<p>^ Yes. I just don’t want people to think that having a debt is a bad thing. It is bad when people still spend hundreds of dollars on clothes and shoes and whatever lol
They would overload their credit cards and get a new one, until they can’t pay their debt anymore.</p>
<p>Sorry if I didn’t read your point clearly :0
But you see, people are always preaching how bad debt is. I think taking debt and be able to pay debt on time means good credit score, which is extremely important if one ever want to buy a house, or a car, or whatever it is :)</p>
<p>Focusing on school, work, exploring your college life, and participating in extracurriculum are equally important in getting into a good med school.
And of course, MCAT.</p>
The reason why everyone preaches how bad debt is, is because too many students graduate with massive debts and end up never paying it off. Secondly, just for strategic reasons, debt is also bad if you could accomplish the very same thing with less debt.</p>
<p>Credit card debt in most cases is not in the same range as Med. School loans. I do not want my D. to have them and will do my best to make sure that she does not. It is a burden, do not think lightly about it. But, I agree, if there is no choice and taking a loan is the only way thru Med. School, go for it, it should not stop you, you will pay it off, just like everybody else. One point though, in cases like this, one should really consider to get loan free UG, or the best yet, the cheapest possible UG, so that they have more resources to minimize Med. Sshool loans.</p>
<p>Norcalguy-we disagree. How is it that my family members were able to secure outside loans to fund their medical school education and living expenses? Did mom or dad cosign for the loan? Probably. Did mom and dad fork over the big bucks? Nope. I find it hard to believe our situation is unique. </p>
<p>The fact remains, those who can help, do so. Those who can’t, have kids who figure out a way to find money.</p>
It is quite possible that mom and dad sign (not cosign) for the loan. This kind of loan (e.g., home equity loan) is not considered as a part of $160,000 (in norcalguy’s example.) Rather, it becomes a part of $140,000 that is not loaned by the student. This loan is in the name of mom and dad; but eventually the student will have to help pay it back if the parents are unable to pay it back – nobody wants to see their parents evicted from their house, especially when they take out the equity loan for his/her education.</p>
<p>Time to check how much equity my nest has accumulated but was not eaten up by the burst of housing bubble in the last few years :)</p>
<p>It’s less likely mom and dad cosigned the loan (that is more common with undergraduate loans). It is more likely mom and dad took out entirely new loans in their name (such as the PLUS loans or the home equity loans that mcat2 mentioned). In fact, my parents refuse to take out PLUS loans and instead dip into their home equity (better interest rate) in order to help fund my medical education.</p>
<p>But, the point remains: parents are contributing to their kids medical education. If they can’t afford the full EFC (as calculated by the medical school), then they are taking out loans in their name. But, it doesn’t change the reality. Parents are expected to pay for the medical education of the medical students and, most of the time, they do pay or take on additional financial burden.</p>
<p>The numbers are very clear on this one. If the parents aren’t contributing anything, then the students’ debt burden would be higher than they already are. Yes, some students do indeed take out 250k in loans. But, the average student is “only” taking out $160k in loans. That’s a testament to the support the parents are providing.</p>
<p>Parents are expected to pay for the medical education of the medical students …</p>
<p>Wow. That statement is so telling, NCG. Just the thing I’d expect from someone hitting his folks up for a couple hundred thousand. Birth to age 18, heck even 22, I get. But funding an ADULT’S education? Not happening around here. Cosign, sure. Help here and there? Of course! Tuition? Books? LAbs? No. Even if we could spring for the big bucks, I think we’d find other ways to help our ADULT child. </p>
<p>Bluebayou…
I did not make myself clear…it’s the entitlement attitude that really burns me. Comments such as “parents are expected to pay for a student’s medical education” just reek of arrogance and entitlement. An adult is not entitled to anything from his parents…after all he is an adult, and as such should be responsible for his own finances. Now, should his parents wish to contribute, then bully for them. I applaud those who can fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars at the point in life when retirement looms.<br>
I’m all for helping my adult children get a leg up in life, and will encourage them to look at the many options for reducing med school indebtedness if they so choose. (Military service, Rural Medicine programs, etc) Of course my kids have always known that if you choose the action (in this case medical school), you choose the consequence. (in this case debt). I have zero doubt that they, like our family members in the profession, will do just fine financing and ultimately paying off their debt.</p>
<p>shellz, This is a parent here. I think you interpret what ncg was saying out of his context. He basically ranted about how medical schools (not he) expect the student’s parents to contribute – If they do not expect the parents to help in any way, why would they ask for the income/assets of the parents of a (maybe 30-yo) adult child? Their intention is very clear (to me at least.) BTW, I am a parent who very very likely will not be able to help my child in any way, should he go into that field. Both my child and I feel it is perfectly OK for himself to find a way to pay for it. (What else can we do? We should appreciate that he is in a country he can find a way by himself.)</p>
<p>I am just saying, and I am fully aware that you may not agree with me on this. We can agree to disagree.</p>
<p>I too, did not read ncg’s post as his personal opinion (although it might be). What he was posting was just fact: med (and law schools) expect/require an “adult” student’s family to cough up some cash.</p>
<p>Okey dokey then. If I’ve misread NCG’s post and intentions, then I apologize. </p>
<p>Different strokes for different folks…and us folks will be requiring our adult children to be accountable for their adult decisions, such as paying for med school, buying houses and cars, etc. And hopefully, they’ll be kind when picking out our nursing home, even if we didn’t pay for post grad schooling. ;-)</p>
<p>I wanted to attend the cheaper school. My parents practically made me attend the more prestigious (and more expensive med school). I don’t have a problem with this school but it’s more expensive and that means more money out of my parents’ pockets (on their own volition).</p>
<p>I’m not going to discuss expectations of who should pay (whether it’s the gov’t, the parents, the student, or the med school) since that’s a matter of opinion. My point is that parents do pay most of the time and med schools expect parents to pay. This is the reality of medical education in the US. We don’t have subsidized medical education like many other countries do.</p>
<p>I hope that OP would not mind us getting off the subject a little bit more. Naturally, parents would be willing to help. Harvard is correct to say that the responsibility lies within the family. However, the family includes more than the individual student and the parents. Other children have a say too if they would like to go to a law school or a top business school. </p>
<p>Therefore, it is a long term plan. The student and his/her family really need to start planning before college. If sending multiple kids to private UG and medical school is more than the family can afford, going to a state school or getting sufficient scholarship is a must. If parents exhaust all retirement funds, they may need to do a reverse mortgage. The kids may not be able to get a piece of the house after all. Considering the uncertainty of the economy and health care reform, I think it (the IS UG college or maximum scholarship) is the prudent thing for most to choose.</p>
<p>I just noticed that, according to USN, Stony Brook University, the school is said by many CCers to be somewhat inferior to USC, is actually the highest-ranked PUBLIC medical school in New York state. It is ranked at 55. The other ranked public medical schools in NY, University at Buffalo-SUNNY and and SUNNY-Syracuse, are ranked at 59 and 78, respectively.</p>
<p>So, Stony Brook University that OP referred to actually has the best public medical school in NY, according to USN.</p>
<p>It appears to me that a very high percentage of highly ranked medical schools are private. (Isn’t it somewhat similar at the undergraduate level?! If you want prestige, you need to pay for it in addition to the efforts required to get in.)</p>
<p>^Yes, if you consider difference about $45K in total cost negligible. This is a difference between Med. Schools (public IS - cheapest, Private - most expensive) on my D’s list and we consider it irrelevant in final decision making. Not everybody would be in the same situation.</p>
<p>^You seem to think the same as I do. But for others it could be a different story. Well we are not there yet to decide. But we have decided that diff. in price of $45k should not affect decision if it comes down to that and D. should go where she wants if she has choices.</p>