Med School and Private Loans

[PateSpice]

I received an A at a D.O. school off the waitlist I had written off as an R. Unfortunately, this school does not qualify for federal loans. They were rumored to reach accreditation this year, and they actually did! So I assumed they would be eligible for FAFSA/federal loans, but after speaking with their financial aid office, they do not know when federal loans will be allowed. Getting accreditation allows them to just start submitting the application to qualify for federal loans, apparently. I've heard other schools that reached accreditation have been pending for two years, but I'm not sure. Just for reference, the cost of attendance is ~$100,000 a year, across 4 years. With interest and no options like SAVE plan or loan forgiveness with FAFSA, I feel this would be financial suicide even with a physician's salary. There is also the fact that I have to see if I would qualify for a loan, as finding a cosigner would be hard in my situation.

I feel so grateful to have this acceptance, but I feel I would just be shooting myself in the foot financially. I have already been preparing my reapplication and planned to start a postbacc. I had already mentally prepared to reapply and accepted taking a gap year before reapplying. Now, this has just complicated things a bit. I am leaning towards sticking with reapplying but I'm not sure. How long is the wait for approval for federal loans with newer schools? Would re-applying be appropriate? Would schools understand, or would I be blacklisted from other med schools for declining this A? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

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[monkeym8]

Is this for CHSU? They said they expect to qualify for federal loan disbursements sometime this year… Hopefully thats true. As for me, I just took out the private loans…

 

[GoSpursGo]

Would not blacklist you because you can explain as you did here--you were told they would get accreditation and be able to offer federal loans, and that wound up not being true and you could not afford to attend.

That said... don't know your app or how many other interviews you received. However, while everyone "hopes" that next cycle will go better, often that is not the case. This may be your one chance to be a doctor. So it may be in your best interest to suck it up.

 

[DrFutureDO]

When a new school gets approval for federal loans the current loans in that year can be rewritten for federal dollars! Go take that A!