Tips on finding co-signers, outside scholarships ect

[mini510]

Hi everyone, I have an acceptance to a DO program and am looking to matriculate next fall. I know I will be ineligible for the grad plus loan on my own. The schools I’ve interviewed as have been very clear on how their students finance their education. Has anyone matriculated into school and paid using a co-signer who isn’t a direct family member?

Additionally, has anyone with adverse credit applied for the NHSC scholarship? Were you denied, or did you make it past the credit check portion? If not, did you find any outside scholarships?

Thank you!

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[deleted1102547]

Hi everyone, I have an acceptance to a DO program and am looking to matriculate next fall. I know I will be ineligible for the grad plus loan on my own. The schools I’ve interviewed as have been very clear on how their students finance their education. Has anyone matriculated into school and paid using a co-signer who isn’t a direct family member?

Additionally, has anyone with adverse credit applied for the NHSC scholarship? Were you denied, or did you make it past the credit check portion? If not, did you find any outside scholarships?

Thank you!

I highly doubt anyone would be a co-signer for you as it would be a dumb move on their part. Unless they know you very well (friends, family), they are taking on a huge risk without any benefit.

You can still likely qualify for the military's scholarship if you are interested in that.

 

[mini510]

I highly doubt anyone would be a co-signer for you as it would be a dumb move on their part. Unless they know you very well (friends, family), they are taking on a huge risk without any benefit.

You can still likely qualify for the military's scholarship if you are interested in that.

I hear where you are coming from, and I am looking for advice from people who were successful in getting co-signers for med school. I was able to get one for undergrad, which is why I want to fully explore this option before I look towards other alternatives. Since I just need to bring the COA to below $40k, I wanted to see what other resource people have applied for.


Thanks for the advice on the HPSP. Im working w/ a recruiter rn, but I may need waivers or to wait a year, hence the other question. Just wanting backup plans.

 

[Helpful Troll]

You can still likely qualify for the military's scholarship if you are interested in that.

The military does a credit check as part of an initial security clearance for officers. To be an officer you have to qualify for a secret clearance at a minimum. They have been known to drop HPSP recipients when the credit check comes back. That said, it's less how much you owe but the reason for the credit issues and whether you have a firm repayment plan in place.

 

[mini510]

The military does a credit check as part of an initial security clearance for officers. To be an officer you have to qualify for a secret clearance at a minimum. They have been known to drop HPSP recipients when the credit check comes back. That said, it's less how much you owe but the reason for the credit issues and whether you have a firm repayment plan in place.

How do they handle bankruptcy? Don’t have any of the other adverse credit, just that (which is why I’m ineligible). From what I have understood from my recruiter, it should be fine.

 

[DocJanItor]

How do they handle bankruptcy? Don’t have any of the other adverse credit, just that (which is why I’m ineligible). From what I have understood from my recruiter, it should be fine.

Your recruiter will tell you literally anything to make sure that you sign on the line.

 

[deleted367183]

It doesn't really count for your question, because he's like family, but my boyfriend cosigned ("endorsed") my Grad Plus (now Direct Plus) loans. To avoid bringing problems into his and my relationship, I asked two other old friends before asking him, but they both said no. I also asked a third old friend to cosign a smaller Grad Plus to tide me over one summer, $6600, but she was fortunately in a position to just loan me the money, so we did that instead.

Here's a loophole (word choice?) that you can discuss with your potential cosigners. When I graduated--actually a couple months before graduation--I consolidated all of my existing med school loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. (My loans from before med school were already consolidated.) The Direct Consolidation Loan paid off all my other non-consolidated loans, including my cosigned Grad Plus loans. My endorser received a paid in full letter and was no longer obligated. So your cosigner is likely (no guarantees) only obligated until you consolidate.

The main consideration with consolidation is that your existing interest gets capitalized when you consolidate. This may not matter to you as much as getting your cosigner off the hook, however.

Another thing to keep in mind--Grad Plus loans are federal debts, so they can garnish a cosigner's Social Security(!!!) or tax returns, though I don't know how common this is in practice.

One thing you absolutely should not do is take out a private loan. I would wait out the clock for the bankruptcy to stop counting as adverse credit history (5 years as per here) before taking out a private loan. I was 37 when I matriculated. You most probably have time. Private loans have (at best) very limited deferment and forbearance options, meaning that, essentially, the payments come due whether or not you have an income with which to pay.

As an aside, I did not consolidate in order to get my endorser off the hook, as we did not realize that would happen. I consolidated in order to get into REPAYE (a payment plan) early and save some money, as per this article. It worked according to plan.

 

[mini510]

It doesn't really count for your question, because he's like family, but my boyfriend cosigned ("endorsed") my Grad Plus (now Direct Plus) loans. To avoid bringing problems into his and my relationship, I asked two other old friends before asking him, but they both said no. I also asked a third old friend to cosign a smaller Grad Plus to tide me over one summer, $6600, but she was fortunately in a position to just loan me the money, so we did that instead.

Here's a loophole (word choice?) that you can discuss with your potential cosigners. When I graduated--actually a couple months before graduation--I consolidated all of my existing med school loans into a Direct Consolidation Loan. (My loans from before med school were already consolidated.) The Direct Consolidation Loan paid off all my other loans, including my cosigned Grad Plus loans. My endorser received a paid in full letter and was no longer obligated. So your cosigner is likely (no guarantees) only obligated until you consolidate. I don't know, as an academic question, if you can consolidate while you are still in med school (for instance, consolidating M1 and M2 ASAP, and then consolidating M3 and M4 at graduation time, to minimize your endorser's exposure). I don't see why not.

The main consideration with consolidation is that your existing interest gets capitalized when you consolidate. This may not matter to you as much as getting your cosigner off the hook, however.

Another thing to keep in mind--Grad Plus loans are federal debts, so they can garnish a cosigner's Social Security(!!!) or tax returns, though I don't know how common this is in practice.

One thing you absolutely should not do is take out a private loan. I would wait out the clock for the bankruptcy to stop counting as adverse credit history (5 years as per here) before taking out a private loan. I was 37 when I matriculated. You most probably have time. Private loans have (at best) very limited deferment and forbearance options, meaning that, essentially, the payments come due whether or not you have an income with which to pay.

As an aside, I did not consolidate in order to get my endorser off the hook, as we did not realize that would happen. I consolidated in order to get into REPAYE (a payment plan) early and save some money, as per this article. It worked according to plan.

Oh My god! Thank you so much! This is huge advice I never even knew I needed! My biggest hesitation towards seeking co-signers with my “street family” was that the last person who I co-signed with set the terms and chose to go w/ a private loan, and it had been a nightmare to deal with since then. There really is so much more you can do w/ federal loans!

Normally I would wait it out, but students are getting better and better each year I would have to retake classes w/ out aid. You never know what climate you apply in when you wait for the future. Thanks again!!

 

[deleted367183]

Oh My god! Thank you so much! This is huge advice I never even knew I needed! My biggest hesitation towards seeking co-signers with my “street family” was that the last person who I co-signed with set the terms and chose to go w/ a private loan, and it had been a nightmare to deal with since then. There really is so much more you can do w/ federal loans!

Normally I would wait it out, but students are getting better and better each year I would have to retake classes w/ out aid. You never know what climate you apply in when you wait for the future. Thanks again!!

Glad that someone can benefit from my mistakes!!!! Best of luck to you.

 

[deleted367183]

I hear where you are coming from, and I am looking for advice from people who were successful in getting co-signers for med school. I was able to get one for undergrad, which is why I want to fully explore this option before I look towards other alternatives. Since I just need to bring the COA to below $40k, I wanted to see what other resource people have applied for.


Thanks for the advice on the HPSP. Im working w/ a recruiter rn, but I may need waivers or to wait a year, hence the other question. Just wanting backup plans.

Out of curiosity, why do you just need to bring the COA to below $40K? Don't mean to pry--just wondering if I might have more thoughts/advice. Is that the "Stafford"/Direct Loan max annual borrow, as much as you can get without a cosigner?

I also did not spend any time hunting for/applying for outside scholarships because I was, wait for it, working my tail off to eliminate my "adverse credit history." (I paid off my collections and continued paying my unmanageable debts long enough to qualify for Grad Plus without a cosigner for the first year of med school. Then, once I no longer had an income, I couldn't keep paying these debts and they became delinquent, necessitating a cosigner for M2-M4.) If you have any time, poke into outside stuff. There is so little grant aid floating around for med school that these little scholarships will certainly help. (With college financial aid, there's often enough grant aid in your package that the $3000 outside scholarship will just reduce the school's grant to you by $3000. But that's largely not the case in med school--no grant aid to get reduced.)

One thing I'm glad I didn't do is apply for the NHSC. (No guarantees I'd have gotten it, of course.) I went into medicine dead set on primary care and then changed my mind. I would really have been in a fix.

 

[mini510]

Out of curiosity, why do you just need to bring the COA to below $40K? Don't mean to pry--just wondering if I might have more thoughts/advice. Is that the "Stafford"/Direct Loan max annual borrow, as much as you can get without a cosigner?

I also did not spend any time hunting for/applying for outside scholarships because I was, wait for it, working my tail off to eliminate my "adverse credit history." (I paid off my collections and continued paying my unmanageable debts long enough to qualify for Grad Plus without a cosigner for the first year of med school. Then, once I no longer had an income, I couldn't keep paying these debts and they became delinquent, necessitating a cosigner for M2-M4.) If you have any time, poke into outside stuff. There is so little grant aid floating around for med school that these little scholarships will certainly help. (With college financial aid, there's often enough grant aid in your package that the $3000 outside scholarship will just reduce the school's grant to you by $3000. But that's largely not the case in med school--no grant aid to get reduced.)

One thing I'm glad I didn't do is apply for the NHSC. (No guarantees I'd have gotten it, of course.) I went into medicine dead set on primary care and then changed my mind. I would really have been in a fix.

Pretty much par for what you thought. Stanford loans are different from grad plus loan and I am eligible regardless. That’s my plan for now though. I’m working with some folks to find outside scholarships etc that I would be a good fit for. I’m lucky that I just got a raise at one of my jobs, and will be able to work a ton over the next 12 months to save up a bit too.

 

[deleted367183]

Pretty much par for what you thought. Stanford loans are different from grad plus loan and I am eligible regardless. That’s my plan for now though. I’m working with some folks to find outside scholarships etc that I would be a good fit for. I’m lucky that I just got a raise at one of my jobs, and will be able to work a ton over the next 12 months to save up a bit too.

Sounds good. Congrats on the raise! There are a TON of random incidentals that come up and seem to have a minimum cost of $50 apiece--dissection kit, test prep books, Uber home from the library at 12:45 AM, event that "everyone" is going to...

I would also recommend getting a secured credit card now (assuming you can't qualify for an unsecured) to start rebuilding your credit. Obviously I don't endorse any particular company, but Discover worked for me--I put a $200 deposit down, bought something tiny every month, and paid the bill. Eventually they converted it to an unsecured and I got my deposit back.

They aren't as active lately, but I found CreditBoards super-helpful for all things credit-related--look at all the Get Started Here posts and their template letters, etc.

 

[deleted367183]

Hi! Inspired by this thread, I put together some financial links that I found helpful. Med school with an "adverse credit history"--a few links Hopefully some of it might be useful to you.

 

[mini510]

Super helpful! Just popped on here today! Thank you!

 

[deleted367183]

One addendum/correction to what I said above--I personally consolidated my loans TWICE, once before med school and once after. But this reliable site says you can usually only consolidate once: Should I Consolidate My Loans - TISLA So if you consolidate to get your cosigner off the hook, as I did, make sure you wait until you are done with med school. It would be worth contacting a human (https://studentaid.gov/help-center/contact) to see what is what.