Hi Class of 2019-20, somehow I overlooked this thread during the too-many years I’ve been on CC. My daughter, who decided she wanted to be a physician in high school and graduated from RIT in 2018, has worked since right after graduation as a patient care technician on a medical floor in a hospital in Rochester, NY. During that time she decided that she wanted to be an ostopath and 10 days ago she was admitted off the waiting list to her first-choice school. White Coat Ceremony (I hope!) is July 27. Because it was just her and me (I adopted her from China as a single parent) and because she qualified for need-based and merit aid as an undergrad and because I could manage it because of an inheritance, she has no undergraduate debt, but she will have to borrow it all for med school. Can someone direct me to good sources of information so I can help her figure it out? Thank you so much, and congratulations to everyone with a kid going to medical school!
@oldmom4896 Congrats to your daughter! So exciting for her! No undergrad debt is such a gift. She will need to fill out her FAFSA and get in touch with her financial aid dept at her school They are really good at walking students through the process (at least for my 3 girls -2 daughters, and 1 almost daughter- who have been through the process/starting the process). Most will have tuition plus COL amounts available. Some will take maximum amounts available, and some will take out what they budget for. My daughter’s school allowed to take out more at any time, so she only took out what she needed, and a few times had to take out more (especially for residency application/interviews). Congratulations again!
@moonpie This is is so helpful! She did the FAFSA and I was wondering if she’d have to take the full amount for the whole year or take it as needed. I will make sure she finds out.
As far as I know, one can borrow as little or as much as allowed out of the approved loan.
@texaspg, it’s a matter of when the disbursements are made. My daughter will need money to live on (rent, food, etc.) during the academic year but she won’t need it all on day one.
Federal rules prohibit schools from disbursing loans before the first week of classes. (The feds want to make sure the student is actually attending the school before loans are released.)
Once the school has received the loan money, the FA office will first apply it toward paying her tuition & fees. Anything left over will be refunded to the student. It usually takes anywhere from a few days to up to 4 weeks for the student receive their refunds, depending on how the school handles it.
Loans are disbursed twice a year at the beginning of each semester. So your daughter will need to budget her loan money to last until her next refund arrives.
If your daughter decides she has taken out too much in loans, she can return any excess within 30 days of disbursement without accruing any interest that needs to be repaid.
If she finds she needs some extra loan money, she can ask the FA office at her school for an increase of the maximum allowable loan, either a one time only or annually recurring increase–but she will have to justify her need for an increase. Schools will increase loan amounts if a student has special expenses–like child care or an emergency medical situation. Some schools will adjust the maximum for one time expenses like a new laptop or iPad if the school has special technology requirements.
Residency interviewing requires extensive travel, which can be every expensive, so many schools raise the the expected COA for MS4 to cover that. If her school doesn’t, there are special residency & relocation loans available to med students.
More really great information, @WayOutWestMom. She already asked me to front money for her first month’s rent at her apartment beginning 7/18 (school starts 7/27), in case she doesn’t have enough on hand after she gets her last check including unused paid leave days.
Thank you all who have been there already. I honestly didn’t think she’d make it off the wait list and that we’d have another year to figure this out.
Congratulations to your daughter, @oldmom4896
She is at the beginning of a long and very exciting adventure.
Yes, congratulations to your daughter @oldmom4896 .
In all that discussion about FA, the fact of getting in was missed out!