Congratulations to all!
Just curious: could somebody in residency still get Federal Direct loans if a resident needs to borrow money from the federal government (not from the bank)? If yes, is there still a financial aid office like medical schools do? (I think it is unlikely that a hospital would have one. It more likely has billing department, and âdebt collectionâ department that goes after the unpaid patients!)
Also, in med school (i.e., before residency), is there a maximum amount of Federal Direct loans (used to called unsubsidized Stafford loans) per year that a med school can get?
I had the last question because DS always got a very limited amount of Federal Direct loans (I only remember that in several years, the amount was only 8500 per year) and the rest are other types of loans. But this year is special: all of a sudden, there is only a much larger amount of Federal Direct loan and no other types of loans. This is against my original understanding that the maximum amount of Federal Direct loans per year is only 8500 or so for med school students.
It seems the more constant thing is that the school wants the student to carry a predetermined amount of loans each year, so that the students will be graduated with the same amount of student loans (no matter what types of loans.) As such, if a student chooses to have a âfifthâ (research) year with no tuition in that year, the total loan amount at graduation could still be higher.
It is not that I am not grateful here. The loans for this year is mostly meant for the living and traveling expenses,I think. Unlike previous years, the school does not ask the parents to contribute anything this year (i.e., no parents contribution this year, FINALLY after 8 years!) I am just somewhat surprised that the federal government all of a sudden is willing to give out a higher amount of Federal Direct loans after 4 years of a smaller amount of Federal Direct loans each year.
Thanks.
Medical residents are not eligible for Federal Direct loans.
Professional school students (med, dental, law, etc) can borrow up to $40,500/year in federal direct loans and additional monies up to the schoolâs posted COA as Grad Plus loans.
All federal loans for graduate and professional students (both federal direct and grad plus) are unsubsidized.
Thanks.
What I have seen on the FA âawardâ letter is Federal Direct loans only this year. Neither Perkins nor institution loans (actually, it is called med schoolâs own âalumnusâ loans), like he used to have in previous years. Not sure about Grad Plus loans. (Maybe that alumnus loan is considered as some kind of Grad Plus loan, because we do need to co-sign this kind of alumnus loans, so it is just like Grad Plus loans.) Maybe the alumnus loans is a âbetterâ kind of Grad Plus loans in the sense that no interests is accrued before graduation and the payment could be deferred in PGY-1 to 2 or 3.
The commencement for many schools is around the corner. Congrats to the newly minted MDs. At DSâs school, it is this Sunday (class day - I guess the class day is only for UG college? I heard the speaker will be Joe Bieden this year) and next Monday (the main event.) Just thought of this: DS may attend this kind of commencement 3 times in his life, but only 2 times for himself.
You can request the amount you want to borrow from the Fed so the amount you see on your award can be changed if the student feels they need more money. In our case, the school expected us to contribute more than we felt we could with two others in college so D took a bigger Federal loan. The loans from the school or alumni usually have better terms in regards to repayment or interest rate so they are usually the more desirable to get. I wonder why they took away all the school loans from your award???
If the so-called âalumnus loansâ is not the school loans, DS has never received the school loans before.
I noticed his school does have schoolâs loans. But it is designated for the international students (yes, there are some of these students, especially from Canada.) I think
We have noticed that, after this yearâs loan amount has been added in, his total loan amount could be exactly the same as the median (or mean?) value of all the students at graduation at his school.
In the past, the COA were paid from the following sources only:
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Schoolâs own scholarship â this is the best among all the sources, because it is free money.
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In early years, it seems there is another kind of âfree moneyâ not from the school per se but from an alumnus: I heard DS was required to write some âthank youâ letter and an âintroducing himselfâ letter at the beginning of the year and a âprogress reportâ afterwards. This is also the best kind.
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parentsâ contributions: Just like UG FA policy, there is such a component, except that the amount is decided mostly by the school based on the info from âNeed Accessâ and FAFSA. A good deal for the student because this is from the bank of mom and dad, as requested by the school on behalf of the student. LOL.
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Perkins loans: This could be the best kind of loans from the federal government that we (well, he) got.
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Alumni loans (not alumni scholarship that was mentioned in 2) above). Not sure if these loans are âschoolâs loansâ in your definitions. I heard the loaned money is actually from those physicians who were graduated from this med school in the past.
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Federal Direct loans.
It seems the types of âfree moneyâ and loans at a different med school could be quite different (except for Perkins and Federal Direct/unsubsidized Stafford.)
FA? Does not compute anymore. Woohoo! Graduation at Yale tomorrow! Live stream! The goats are dancing!
^ Congrats to your D.
And thanks to you for your helps to get through the premed/med school âmazeâ in the past.
Do you happen to choose to stay at a Hogwarts-like building at a very reasonable rate like anxiousmom chooses to do? She posted at the college CC forum saying her family is staying at a residential college overlooking where the event will be held.
HmmâŠmaybe there is no need for you, because your D appears to have chosen to live off-campus like most students do. (Mine still lives in a dorm. He refuses to âgrow upâ, or is just being nice to us for saving our money in the bank. Not sure whether he will accompany his GF and her family to the ceremony tomorrow. I guess he will, but he has no time for us now so we do not know anything.)
Oh. We are not there. We are âall weddingâ down here.
The wedding? Yet another big congratulations!
Congrats to curm and D.!
Here another MD took an oath. Graduated with 2 awards. One with Honors and Distinquich in Research and another was totally unexpected - Faculty of her specialty gave her an award (do not know how much yet, but 8 of us took bets). D. was selected as one receipeint out of 9 students in her specialty. I am impressed and proud beoynd belief.
Graduated on Saturday! It was a magical day 
PM me if you want to see a video!
Had a fun senior weekâtrivia night, winery, pub crawl, banquet, awards ceremony (received an award with some cash attached!). Bunch of family in town for Saturday. Rain miraculously held off. Fun and casual bash at a nice park afterward.
Itâs funny to realize how much this weekend wasnât about me but really about my friends and family. I already âfelt likeâ I had graduated and was really kind of sad about it because it meant me and all my friends were moving away from each other. But they (you!) have slaved away (often behind the scenes) too, and you yourselves deserve to be celebratedâwhich is what this weekend was to me.
So cheers to you, because your support of your kids absolutely means the world to them. Itâs your accomplishment too!
It truly does take a village.
âŠmany of Dâs friends are very happy to stay where they are. There were very few goodbys at her graduation, more like see you in July. That was a main theme way back at the Match day ceremony. Some who are staying for longer (7 years for one closer friend), bought the place to live and moved in.
Sniff.
D1 left today to drive cross country. She begins residency Monday.
On her exotic post-graduation vacation, D1 got to play real live physician when several of her companions were bitten by a dog in the âsecond worldâ country she vacationing. She insisted they all go to the local clinic where she explained in her very rusty French what medications her companions needed. After some multi-lingual discussion, the local physician asked her, âAre you a doctor?â And she was honestly able to say âyesâ. The local physician wrote D1 the scripts for the meds she requested and sent her off to the local pharmacy for the various antibiotics and other prophylactic meds sheâd requested. She then got to give everyone their shotsâŠâŠ
^Impressive!
Mine will start on July 1, she will have some days of orientation before.
She is visiting with us now, yeye!! since she did not have to move, she is still only 2 hours away.
Interesting read from the New York Review of Books
Let Me Heal: The Opportunity to Preserve Excellence in American Medicine
by Kenneth M. Ludmerer
Oxford University Press, 431 pp., $34.95
âThe powerful traditions of medicineâs golden era still reverberate. If we can restore protected time for good teaching and good patient care, they will flourish. Otherwise, not too long from now, we may hear Oslerâs footsteps in the hospital hallwayâbut when we turn around he will not be there.â
Congrats to the new DOCTORS!!! And best wishes for those getting married!
Second mom2CK, congrats to the new MDs!!! Son has started his last year of his md/mba. He did his first rotation of MS4 in May in the ICU, 30 hour shifts every 4 days and 12 hour shifts in-between. The first week he was finishing up his finals for b-school so it was a crazy week and he was exhausted. He finished the rotation on Friday and started his b-school summer internship on Monday. HUGE difference in hours and duties/responsibilities and pay. None for his rotation, (of course) and the b-school one for 10 weeks is about what a first year resident makes in 1 year. He can now pay for travel/expenses for residency interviews and put some towards his loans, and no loans for MS4.
He finishes up his internship and begins another rotation the very next day. He is a groomsman in 5 weddings between now and Sept., heâs already been in 2 others so far this spring and is racking up the miles. He has scheduled his rotations and b-school classes so he has Nov, Dec and Jan off for travel. We shall see. Makes me tired just talking about it, but he is enjoying himself. Who knows what he will end up doing!!
Kat
Ditto!
WayOutWestMom - HUG! I am happy for your D1, but sad for you. What a cool experience she had on vacation!
katwkittens - I am exhausted for your son. D was not happy during her ICU rotation.
D and SIL are now married. It was a wonderful wedding weekend and they are so very happy. D is almost finished with residency - a few more weeks! I donât know what sheâll do with all the extra time she will have. Read? Yoga? Travel? Lunch with mom?
Warm wishes to all for a wonderful summer.
D1 is official!
Her picture just got posted to her departmentâs Facebook page.