Prowler -
Make an appointment to talk to a financial aid person at whatever school you are going to. You should definitely go ahead and fill out a FAFSA after the first of the year. At the financial aid presentation I attended this week, they said your parental income does not come into play for federal loans. You have to fill out a FAFSA first in order to be able to apply for either subsidized or unsubsidized federal loans. No matter what your parental income, you should be able to get some federal loans. You may have to get some private ones too, but exhaust all of the federal money first. Then, after you graduate, you will usually have the opportunity to consolidate your loans into one payment.
As long as you are in school at least half time, you can defer payments on your loans. My loans for grad school have been in deferment while I returned to take my med school pre-reqs. I may have to pay on my loans for a couple of months this summer (I'm not taking classes next semester), but then they will go back into deferment once I start medical school in August.
Technically, your loan payments will start six months after you graduate from medical school. However, due to the amount of your loans and the amount of income a resident makes, you can often request a hardship forbearance. Another option is a payment plan that has lower payments for the first few years and then the payments increase.
Don't do this on your own. If you have never done the FAFSA before, I'm sure there are people in your med school's financial aid office who will show you the ropes.
Good Luck.
PS - reading your first post - on federal loans the only payments you might have to make are interest payments. They usually send you a quarterly statement. But, if you don't make the interest payment, they just tack it on to your balance.
