Paying for Dental School

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RU1992

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I hope everything is going well. I'm sorry if this question has been asked before, but I cannot seem to find it. I'm applying this cycle and just have a question in regards to the finance aspect of dental school. When you are accepted to a school and receive your acceptance letter, does the school make you aware of how much financial aid (scholarships, grants, aid) you would receive? Or is it your responsibility to meet with someone at the school after you're accepted? The reason I'm asking is because I understand that once you're accepted, you have a limited time to decide whether to decline/accept the offer, so I'm wondering how that would play out if you have to find out the financial aspect of it on your own. Thank you in advance! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

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After interview,u receive word of acceptance by December 1st (last cycle anyway). If u are awesome, ur school will usually let u know of scholarship offer with ur acceptance letter.

Then on your own, you apply for fafsa. U can start applying by January I believe. Even if you haven't heard from schools, its a good idea to apply for fafsa anyway (for multiple schools).

usually the school wants you to fill out their own financial aid application (on top of fafsa). You are contacted via email about filling out the schools application.

Around end of march (or whenever ur fafsa is processed) you get a SAR, with additional instructions/missing documents (ie proof of citizenship). You send that to your school and all that.

You check your ds email> financial aid section & determine your estimated cost of attendance. Create a quick budget, factor in housing if u choose n get a estimated number.

recall in your fafsa you filled or estimated cost of attendance etc, n in your sar it states which finding u are entitled to receive (usually source unsubsidized loans).

But u gotta fill out some other requirements too like master promissary note, online loan interview (aka quiz too see u understand your loan obligations etc).

Fafsa relays that information to the school & u check off all these requirements.

Then school contacts you saying"hey soo yea your award letter is approved for this scholarship (amount x), direct unsubsidized loan for amount x, Perkins loan x ...u get the idea.

Additionally, u can choose to send your schools financial aid department your parents tax return to see of you qualify for preferable federal loans like health care professionals loan , etc (which r part of title 7 funding)...

In short the process is def new but your schools financial aid department is in constant contract with you by phone, email to instruct you/remind you/answer your questions along the way.

Right now, this should be last of ur worries. Worry about getting in first.process isn't difficult to follow.

* I highlighted the path I took. U can do it differently ex. Look for a private loan yourself with a bank, pay for school yourself etc.

This was a pia 2 type Hope this answers ur question


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Once you are accepted, its not like you gotta worry about putting together the cash for tuition in a couple of weeks. You go through first deposit ~1500 , then second deposit ~grand...so u have plenty of time.

Also the loans process usually happens around this time(April)...well into the end of the admissions cycle, do its not like u are still trying to decide which school ur gonna attend...around march April most people have committed to a school & are getting their loan requirements in order.

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Unless you're a minority or have really good stats, you won't get a scholarship from most schools. The only thing you should worry about when making your decision is the total cost of the schools you're considering. Cost will probably be one of the main deciding factors and often you will want to go with the cheaper option. You won't know what your federal loan package is until after you have accepted a school's offer (April or May I think). Also, as long as you have good credit, Stafford loans and the Graduate Plus loan will cover your cost of attendance. You shouldn't need to take out any private (i.e non-federal Direct) loans. In fact, you should absolutely avoid taking out any private loans because they are much riskier than a government loan and they can NEVER be discharged in bankruptcy.
 
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