<p>im in hs, but i really want to be a doctor when i grow up, but unfortunately my mother doesnt make any money. Im going to work my butt off (if possible) to earn enough money since i know medical school is so expensive. my mom doesnt want me to get a loan as well. im currently in the lowest income bracket. is it still feasible to think i can become a doctor one day knowing that paying for med school will be so expensive.
could joining the army after my undergrad help?
how can i convince my mom that loans can be easily paid off if i become a doctor</p>
<p>If your family income is zero or low, you’re going to be in the running to get quite substantial financial aid (outside of just loans). The army will PAY for your medical school, if you get in and sign up to serve for a few year (6?).</p>
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<p>Not in med school you’re not. There are very very few grants/scholarships for medical school. You’ll get loans just like everyone else. But you’ll be in good company, as >90% of med students take out loans.</p>
<p>You will have huge loans when you finish medical school, but you will be in good company. Lots of doctors are in this position. Try to economize with your undergrad education, and save what you can from your work. Realize that the amount of money a student can make while is college is pretty small compared to the cost of medical school. </p>
<p>In your situation, you should be looking at full ride financial aid or merit scholarships for undergrad.</p>
<p>One unknown, but should be clearer by the time you apply to med school: health care reform might cut the income of MDs, so paying off loans could become even more difficult. If the cuts are large enough, then even getting the loans could be tough. There is talk of somehow cutting the cost of med school, loan forgiveness for those who enter certain fields or practice in underserved areas. All this will depend on whether there is enough money, and the vagaries of the political process. Keep an eye on it as you approach the time to apply. It might make medicine either a better, or a much worse career for someone in your financial state.</p>
<p>EVERYONE takes out loans for med school. In fact, I would venture to say unless a student does come from a rich background, it’s impossible to make it through med school without taking any loans out. So really don’t worry about it.</p>
<p>afan is correct that there are financial changes coming. But those changes are going to include some sort of education cost and repayment strategies…Something is going to happen in that area.</p>
<p>What is the criteria for need based aid in med school and how much could somebody get? Also what stats would one need for merit aide? What is the approximate amount of merit aide, full tuition, 1/2 tuition, etc? I’m absolutely clueless how FA works for med school and would appreciate any input.</p>
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<p>wow, calm down there. the main reason the % of students taking out loans is because you’d be stupid not to take out the subsidized loan because that’s free money. so even if you are only taking out that $8500 a year you are considered in that statistic. </p>
<p>from your comment i’ll guarantee you that you’d be surprised how many students don’t take on massive debt to get through med school. it’s just that those who aren’t taking on massive debt are much much less vocal about it (as i’m sure i will be…for the record i’m not from a “rich” background). personally i dont think an MD is worth $200k+ of debt that when paid off will end up being half a million dollars. </p>
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<p>need based aid only exists in wealthy (usually “top”) private med schools. merit aid can range from very little to a full ride. if you are a very attractive candidate (seems to mean high MCAT score and high GPA but driven by MCAT) then you will get more money because schools want to attract you. non-loan financial aid in med school is almost negligible compared to undergrad.</p>
<p>I haven’t been paying attention to politics lately, but is health care reform trying to cut the salaries of all physicians or just mega high paying specialties?</p>
<p>Thus far the only concrete proposals I’ve seen are (very large) cuts in cardiology and radiology. And I pay attention to these things very closely. Obama’s plans are still extremely vague.</p>
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<p>But not cuts to all physicians - indeed, pay to primary care physicians may actually increase as the administration attempts to incentivize more people to enter that field.</p>
<p>However, it is certainly true that nobody knows what the final reforms will entail.</p>
<p>pft, who can actually afford medical school? I’ll be paying completely in loans.</p>
<p>Ditto. If you have that kind of cash lying around, why even bother working?</p>
<p>If you do the Army/Air Force program, there’s two methods of repayment. Either you give four years back at almost no pay (but you still get all the benefits of living on a base) or you give back like 6 or 8 years at full salary. Just depends.</p>
<p>There is a current thread running at Studentdoctor where some applicants are just now realizing their credit score is VERY important to this process. At some schools it jeapordizes admissions. At all schools it jeapordizes financial options. Some of the posters are NOT very happy.</p>
<p>Educate yourselves. I’ve been preaching this for a good while now…watch yourselves. This doesn’t just mean credit cards, but leases, cable bills, hospital bills, phone bills, electric bills, (and the list goes on).</p>
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<p>Not for federally-guaranteed loans - as long as you don’t have any actual defaults or bankrupcies on your credit report, the feds don’t care how low your credit score is.</p>
<p>But that in and of itself is limiting, isn’t it? At many schools the amount of federal loans available won’t get it done. Those schools won’t be available with poor credit. And at the others - one might want the option to look at other funding sources (score-dependent school specific loan programs and the like ).</p>
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<p>No, federal loans will cover the entire COA, no matter what that is. If you go to a medical school that costs $100k a year, you can get federal loans to cover the entirety of the cost.</p>
<p>Icarus, are you saying that there are no credit check loans available from the feds for the full COA for 4 years? Can you tell me how that works? How much Stafford? What’s available after you exhaust the Stafford amount per year? Grad Plus? Doesn’t that have a credit component?</p>
<p>Here’s an AAMC link on Stafford’s. <a href=“http://www.aamc.org/programs/first/facts/stafford.pdf[/url]”>http://www.aamc.org/programs/first/facts/stafford.pdf</a></p>
<p>And here’s one on GradPlus <a href=“http://www.gradloans.com/graduate-plus-loan/[/url]”>http://www.gradloans.com/graduate-plus-loan/</a></p>
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That 90 day thing “on any debt” will catch a lot of students. (As will “default”.) To be blunt, if you didn’t have any of those things listed you wouldn’t have that bad a FICO score. </p>
<p>Be careful out there.</p>
<p>My poor phrasing may cause confusion</p>
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<p>More clearly stated: “Are you saying there are federal loans available that don’t require a credit check that will cover the full COA for 4 years?”</p>
<p>My take on it is #19. Icarus may have different information.</p>