Question about Financial Aid Packages for Married Students

[1olddoc]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Can anyone who is married tell me how thier spouse's income has effected their financial aid award? I have been married and out of school for two years and am not sure what I can expect regarding my ability to secure financial aid. Thanks

 

[dread]

You should be eligible for the same stafford loans, but your med school will likely count your spouse's income as income that should be used to pay for your education. Therefore, you probably won't get much in the way of grants or scholarships from most schools.

 

[Mutterkuchen]

Originally posted by dread
You should be eligible for the same stafford loans, but your med school will likely count your spouse's income as income that should be used to pay for your education. Therefore, you probably won't get much in the way of grants or scholarships from most schools.

However, this will not be a problem, since most schools don't offer need-based grants and scholarships. A few offer some merit based ones for recruiting purposes, though.

My wife makes a reasonable salary, and our financial aid was not affected one bit.

 

[1olddoc]

Thanks

 

[Vincristine]

Luckily it didn't seem to matter one bit. I got married after M1, which meant my financial status didn't change until my FAFSA for M3 year. I think we got like $2-3K less, but it was unnoticable. Here's why: as opposed to my undergrad financial aid which more or less only wanted to cover tuition and not room & board/living expenses, medical school does not expect you to have a job or any real income to live on. Therefore your aid package will include tutition PLUS cost of living (granted only $8500 every 2 semesters is subsidized, the fed direct interet rate right now is a record low). If your spouse's income can reasonably pay for housing, you'll only need to borrow tutition plus a small amount of living expenses.

Here's a nother tip: if you are ever in need of more loan money to make your dreams happen, citibank student loans will ALWAYS give you money (www.studentloans.com).

(My husband makes enough money for the two of us to live off of -- minus my undergrad loans if they were not in deferral, and I've always been offered more than enough aid money to cover "cost of living" despite not really needing it.)

 

[1olddoc]

Great info. Thank you!

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

Moving to financial aid...