I think DS might still have something to do. Maybe completing his required thesis, or maintaining his relationship could keep his mind out of this. (The catch is that if her parents visit her for their family vacation in the next few months (realistically speaking, can she afford the time now?), he may not be able to be with her too frequently. This should be something he has been “trained” a couple of times since high school and it should not be a total surprise to him. LOL.)
Somehow I heard that the length of the thesis required by the school (as a graduation requirement) is supposed to be longer than those of papers on most clinical-related journals (even the peer-reviewed ones.) which the students have chances to publish on after several months of work. (Not the kind like “Nature”) Is it true in general? Somehow on some journal, they would put the photo of the first author and the photo of the reviewer on the paper. I really do not understand why there is a need to have photos of the author and the reviewer. Do they do this in order to boot their ego? LOL.
If acceptance in hand finish up school year (doesn’t have to be straight As, some Bs/Cs okay), finish whatever project you’re working on, take a trip, don’t get arrested, continue to wait to see if you’re pulled off any wait list (or begin withdrawing some acceptances), play beer pong with friends and laugh, etc
If no acceptance in hand: continue to do well or do better as if you become reapplicant, you’ll need to show improvement for next cycle, don’t get arrested, drink alone (in moderation) and continue praying you’re pulled off any wait list, etc
Today someone who D shadowed asked me how med school was going for her (D is an M1). She said “tell him its miserable and amazing all at once”. That made me laugh, and does seem to sum up the experience so far. To all of you who are heading into the homestretch of the cycle (or parents of), good luck with your IIs and decisions, hope all end up with at least 1 acceptance - seems like there has been a lot of success for those posting here - and enjoy this last 6-7 months before med school begins.
"miserable and amazing " - this will continue for many years ahead. My D. did not express it like this, but I can hear in her voice that it became more amazing than miserable in residency. Her voice has changed so much on the phone after she graduated. She sounds more satisfying. But how one cannot be miserable after 30+ hours shift, she must feel miserable. Last time she called me after something like 33 hours shift with such an excitement in her voice. I asked her immediately, why she was not sleeping. Apparently, she had to tell me how she diagnosed somebody with something major. The patient came just for physical exam with no complaints. They are involved in life saving situations every day, it is pretty amazing!
"Miserable and amazing " is very descriptive!
Good luck to everybody, make good decision for yourself, choose the right place if you have choices! If it is at least 1 acceptance, it is “amazing” accomplishment!
Couple of questions about financial aid. Don’t know if son will have enough income to file his own taxes this year. But if he does, does he still need to include ours when he fills out financial aid forms? If he includes our income I don’t think he’s getting anything. We unfortunately in that bracket that we get no aid because they think we’re rich, but dont have enough money to pay for 2 schools (will have a second child in college). Does it even make sense for him to fill out paperwork for financial aid? And lastly, he’s on 3 wait lists and he would take any of these schools over what he has now if he got off the wait list. Should he fill out financial aid paperwork for those schools?
This is school-dependent. Some med schools require both a student and a parental FAFSA; some don’t. He will need to check with each school he’s been accepted to and see what they require.
If a school requires he file a NeedAccess, he will have to include parental income/assets. Many private med schools require NeedAccess.
He’s probably not getting any free money even if he doesn’t include your financial info. FA for med school is primarily unsubsidized loans & Grad Plus loans only.
Can you pay his full COA for med school for the next 4 years? If you can’t, then he needs to file FA paperwork.
If he wants to be eligible for federal student loan programs, he must file FAFSA (and a parental FAFSA if required by the school).
If he wants to be considered for any school-based FA, he must file any and all paperwork required (FAFSA, parental FAFSA, NeedAccess). At some schools, some merit awards have a need-based component that require filing FA paperwork.
Yes. Otherwise, if he’s taken off a waitlist, he’ll have to accept/decline the admission offer without ever seeing what FA the school might offer.
Be aware that any private medical school that requires parental financial info will calculate a family EFC based upon parental income(s) and assets. Your son will be responsible for paying the family EFC.
Be aware that any private medical school that requires parental financial info will calculate a family EFC based upon parental income(s) and assets. Your son will be responsible for paying the family EFC.
This is exactly what happen in my D’s case. The med school gave her a parental EFC that we were supposed to cover. D had to increase her unsub loan to cover the shortage since we could not give her that number with 2 others in college
^ We actually do not know that. We thought that because it is a parent’s contribution, we have to pay it.
It does not matter in the end, because we pay more than EFC when everything said and done. More correctly speaking, we paid EFC every year, and when the loan balance became large, we selected the ones with a higher interest rate and paid them off. But we are definitely incapable of paying off all of the loans.
As an alternative, the equity loans have much lower rates, there are no fees attached to them and they are tax deductible. We paid for D’s medical school, but if you do not want to pay, then yuor student can pay you back. At the end family will be financially ahead. We used combination of current income / equity loans / 401k withdrawals , and again, somebody who is younger, may borrow from their own 401k instead of withdrawing. Otherwise, student loans have very high interest rates and have fees attached to them, they are expensive.
So if he doesn’t get any u it loans because our EFC is zero ( which is probably the case), what are his options? Private loans? Home equity is not an option. We feel that if we do home equity there is no incentive for him to pay it back. I addition if you have home equity, what happens if you want to sell your house? Don’t you have to pay it off right away. Forgive me if these questions are elementary. Fo some reason I can never grasp this financial stuff
@momworried - My view on borrowing money against a home for a child is that you should only do it if you are planning to repay it yourself if needed. If your EFC is zero, I would strongly advise against borrowing any money in your own name (EFC can be 0 only if you have a very low income -have you filed a FAFSA for the medical schools). Your S is treated as an adult for graduate school and all loans should be in his name.
Most people have mortgages. If you have home equity and are able to borrow against it and then sell your home, what usually happens is that the loan holders (mortgage loan and home equity loan) and any left over capital from sale is paid to you.
Son’s unit loans were included in his FA package from school’s like Dartmouth, Cornell, Harvard, Yale, Penn and other privates that also offered their own financial aid. Some of the schools also offered loans from their own school with a different terms such as different interest rates and differ status. The “unit loan” is the foundation for the financial aid package and it is built upon that. Federal loans, institutional loans, financial grants and merit scholarships are added to the “unit” loan.
Son compared them all side by side and went with the school were he would graduate with the least amount of debt. I was unable to help him financially so he was responsible for his graduate education like the above poster. No loans in my name either, all his. He had under $1000 in loans from undergrad so not on the hook for much from undergrad.
Med school’s EFC was 0 (low-income) but his packages from med school differed greatly. Some were over $300K in loans to “unit loan” offers to the one he picked that included a full tuition scholarship+stipend and later the university added a full fellowship for his additional MBA plus a summer internship that added a substantial amount rivaling residency pay.
Had he opted for a different program his loan amount would easily be 4x to 5x more than what it is currently. Huge difference for him. Especially with my inability to help out all financially. It did make it easier for him when he was looking at what type of residency he was interested in…he didn’t have to pick a higher paying speciality to keep up with loan payments if he didn’t want to.
Our EFC is not zero. Once again I was confused. It’s the opposite side of the spectrum. Did any of you cosign your kid’s loans or was it all on them. Son had to take a loan for last semester of undergrad. It’s on his name but we cosigned it to make the interest lower.
@momworried - it sounds like you were a full pay for undergrad? During undergrad, all loans need to be cosigned.
In medical school, the students are expected to borrow all the money on their own since they are treated as adults. However, those schools which limit student loans to unit loans require the family to contribute based on their EFC (this is what I was asking mcat2). So my interpretation is that if your EFC comes out to be 30,000 for example and the unit loan number is 30,000, they expect the family to contribute 30,000, the student to borrow 30,000 and try to provide grants for the rest (25,000 or so for any school in unit loan schemes since they all cost 85k).
@texaspg, re: post #790: It is correct.
Suppose that the COA is $75K a year. The unit loan could be $25K (which the student should have to borrow.) The EFC could be $25K (which comes from the bank of mom and dad, with zero interest and no need to pay back the principal. LOL.) The 25K could be need-based scholarship (so free money to the family.) In this case, almost like the out-of-picket price is reduced to $75K - $25K = $50K. The 50K was paid evenly by the bank of mom and dad, and the student’s FUTURE income (i.e., the student loans.)
In this hypothetical example, the student may owe $25K times 4 (years) = $100K, if mom and day pay $100K in 4 years (the school helps shoulder the $100K.)
For a one-income family (but not very low income), I think the share paid/funded by the school > the share paid by mom and dad.
The student’s share (i.e., student loans) for 4 years could be slightly higher than $100K in 4 years but not by much. This is especially true if the student stays at the school in the “5th” year. (But the student could make a little bit money in that year.)
The above is over-simplified. This is because there could be accrued interest while still in school, if the bank of mom and dad does not keep helping pay for the interest in these 4 years (and beyond – I do not think residents could pay back interest if the hospital is in a high COL area.)
D’s state med school does not do unit loans. She’s taking out the fed loans she qualified for (after filing FAFSA with parental income included- required by her school until like age 40, lol). We could loan her the money, but we deliberately decided not to do this- our choice. She can pay these loans back and may have the option of income based repayment and other programs later on (not counting on it, but it is possible). We did not cosign any loans- they are all in her name alone. There is no need for us to risk our financial future when she will be able to pay these off later. Will she need to live below her means like we did for years? Yes. A good lesson for future spending and saving IMHO.
AFAIK, only a small number of well endowed private med schools have unit loans. (Think HYS, Duke, Northwestern, Chicago, etc). Most med schools don’t.
Like camomof3’s D, both Ds attended a in-state public and took out federal loans to pay for med school. The school does not require a parental FAFSA, but offers little scholarship money. I didn’t co-sign any loans, but I helped both out by subsidizing their rent. D1 is now doing income-contingent repayment and will have her entire debt paid off in 10 years, probably closer to 7-8, of her graduation despite a doing residency in a high COL area. She’s living below her income level so she can maximize the amount of her income she can dedicate toward loan repayment.