Waitlisted MD, Accepted DO -- Financial Aid Disbursement Deadlines?

[westisbest_road]

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I'm in a waitlist pinch and could use any advice:

- Currently accepted to DO school; financial aid offer has been made and must be accepted in about a week or, they say, "will be cancelled"
- Waitlisted at my DREAM MD school, which carries a waitlist to the end of the cycle (was waitlisted there last year as well, and informed of R after classes started)
- DO school starts one week ahead of MD dream school. Which means MD might pull me off my waitlist AFTER DO classes have started.

Logistics aren't a problem: I'm able to physically drive to both schools from home, which is nice. Where I'm stuck is the finances. I don't understand how/if this can work, or if I'm passing a point of financial no-return when I accept these loans.

If I accept these (DO) loans and they're disbursed to DO, and then I get into MD, can I return the loans (all federal), or will I be "out" tuition for year/semester 1?
I'm just not sure what offices I contact about this, if there even are any. And I don't want to out myself to DO that I would be backing out if I get MD, and sour my relationship with my DO admins (so I'm avoiding emailing anyone).

Would appreciate any insight here; I did a good scouring of past threads, but nothing quite hit this.

(Adding -- I don't hold any MD As, just WLs -- so I think on AMCAS traffic rules I'm in the clear.)

 

[KnightDoc]

Federal loans are definitely returnable if they are not going to be used. The question you need to be asking involves the DO school's refund policy.

Your point of no return has nothing to do with disbursement of loans; rather it is when your tuition payment becomes non-refundable. At that point, you will be SOL, whether or not you later withdraw from the DO school. Unfortunately for you, the only office that can answer this for you will be the bursar at your DO school. OTOH, I don't think it's an unreasonable question that carries any risk of "outing."

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I'm in a waitlist pinch and could use any advice:

- Currently accepted to DO school; financial aid offer has been made and must be accepted in about a week or, they say, "will be cancelled"
- Waitlisted at my DREAM MD school, which carries a waitlist to the end of the cycle (was waitlisted there last year as well, and informed of R after classes started)
- DO school starts one week ahead of MD dream school. Which means MD might pull me off my waitlist AFTER DO classes have started.

Logistics aren't a problem: I'm able to physically drive to both schools from home, which is nice. Where I'm stuck is the finances. I don't understand how/if this can work, or if I'm passing a point of financial no-return when I accept these loans.

If I accept these (DO) loans and they're disbursed to DO, and then I get into MD, can I return the loans (all federal), or will I be "out" tuition for year/semester 1?
I'm just not sure what offices I contact about this, if there even are any. And I don't want to out myself to DO that I would be backing out if I get MD, and sour my relationship with my DO admins (so I'm avoiding emailing anyone).

Would appreciate any insight here; I did a good scouring of past threads, but nothing quite hit this.

(Adding -- I don't hold any MD As, just WLs -- so I think on AMCAS traffic rules I'm in the clear.)

I believe refund policies are discussed on most schools website. Getting off a waitlist will very soon be a very slim possibility .

 

[westisbest_road]

Thank you both for the advice!

 

[westisbest_road]

Federal loans are definitely returnable if they are not going to be used. The question you need to be asking involves the DO school's refund policy.

Your point of no return has nothing to do with disbursement of loans; rather it is when your tuition payment becomes non-refundable. At that point, you will be SOL, whether or not you later withdraw from the DO school. Unfortunately for you, the only office that can answer this for you will be the bursar at your DO school. OTOH, I don't think it's an unreasonable question that carries any risk of "outing."

Noting that I had to go directly to the bursar, specific dates were not available on the school site.