a small loan from family members. This will probably be what you'll have to do during summer breaks when you aren't technically given loan money. If after all that, you still don't have enough, then I'd recommend taking a look at your budget again and finding out what the problem is.

Congrats on your dental school acceptance and on the coming baby!

 

[princeafrica]

I believe you can request more money out of the Grad Plus Loan. You just have to talk to the school FA. But Grad Plus Loan also has a relatively higher interest

 

[BluntForceTrauma]

I believe you can request more money out of the Grad Plus Loan. You just have to talk to the school FA. But Grad Plus Loan also has a relatively higher interest

Nope. Tried it. They cap it at your COA. The only way to increase is if you have childcare expenses, but even then, you have to have hella expenses to get even a little extra. Not worth it.

 

[MavsFanForLife]

Sincere thanks to everyone that replied! It has been very informative!

 

[DreamingOfDentistry]

Many students in my class have children and I believe many receive food stamps and are on medicaid.