Student Loan Advice Needed

[Ober3]

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone can give me some advice on student loans for Pod School. Where is a good place to start? What are the best interest rates? I am also a Canadian, but have been living in the US for a very long time - no citizenship yet. If would be great if Canadian pod students could chime in!

Please help - Thanks in advance!

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[Googlymello]

i have been meaning to ask this.. so i guess this kind of fits in this thread..

about how much do you guys spend on living expenses per school year (not including tuition and books)?

 

[dyk343]

Financial aid office is the best place to start. I called the school I will be attending in the fall and they said they are just now sending out the financial aid packet. I believe they walk you through most of the processes.

 

[darazon]

If you have been living in the US for a while, do you have a SSN? If you do, you can qualify for the US loans. You will need a co-signer, if you are a non US citizen. The interest rates are really high when compared to the loans you can get in Canada (i.e. 6.5% vs 2.25%). You will have to contact your pod school to get all the details, they handle it all.

You can also get loans through the Canadian government. Don't expect too much though. You apply as you would normally apply for a school loan with the government (www.canlearn.ca)

You can also get loans through banks. RBC, Scotia, BMO, etc. The interest rates are great. A word of advice here though, make sure you say you are going to Podiatric MEDICAL school, not just podiatry school. According to most of the banks websites, they offer loans for podiatry, but they max out at around 60k. However, medical schools are much much more. Don't lie though. Since you will be going to the US for school, they more than likely will need a co-signer for the loan as well.

You can also get loans through the Canadian Podiatric Education Foundation (www.cpef.ca). It is literally, some DPM in an office that answers the phone. They can only give a couple thousand because they have problems with graduated students paying back the loans.

Hope that helps. Feel free to PM me.

 

[pieds]

I'm a cdn citizen with US permanent residency. When I did my undergrad, I didn't need a cosigner for my stafford loans. I'll be going to AZpod next year. When I spoke to one of the financial advisors she told me I could qualify up to ~43k a year on subsidized/unsubsidized stafford loans. Depending on your tuition cost, I think you could probably pay for a lot of your tuition and living expenses with this amount.

 

[Ober3]

Thanks for all the advice!

Darazon: I'm looking into some of the places you have mentioned.

Pieds: I don't have a SSN and also don't have permanent residency. I'm considered an international student even though I have been in the US for many years. I was looking into Stafford Loans and it looks like you need to be a US citizen or permanent resident. I don't qualify for either.