Taking a year off due to financial aid problems?

[deleted128562]

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Note to mods: I'm posting this here as I'm hoping to get some opinions and insights.... financial aid forum seems barely trafficked. Move if you have to, but if you keep it here I'll be grateful.


So here's my situation: At the height of the bubble I stupidly bought a house (and had to short sale when I left for med school). My own fault, not blaming anyone, but it hurt my credit pretty bad. As such, I'm not able to get Grad Plus loans, and I absolutely do not have anyone who will cosign for them. (My parents are absolutely anti-cosigning as a principle, and who could blame them, and there truly is no one else).

I should be able to get through this year (2nd year) fine as my grad plus awards make up very little of my package. However, when I met with financial aid to ask about other options (there are none), they informed me that for 3rd year and 4th year - since COA is quite higher - Grad Plus loans will make up probably a good $15,000 of my aid each year (basically nearly my whole cost of living allowance).

This puts me in a situation where I truly will not be able to afford to go to school 3rd and 4th year. I am married and my wife has a degree which does not lend itself to high paying jobs (so basically, since we have kids, all the money would go to daycare). Sure, daycare can increase your COA - but that money comes from Grad Plus loans so it does us no good.

Anyway, my thought at this point is to take a year off at the end of this year and just work my butt off and save $$$$ for 3rd and 4th year. Has anyone done this, and/or does anyone have any thoughts? Any knowledge of if my school would be likely to allow me to do this? Basically my options seem to be: 1) Take a year off 2) Move my family to the homeless shelter for 2 years 3) Join the military. The reason I'm thinking to choose option 1 over option 3 is that while taking a year off would be a pain in the neck, joining the military at this point would mean at least 2 years (Army) of service or 3 years (other branches) of service, plus the possibility of not getting to do the residency I want. So essentially I'd be delaying my career goals by 2 or 3 years (or more) instead of just 1 year. I do have a job situation (I still work occasionally) which would allow me to make some serious dough were I to put in 50 or 60 hours a week. I could probably save up what I need in that time.

Thoughts? Experiences?

 

[PharmaTope]

Note to mods: I'm posting this here as I'm hoping to get some opinions and insights.... financial aid forum seems barely trafficked. Move if you have to, but if you keep it here I'll be grateful.


So here's my situation: At the height of the bubble I stupidly bought a house (and had to short sale when I left for med school). My own fault, not blaming anyone, but it hurt my credit pretty bad. As such, I'm not able to get Grad Plus loans, and I absolutely do not have anyone who will cosign for them. (My parents are absolutely anti-cosigning as a principle, and who could blame them, and there truly is no one else).

I should be able to get through this year (2nd year) fine as my grad plus awards make up very little of my package. However, when I met with financial aid to ask about other options (there are none), they informed me that for 3rd year and 4th year - since COA is quite higher - Grad Plus loans will make up probably a good $15,000 of my aid each year (basically nearly my whole cost of living allowance).

This puts me in a situation where I truly will not be able to afford to go to school 3rd and 4th year. I am married and my wife has a degree which does not lend itself to high paying jobs (so basically, since we have kids, all the money would go to daycare). Sure, daycare can increase your COA - but that money comes from Grad Plus loans so it does us no good.

Anyway, my thought at this point is to take a year off at the end of this year and just work my butt off and save $$$$ for 3rd and 4th year. Has anyone done this, and/or does anyone have any thoughts? Any knowledge of if my school would be likely to allow me to do this? Basically my options seem to be: 1) Take a year off 2) Move my family to the homeless shelter for 2 years 3) Join the military. The reason I'm thinking to choose option 1 over option 3 is that while taking a year off would be a pain in the neck, joining the military at this point would mean at least 2 years (Army) of service or 3 years (other branches) of service, plus the possibility of not getting to do the residency I want. So essentially I'd be delaying my career goals by 2 or 3 years (or more) instead of just 1 year. I do have a job situation (I still work occasionally) which would allow me to make some serious dough were I to put in 50 or 60 hours a week. I could probably save up what I need in that time.

Thoughts? Experiences?

well why not have your wife co-sign? if she earns enough.

i would take the year off to earn money AND do research in an area you want to practice in. If you could get some publications out of it, it could help you when going for residency that way this year is used for a positive thing in more than one way.

i understand your situation, very very tough. i was in the same boat myself at one time.

 

[Ischiowhat]

Note to mods: I'm posting this here as I'm hoping to get some opinions and insights.... financial aid forum seems barely trafficked. Move if you have to, but if you keep it here I'll be grateful.


So here's my situation: At the height of the bubble I stupidly bought a house (and had to short sale when I left for med school). My own fault, not blaming anyone, but it hurt my credit pretty bad. As such, I'm not able to get Grad Plus loans, and I absolutely do not have anyone who will cosign for them. (My parents are absolutely anti-cosigning as a principle, and who could blame them, and there truly is no one else).

I should be able to get through this year (2nd year) fine as my grad plus awards make up very little of my package. However, when I met with financial aid to ask about other options (there are none), they informed me that for 3rd year and 4th year - since COA is quite higher - Grad Plus loans will make up probably a good $15,000 of my aid each year (basically nearly my whole cost of living allowance).

This puts me in a situation where I truly will not be able to afford to go to school 3rd and 4th year. I am married and my wife has a degree which does not lend itself to high paying jobs (so basically, since we have kids, all the money would go to daycare). Sure, daycare can increase your COA - but that money comes from Grad Plus loans so it does us no good.

Anyway, my thought at this point is to take a year off at the end of this year and just work my butt off and save $$$$ for 3rd and 4th year. Has anyone done this, and/or does anyone have any thoughts? Any knowledge of if my school would be likely to allow me to do this? Basically my options seem to be: 1) Take a year off 2) Move my family to the homeless shelter for 2 years 3) Join the military. The reason I'm thinking to choose option 1 over option 3 is that while taking a year off would be a pain in the neck, joining the military at this point would mean at least 2 years (Army) of service or 3 years (other branches) of service, plus the possibility of not getting to do the residency I want. So essentially I'd be delaying my career goals by 2 or 3 years (or more) instead of just 1 year. I do have a job situation (I still work occasionally) which would allow me to make some serious dough were I to put in 50 or 60 hours a week. I could probably save up what I need in that time.

Thoughts? Experiences?

Judging from your description it sounds like you are talking about just regular ol' enlistment. 😱 That's not what you mean, is it? You are aware of HPSP right?

 

[deleted128562]

Judging from your description it sounds like you are talking about just regular ol' enlistment. 😱 That's not what you mean, is it? You are aware of HPSP right?

Sorry, should have clarified better, I was talking about HPSP. Yes, I wouldn't have to take time off from school, but I'd owe 2-3 years of my life after (or even before the completion of) residency for the 2 years of aid I'd get.

I'd much rather spend 1 year of my life doing something I don't want to do (taking a year off to work) but at least coming home to my family every evening, than spend 2-3 years of my life doing something I don't want to do (including very possibly being deployed away from my family for long periods) which could also include not getting to do the residency I want. This can happen with HPSP.

 

[loveboatdoc]

If you do get a co-signer, be certain you also purchase a life insurance policy + disability insurance to cover their payback. I have heard horror stories of co-signers getting chased down, even after the borrower died. Not to be morbid, but student loans don't go away...ever...for your co-signer(s), even if you 'buy the farm'.

This is probably only true for certain types of student loans...just saying, be careful.

 

[NERDY]

Will your school even let you take a year off just for the sole purpose of making money? I know students take time off for dual-degrees, research, family emergencies, but I've never heard of anyone taking time off just to make money. Plus, how will you explain to residency programs why you took a year off? If you got a research job or a medically related job, that may be easier to explain. Good luck!

 

[allergisttobe]

some medical students and residents (and even 1 fellow i know of personally) actually qualify for welfare when they have kids and no income coming in. i know it sucks, but if it helps you to make it through 3rd and 4th year, it might be worth it to try.

btw, if you take a year off of school, your interest will keep racking up for the year and you might end up owing more overall.

 

[Perrotfish]

Sorry, should have clarified better, I was talking about HPSP. Yes, I wouldn't have to take time off from school, but I'd owe 2-3 years of my life after (or even before the completion of) residency for the 2 years of aid I'd get.

I'd much rather spend 1 year of my life doing something I don't want to do (taking a year off to work) but at least coming home to my family every evening, than spend 2-3 years of my life doing something I don't want to do (including very possibly being deployed away from my family for long periods) which could also include not getting to do the residency I want. This can happen with HPSP.

If you join through HPSP, at least in the Navy, you will always retain the option of completing an Intern year and then serving out your time as a not-residency trainined primary care practicioner before going to the normal civilian match to finish up your residency. This will basically mean that you will be 2 years beehind your peers for residency, which is a year longer than if you just took a year off, but they will be years of serving as a physician. Those years will also look very good in the civilian match, whereas the year that you spend working might look quite awful. That's assuming you don't get the residency you want in the first place, of course. The point is you will never be forced to do a residency you don't want. If you don't match into the residency you do want the worst they will ever do is not give you a residency at all (just an Intern year). Also you might want to consider that if you DO get the residency you want in the military they pay you an actually living wage (the equivalent of about 75K in the civilian world + full benifits for your whole family). As a civilian resident you won't starve, but you won't have a lot of income to spare either. Obviously the pay as an attending is much worse in the military.


Things to know if you're considering the military:

1) If you take this deal at the end of your obligation you will have a 6 year obligation to the 'inactive reserve'. Basically that means that the mlitary keeps track of your information so that, in the event that they're really screwed, they can call you back up. This was origionally designed for a WWIII type scenario, but they have been recalling a few people recently. So far no physicians, and at this point it seems unlikely that they're going to start, but be aware that it's their right to do so.

2) HPSP offers a 20K signing bonus. If you want to commit for just 2 years do NOT take that bonus. Don't trust your recruiter when he says your contract doesn't include that bonus, read it over yourself. If you take the bonus you're obligated to a full 4 years.

3) You were right about deployments. If you join the military, odds are you will spend at least 6 months away from home (not even counting the weeks you will spend doing military rotations and basic training). If we are at war you will go to war, and while physicians have one of the safest roles in the military we have definitely lost physicians in combat.

4) Two year contracts are not as easy to get as 4 year contracts. If you're interested in this, start the process NOW. You're not obligated to anything until you sign on the dotted line and your recruiter's time isn't worth anything, but get the ball rolling soon so that you don't limit your options. Early applicants are at a definite advantage here.

5) Make sure you're clear on how obligation relates to residency in the military. If you do a residency in the military the amount of time you owe on completion of the residency is either the amount of time you owed going in or the length of the residency (not counting Intern year) whichever is more. For example if you did a 5 year ortho residency (4 years + an Intern year) at the end of your residency you would owe 4 years of service even though you only signed a 2 year contract. However if you did a 3 year IM residency (2 years + an intern year) you would only owe 2 years at the end of your residency. Make sense?

some medical students and residents (and even 1 fellow i know of personally) actually qualify for welfare when they have kids and no income coming in. i know it sucks, but if it helps you to make it through 3rd and 4th year, it might be worth it to try.

This is also an option. I know medical students with both medicaid and food stamps.

 

[sunset823]

Will your school even let you take a year off just for the sole purpose of making money? I know students take time off for dual-degrees, research, family emergencies, but I've never heard of anyone taking time off just to make money. Plus, how will you explain to residency programs why you took a year off? If you got a research job or a medically related job, that may be easier to explain. Good luck!

In the OP's situation, yes they will. It is obviously better to get a medically related job or fellowship, but when it comes down to the fact that you have to do this or drop out of med school (not looking at military option, which doesn't work for everybody), the school has to let him take an LoA.

Schools are generally pretty flexible about LoAs, it's the residencies that would frown upon taking them for frivolous reasons. I was originally thinking about taking a year off to work in the state where I go to a public school, but since, unlike the OP, I have no need for it cuz I have no family and my credit is good, it could have shot my residency options.

 

[PharmaTope]

i'm telling you, contact some academic medical centers and say you want to work on some publishable research projects. you are a MS2 going to be MS3 and want to spend the year working on some things.

Make sure you find someone that publishes fast and heavy. Case reports, abstracts, posters, maybe an article.

This will be KEY. You can do clinical research while working a fulltime job. Just doing chart reviews and such will help out immensly. you will be able to get some money coming in AND build your CV up for residencies. This is going to be very positive for you. Look at this year as a big opportunity for you. The school will let you do the research. Try to do the research as paid or unpaid. This will do tremendous things for you. Stay strong!!!

I would also use that time to invest more time into your Step 1 exam. This way you aren't under immense time pressure restriction since you take step one at the end of MS2 beginning of MS3. So now you just gave yourself more time to DOMINATE the exam. This is going to be great for you!

 

[plauto]

Ask your school for institutional loans or alumni loans if they have them, many schools do and should not let you take a year off solely for financial reasons.

 

[alwaysaangel]

If you do get a co-signer, be certain you also purchase a life insurance policy + disability insurance to cover their payback. I have heard horror stories of co-signers getting chased down, even after the borrower died. Not to be morbid, but student loans don't go away...ever...for your co-signer(s), even if you 'buy the farm'.

This is probably only true for certain types of student loans...just saying, be careful.

The OP doesn't need to be concerned about this.

He's talking about grad PLUS loans. All student federal loans (even co-signed ones) are insured and discharged upon death or permanent disability of the student.

The horror stories you've heard may be regarding private loans, but not too many medical students need massive amounts of private loans to get through med school.

 

[deleted77919]

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