Soo... I got accepted but can't go :(

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ASAHLexD29

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I got accepted to a number of dental schools, and it's looking like I won't be able to go because I can't afford it. Being a Canadian student, I need a cosigner to get a loan to go to any of the schools I got accepted to. Unfortunately I can't get a cosigner. Any idea where to go from here?
 
You being unable to afford these dental schools that you applied to is news to you?
 
Wait, so you got accepted to dental schools in the U.S and can't go? Or Canadian schools?
 
How about your family to co-sign for you? Do Canadian banks ask for a strong co-signer for dental school?
 
ASAHLexD29 said:
I got accepted to a number of dental schools, and it's looking like I won't be able to go because I can't afford it. Being a Canadian student, I need a cosigner to get a loan to go to any of the schools I got accepted to. Unfortunately I can't get a cosigner. Any idea where to go from here?
Click to expand...

Do you have anyone who could be a cosigner for you? Parents?
You can also apply for federal/provincial loan which would be only max 15k/yr but better than nothing.
That's really unfortunate.
How much do you have to pay for the cheapest option?
 
@DancingBull : yes it's news.. I had some options but when it came time none of them worked out.

@Tariqd : US schools.

@dent777 : yes they need a strong cosigner and my parents weren't good enough due to some financial issues we had recently. Though I'm sure you wouldn't have an issue if your parents are okay financially.

@omgroll : parents can't, same with some other people who I thought could. Cheapest option is still close to 400K.

Has anyone been in this same situation? If so, are there any possible resources I may have missed?
Thanks
 
What province are you from? I didn't have a cosigner at all and I was able to secure enough funding for school....
 
Me neither. I dont need a co-signer. TD Canada trust
 
Why would you need a co-signer ? you can ask for 200k at prime easily. if you want more than that then you will need a co-signer. I am personally counting on my own savings, parents contribution, gov loans and most likely some LOC from a bank. Ps. the exchange rate is not as good as it used to be either :/ Banks are charging $1.14 CAN for every $1 US. It used to be like $0.94 CAN. I hope it doesn't get worse.
 
@Leafs86 @ge71ge I'm also from Canada (Ontario specifically) and got accepted to an American dental school. I'll be entering in the Fall c/o 2018. I'm going to speak with some banks soon regarding my loans. I wasn't aware that TD would give you 200k without a co-signer. Did you bring any files with you regarding income, pay-stubs, credit history?
 
nopeeee just walked in and told them i needed the money for dentalschool. I asked them and no co signer
 
@ge71ge That's amazing, congrats! I know that OSAP will provide 10-14k depending on which school you attend and what your parent's financial status is. Are you from Toronto as well?
 
All those that state you can get a loan without a cosigner for U.S, please share the phone number of the agent that did it for you. I've called every bank that offers a line of credit for students and none of them would it without a cosigner unless you have a house registered to your name.
 
Hey @Glimmer1991 , thanks for the suggestion. On the website it says the following:

To qualify, you must:
  • Be a US citizen, permanent resident or international student (International students require a Social Security number and a cosigner).
I wonder if it is referring to a US cosigner, or a cosigner in general. Also, when we apply for a student visa to the US from Canada, do we receive a SSN or ID code of some sort?
 
^^ this. Thank you for trying Glimmer!

sg21: You don't need a visa to the U.S if you are a Canadian citizen! The school should file a request for you and give you green light to apply for I-20 once you show them that you have the funds. Your school should inform you about this soon!
 
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Go to the bank where you have your account, talk to the person who does small business/professional loc specifically. I had called TD bank and they told me that I need a cosigner and will only get up to 200k ... which is ridiculous since it states on their website that I will get up to 250k w/o cosigner if its a Canadian ds. I went to scotia yesterday, talked to someone who did this type of loc and applied for one w/o cosigner for 250k.

Go talk to someone at the bank. Not on the phone because they really don't know much. You NEED to talk to someone who does this specifically not some random bank teller.
 
I know that it seems impossible to work during ds but its not really impossible. My friend tutors 2 times a week and earns about 800-1000 a month just working 4hr/week while in ds. You can work during summer as well. Sure it isn't much but its better than nothing. Also how much funds do you have? Work right now for 4 months and save up some money. I think you can also apply for scholarships online.
 
I know some dental students and soon to be dental students that are looking for some teeth...I could work out a trade between you guys if you want to sell your teeth? J/K.

Have you talked to any Canadian dental students right now? Have you talked to a financial aid officer of a dental school or an undergrad? The way this thread was written seemed a bit trollish to me.
 
omgroll said:
Go talk to someone at the bank. Not on the phone because they really don't know much. You NEED to talk to someone who does this specifically not some random bank teller.
Click to expand...

I went to 4 banks and so far all of them said get a cosigner and the rest of the agents I talked to over the phone specifically deal with lines of credit for students. You were accepted to UBC, it is a different ball game for the banks.
 
@UWO2014 That's what I was thinking as well. I'm going to speak to them on Saturday, I will give you curious Canadians an update on my status. If it helps, I have 44 months of credit history with zero late payments. I have an excellent credit score and history of income for 8 years, including steady income in recent months from a part-time job I've held for 2 years. I'm a waiter, so I don't make that much according to the government, but I think banks know that most of my money comes from tips. I'm hoping that I can get the student line of credit from TD without a c0-signer as well.
 
sg21 said:
@UWO2014 That's what I was thinking as well. I'm going to speak to them on Saturday, I will give you curious Canadians an update on my status. If it helps, I have 44 months of credit history with zero late payments. I have an excellent credit score and history of income for 8 years, including steady income in recent months from a part-time job I've held for 2 years. I'm a waiter, so I don't make that much according to the government, but I think banks know that most of my money comes from tips. I'm hoping that I can get the student line of credit from TD without a c0-signer as well.
Click to expand...

Hope everything works out for you 🙂 I'm going to TD as well on Saturday to figure this out
 
sg21 said:
@Leafs86 @ge71ge I'm also from Canada (Ontario specifically) and got accepted to an American dental school. I'll be entering in the Fall c/o 2018. I'm going to speak with some banks soon regarding my loans. I wasn't aware that TD would give you 200k without a co-signer. Did you bring any files with you regarding income, pay-stubs, credit history?
Click to expand...
Hi there!
May I ask you how is it that you are entering in the Fall of 2018 and not 2014?? Were you able to ask the school if they can admit you at a later date?

Edit:
Nevermind, i misread your post : P
 
Hi all, sorry for the lack of update; I've been super busy lately with work and all and trying to figure out this whole bank loan situation.. no good news so far 🙁
@Leafs86, @ge71ge, and @MAdental: How did you guys get loans without a cosigner? I couldn't get that anywhere! Banks are so strict, especially when you're going outside of Canada. PS: Leafs86, I'm from Ontario.
Here are my latest updates for those interested:
First of all, I have to mention that banks keep repeating the following information: If I was going to a Canadian school, they would give me 250K, and no cosigner is needed. However, because I'm going outside the country, banks have become very strict, and the first thing you need to get a loan is a STRONG cosigner. And the MAX you can get is like 200K. I don't know how it makes sense to them to give 250K for Canadian school, which is more than enough.. and give only 200K for US school which barely covers the first 2 years.. ???!?
Anyway.. as I was saying, my latest attempts haven't been so successful:
1 - ScotiaBank, which is supposed to be "the best" at giving loans to dental students (and it's my bank too btw), rejected my parents as cosigners, which I guess is understandable since they don't make much money and we don't own a house (lost it recently 🙁). Then after asking everyone we know for help, only one person offered to help. He submitted an application with me.. then after a week, they finally come back to me saying "sorry, it has to be a "parental" guarantor". Excuse my language, but WTF?!? you knew my parents can't help when you rejected them, you couldn't have mentioned this before (PS. I had been dealing with this person about dental school loan for like 2 months now)? They're just delaying everything and I'm this close to losing my spot at the schools I got accepted to.
2 - I went to TD, and they basically said, that not only do I get less money, not only do I need a cosigner, not only does he/she have to be family, but they ALSO have to be an existing TD customer. Seriously?? So I'm very curious as to how @ge71ge got a loan with no cosigner at TD. Please help! I'm not doubting you, I'm really just wondering how I could maybe do the same.
3 - Went to National Bank, submitted an application, eventhough they would only give me like 35K a year... But even then, they rejected my application, and the basis of their decision was basically like "we can't give you this money because we don't know how you're going to secure the rest of it for school". What kind of twisted game is this??!? You won't give me the 400K I need, but you also won't give me the 150K you offer because you don't think I'll be able to secure the other 250K. Well duh!! If I could afford it I wouldn't be coming to you!! lol sorry I'm a little frustrated at this twisted system.
4 - I also went to RBC, and they said it's okay if the cosigner is not family, but because he's not family, the loan they would usually offer at 200K automatically drops to a max of 150K. OK... But they're also playing the "we're not sure if this will work cuz we don't know how you're going to secure the rest of it" card. I don't know what's going to happen with this one...

Soo... just here playing the waiting game.. hopefully by some miracle I get some good news.. if not, I guess I will have to find something else to do for another year or something.. It is getting pretty discouraging that I have to fight so hard to get into school, especially after everything I had to go through in my undergrad years... Anyway, I guess I'll just wait and see, and whatever is meant to happen will happen.

Thank you for letting me vent... I would really appreciate any help or advice anyone has, if you have been successful to get a loan from a Canadian bank without a cosigner.

@omgroll, how did you get a loan from ScotiaBank with no cosigner?? Please let me know who you spoke with, maybe I could get some help. Also, what scholarships online were you referring to? My understanding is most scholarships for US schools are for US citizens, no?

@r2thekesh, I wish I was trolling.. this **** is killing me.. I can't focus at work, I'm kinda defeated. I'm starting to wonder if it's even worth it... work for so long to get into dental school then have the door shut in your face for financial reasons.. sad.

@ToothbrushBuddy, sorry I didn't mean to bring anyone down. I still have hope that it will work out. If not this year, maybe next year 🙂 I'm just a little frustrated I guess. The whole point of this thread was to get some advice from others who may be facing the same issue (probably most Canadians, cuz banks are getting super strict).. and vent lol

@cacajuate, no I don't. There is no reason I would. I've been working for forever, even when I was in school and never missed any payments or anything. Sadly, no matter how much money I have been making in the time I was working, it doesn't count for anything because to the banks, I will be unemployed while in school.

@sg21 and @UWO2014, any updates? I would love to know if you were successful in getting a loan without a cosigner. I hope so!

@Daneosaurus, thank you so much for your concern and support. I really appreciate it 🙂 Yes it is a sad and frustrating situation.. I'm hoping it works out before it's too late and I lose my spot.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I hope we can all get the loans we need and start this new chapter in our lives 🙂 I hope to hear from you Canadians who were able to get that loan. It would be very helpful.
 
Man this is rough...Sorry you have to go through this.

The posters that are claiming that they have secured a LoC without a cosigner either are attending a Canadian institution or haven't actually put in an application through the rigorous adjudication process. It's never exactly as advertised on their website. And when they say strong co-signer, it's usually someone with little to no debt, considerable steady income (as evidenced by their NoA), perfect credit rating, etc.

The bank tellers usually know next to nothing about how rigorous it is to secure a LoC for Canadian students stepping out of Canadian boundaries, and often offer very unrealistic and optimistic suggestions to persuade you into making an account with them and eventually amounts to nothing when you actually sit down with an actual credit specialist and talk specifics.

To my knowledge of every single bank in Canada, you require a co-signer if you want to study abroad for any professional/graduate level studies...
 
Thanks for your input @Ionz. Could you please let me know how you secured the funds for dental school? If you prefer to PM me, please do so. Thanks!
 
@ASAHLexD29

So, I went to TD last week (my friend deals with this kind of things) and he basically said I still need a cosigner, but they would just have to make steady income around minimum 70k a year. I called BMO, they said they would only offer 200k with cosigner (so thats also out of the way).

For Scotiabank, I have not submitted applications yet cuz im still writing exams and probably will get to it in May or even before that. I will let you know of any information as soon as I figure this out..
 
have you called financial aid at the schools you were accepted to and asked them for their advice?
maybe they have dealt with this before and can point you in the right direction
dental schools have been here for a long time surely someone else was in your situation and found a solution the counselors there might be able to help you
 
Well supposedly my financial advisor told me that I could get the loan without the cosigner even for US schools... apparently he was trying to do a huge favour for me because he's a huge regular of my parents' business in golf industry. Just got a call from him today... and now he tells me that I can't do it without getting the cosigner. It's not a problem for me, but since there are many ppl searching for a way out of this, I will ask around. I have alot of friends going to schools in states that are not very well off... hopefully they can provide me with some answers.
 
Good luck. I hope it all works out for you.
 
You could try taking out the loan year by year? Instead of trying to take all of it at once?
 
Hi all, sorry I've been away for a while.. just to update you, I wasn't able to get the required sum for tuition, so I won't be attending dental school this year. However, thankfully my acceptance has been deferred until next year, so hopefully I will have my finances figured out by then. I guess I will be working in the mean time, and will try Canadian schools again. I am also considering maybe doing dental school where I come from, as it would be like 300K cheaper.. the only issue is that I would have to come back here and do another 2 years to be able to practice, and I'm not sure how easy it is to get into that international dentist program.
Anyway, thank you all for your concern, and I wish you all the best in dental school 🙂 <3
 
@ASAHLexD29 I'm so sorry it didn't work out for you! I hope that you can figure something out that works, either this year or next so you don't have to spend a lot of time waiting.

What I am wondering is, if securing loans is so difficult for Canadian students and they are limited to $200k, then how do any Canadians manage to come to the US for dental school? Savings/family money?
 
stomatology said:
What I am wondering is, if securing loans is so difficult for Canadian students and they are limited to $200k, then how do any Canadians manage to come to the US for dental school? Savings/family money?
Click to expand...

I think so long as a Canadian has parents with strong credit history, they can get a loan. They just need a strong cosigner.
 
Some of the people in the thread have indicated that there may be a cap of $200k without a cosigner (and one of those people renounced that claim IIRC), but others say that $200k is the cap even with a cosigner. It is quite confusing. I think ASAHLexD29 indicated that he/she would only have gotten 200k with a cosigner.
 
stomatology said:
Some of the people in the thread have indicated that there may be a cap of $200k without a cosigner (and one of those people renounced that claim IIRC), but others say that $200k is the cap even with a cosigner. It is quite confusing. I think ASAHLexD29 indicated that he/she would only have gotten 200k with a cosigner.
Click to expand...

Ahh... I see that. Definitely a lot of conflicting information here!
 
Thank you @stomatology, I appreciate that. I have basically come to accept the situation, and I think that everything happens for a reason.. so if it's meant to work out, it will 🙂 I know it sounds cheesy, but you never know what the future brings right?
To answer your question, @Glimmer1991 is right. You need a strong co-signer and your parents better be loaded lol (unlike mine). It really does help.. I think alot of parents either have a lot of assets or money that they can give their kids, or in some cases they re-mortgage their houses, etc. Some people were also able to get more than one loan which helped. However, in my case as I mentioned, I only had an option to get one loan and I couldn't even secure that loan because I couldn't show the bank that I can secure the rest of the money for tuition (this is where high family income and assets help). Also, this year it seems like it's a lot harder to get a loan, because I had spoken to other Canadians who are already D1-D2s and they didn't have this much trouble getting a loan. They were either able to get more than one loan, or even get a 200K loan to start with and then get more in third year etc.. For some reason, the banks are now super stringent and they won't even give a loan to start with (to increase later etc).. they want to make sure the full tuition cost would be covered. So yeah, I don't know.. it is what is it.
 
Yes, it is conflicting! that's why I was so frustrated! cuz they wouldn't give me enough for the full tuition, but they wouldn't even give me a part of it becuz I couldn't come up with the rest right away.. it's weird.. I guess I understand banks cuz they must have had a lot of issues with students in the past, so they're becoming very "careful" with the loans they offer.

and yes there is a cap it seems at 200K.. although in my case it was 150K for some reason (I think they mentioned it's cuz my cosigner wasn't a parent.. BS).
 
Wow that sounds like a really tough situation, though it would make sense from the bank's perspective I guess. At the same time, I don't believe that many dentists have defaulted on their loans that I know of (which is something I could see happening if tuition continues to increase astronomically).

I wish there was something we could do to help, but unfortunately there isn't. On the bright side, your acceptance was deferred and will still be there if you are able and choose to attend next year. I'm not sure how the whole international dentist thing works, but that also sounds like an option you have. Best of luck and best wishes in your future endeavors!
 
Thank you @stomatology 🙂 Yes, I am grateful that I still have the option to attend next year. And I can take this year to think of any other alternatives as well.
Best of luck to you with everything as well 🙂
 
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