Med School with stay-at-home mom and kid(s)

[jamesyp]

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My wife and I are living in Florida and I'm currently working on my undergrad for Pre-Health. We want to have at least one child and her be stay-at-home while I'm in Med School. Anyone that's gone through or currently going through this (especially in Florida) have any advice or wisdom on how they were able to do it? Please and thank you!

 

[JJRousseau]

My wife and I are living in Florida and I'm currently working on my undergrad for Pre-Health. We want to have at least one child and her be stay-at-home while I'm in Med School. Anyone that's gone through or currently going through this (especially in Florida) have any advice or wisdom on how they were able to do it? Please and thank you!

As someone in a similar situation (different state), I suspect your wife is going to need to work. Unless you can save four years worth of living expenses (for her and your child) before you start. Otherwise, you are going to have to take out personal loans to cover their living expenses, because you can only borrow cost of attendance for yourself. Furthermore, since the federal loans are based on cost of attendance, going to a cheaper medical school doesn't increase the amount of borrowed dollars available for dependents. The federal government provides no loans for dependents as far as I'm aware. The loan system is not the most family friendly process to be honest, but even if it were the debt burden would be huge at the end. If anyone has advice counter to this, I would be keen to hear about it as well.

 

[JJRousseau]

I should add that, you might be able to swing it if you, as a family of three, were willing and able to find another person to bunk with and split the rent in half. Also, being outside of Miami would be important (but again the amount of loans allocated to you from the federal government will be decreased as cheaper rent means the school will estimate a lower cost of attendance).

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

As someone in a similar situation (different state), I suspect your wife is going to need to work. Unless you can save four years worth of living expenses (for her and your child) before you start. Otherwise, you are going to have to take out personal loans to cover their living expenses, because you can only borrow cost of attendance for yourself. Furthermore, since the federal loans are based on cost of attendance, going to a cheaper medical school doesn't increase the amount of borrowed dollars available for dependents. The federal government provides no loans for dependents as far as I'm aware. The loan system is not the most family friendly process to be honest, but even if it were the debt burden would be huge at the end. If anyone has advice counter to this, I would be keen to hear about it as well.

Eh I don't think this is correct. I have two kids, my wife won't work (unless she wants to), and we don't have savings enough for 4 years. We just bought a house and the COA will cover all of our needs rather well honestly including a mortgage, insurance, and other vital expenditures like gas and such. As someone with dependents that doesn't have an income you also qualify for food stamps generally.

The COA is usually fairly generous and what we are doing above was suggested to us by current students with families.

 

[NidDAlouette]

While I'm not sure to what extent FAFSA takes number of dependents into consideration when determining cost of living, I know that this is something they at least factor in when calculating your estimated family contribution (so if your wife is already expecting or has given birth by the time you fill out your FAFSA, then the amount that you are expected to contribute out of pocket will likely be reduced, meaning that you will have more loan money available to you). Whether this loan money would be enough to support a family of three ... I am honestly not sure. There are so many factors that would play into this, such as cost of living in the area where your school is located, and the load of your current expenses/debts for which you have monthly payment obligations.

 

[Medic2MD4me]

When I took out loans to cover cost of living during my pa program it wasn't like I had to itemize a budget for approval. The school sets a max amount of cost of living based on the area that you could take out above the cost of tuition. What you did with that money was your business.

 

[Lannister]

While I'm not sure to what extent FAFSA takes number of dependents into consideration when determining cost of living,

Isn't it the school that determines your cost of living, not FAFSA? Like as far as I know, the school sets a number for cost of attendance and that's the maximum amount of loans you're eligible for. Although one of my friends is a single mother and from what I understand, our school has been pretty accommodating of her and has allowed her to take out additional loans for childcare and stuff.

 

[aldol16]

Isn't it the school that determines your cost of living, not FAFSA? Like as far as I know, the school sets a number for cost of attendance and that's the maximum amount of loans you're eligible for. Although one of my friends is a single mother and from what I understand, our school has been pretty accommodating of her and has allowed her to take out additional loans for childcare and stuff.

Yes, the school determines the cost of living, which is factored into the cost of attendance, which then is the maximum on the amount in federal loans you can borrow.

 

[NidDAlouette]

Isn't it the school that determines your cost of living, not FAFSA? Like as far as I know, the school sets a number for cost of attendance and that's the maximum amount of loans you're eligible for. Although one of my friends is a single mother and from what I understand, our school has been pretty accommodating of her and has allowed her to take out additional loans for childcare and stuff.

You might be right; I'm honestly not sure what the process is for estimating cost of living. I can say with confidence that number of dependents will influence the estimated family contribution that FAFSA churns out, so it can affect the amount of loan money that will be made available.

 

[Lannister]

You might be right; I'm honestly not sure what the process is for estimating cost of living. I can say with confidence that number of dependents will influence the estimated family contribution that FAFSA churns out, so it can affect the amount of loan money that will be made available.

You're right in saying that the # of dependents influences the family contribution, but I thought that was irrelevant for med school. Everyone is eligible for the full COA, regardless of EFC.

 

[NidDAlouette]

You're right in saying that the # of dependents influences the family contribution, but I thought that was irrelevant for med school. Everyone is eligible for the full COA, regardless of EFC.

When filling out my FAFSA for this upcoming year, I used the same tax information as for the previous year ... the only thing about my application that changed is that my husband and I are expecting our first dependent this October. 🙂

My EFC calculated by FAFSA was cut in half as compared to the previous year, and the loan money I was offered in my financial aid package was increased by that same amount.

 

[aldol16]

Isn't estimated family contribution also zero for most people? Graduate students are considered independent from their parents on FAFSA and for singles, EFC wouldn't make sense because the only person who could contribute is yourself and you're in school. I guess it would be different for married couples since the spouse would presumably have income but in this specific case since the spouse does not work, wouldn't EFC also be zero since income would be zero as well?

 

[fball22]

I don't know the amount for 1 child, but if you are a family of 4 (2 kids) with 0 income you can get ~650/month food stamps (that's almost 8,000/yr that you won't need loans for). You may also qualify for Medicaid. Rent in Florida can be crazy, check out your local Housing Authority and see if you can get on a waiting list for a section 8 housing voucher. The waitlists can be a few years long, but depending on how much undergrad you have left it may work out.

 

[JJRousseau]

Eh I don't think this is correct. I have two kids, my wife won't work (unless she wants to), and we don't have savings enough for 4 years. We just bought a house and the COA will cover all of our needs rather well honestly including a mortgage, insurance, and other vital expenditures like gas and such. As someone with dependents that doesn't have an income you also qualify for food stamps generally.

The COA is usually fairly generous and what we are doing above was suggested to us by current students with families.

Hmm, good to know. Location matters. My CoA after tuition doesn't even cover rent. It would if we lived with another person in a two bedroom...

 

[libertyyne]

Eh I don't think this is correct. I have two kids, my wife won't work (unless she wants to), and we don't have savings enough for 4 years. We just bought a house and the COA will cover all of our needs rather well honestly including a mortgage, insurance, and other vital expenditures like gas and such. As someone with dependents that doesn't have an income you also qualify for food stamps generally.

The COA is usually fairly generous and what we are doing above was suggested to us by current students with families.

How are you doing health insurance. I am Ina very similar situation where we bought a house to ultimately decrease the cost of housing. Insurance however is a different matter .

 

[libertyyne]

My COA is roughly 2 k per month, less for the first year since it is 9 months vs the 11 and 12 for m2,3.
If you have your cars paid off, shop from Aldi,live frugally you can squeak by. The largest problem I have been encountering is getting health insurance.

I will probably be tapping into my modest 403 k after the first year to avoid taxes and penalties.

 

[fball22]

My COA is roughly 2 k per month, less for the first year since it is 9 months vs the 11 and 12 for m2,3.
If you have your cars paid off, shop from Aldi,live frugally you can squeak by. The largest problem I have been encountering is getting health insurance.

Have you applied for Medicaid?

 

[libertyyne]

Have you applied for Medicaid?

We won't qualify the first year since our state has strict asset requirements , once we are done drawing down on savings in y3-4 we might qualify,however might have to convince the wife on that front.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

How are you doing health insurance. I am Ina very similar situation where we bought a house to ultimately decrease the cost of housing. Insurance however is a different matter .

My COA is roughly 2 k per month, less for the first year since it is 9 months vs the 11 and 12 for m2,3.
If you have your cars paid off, shop from Aldi,live frugally you can squeak by. The largest problem I have been encountering is getting health insurance.

I will probably be tapping into my modest 403 k after the first year to avoid taxes and penalties.

Yeah mine is similar. Insurance I got a little lucky, both my wife and two daughters qualify for madicaid and I am young enough my parent will keep me on theirs for another year. After that I don't know 😕

 

[libertyyne]

Yeah mine is similar. Insurance I got a little lucky, both my wife and two daughters qualify for madicaid and I am young enough my parent will keep me on theirs for another year. After that I don't know 😕

I think schools will provide COA increase for your insurance, not for any dependents though.

 

[fball22]

We won't qualify the first year since our state has strict asset requirements , once we are done drawing down on savings in y3-4 we might qualify,however might have to convince the wife on that front.

Gotcha, our only asset is a paid off car only worth a few thousand so the 4 of us all qualify.

It took some convincing to get my wife on board as well. She's still under her parents insurance and didn't see the point initially. After our second child was born with her parents insurance as primary and Medicaid as secondary, walking out of the hospital having paid maybe 30$ out of pocket, we were all finally on the same page.

Edit: Even though I'm married with 2 kids I'm still a traditional student because I just graduated last month and am decently young. I didn't have much chance to accrue savings/assets, but did graduate debt free.

 

[NidDAlouette]

Isn't estimated family contribution also zero for most people? Graduate students are considered independent from their parents on FAFSA and for singles, EFC wouldn't make sense because the only person who could contribute is yourself and you're in school. I guess it would be different for married couples since the spouse would presumably have income but in this specific case since the spouse does not work, wouldn't EFC also be zero since income would be zero as well?

That makes sense. My EFC has never been zero because of my husband's salary; it just decreased significantly when an upcoming dependent was added to the mix. Makes sense that this would be different for most graduate students.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Even though I'm married with 2 kids I'm still a traditional student because I just graduated last month and am decently young. I didn't have much chance to accrue savings/assets, but did graduate debt free.

You could be my spit image. That's also how we do the insurance currently, with my wife's primary as her parents and Medicaid as the secondary. Her and my kids basically don't pay for anything.