<p>Tuition seems to vary so much from school to school. Which states have the least expensive medical schools? If an applicant / parent relocates to that state now and finds work there immediately, will the applicant qualify for in-state tuition, if not in the first year, but at least starting from the second year assuming they start school in August 2014? </p>
<p>Also which states have the most percentage of seats allocated for in-state students? I realize that MSAR can provide most of this info, but if anyone knows the top 2 states in each of the two categories off the top of their head that info is greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>In general the least expensive are --North Carolina; Texas; Louisana; New Mexico; Mississippi; Arkansas.</p>
<p>Each school and state will have its own residency requirements. Your child will need to contact the admission office at each school and ask.</p>
<p>If a student is applying to med school while still a full time student or as new grad, the state of residency will presumptively be that of the parents. However, once a student has graduated and worked/lived independently for at least 1 full year at the time of application, the presumptive state of residence will that of the applicant. In the latter case, where the parent lives is wholly irrelevant.</p>
<p>Some medical schools will allow a student to petition for in-state rate after the compeltion of 1 year full year of residency; some won’t. Highly school dependent. Once a school as admitted a student, where the parent lives is more or less irrelevant.</p>
<p>D1 attends a state med school. Nothing on her FA application required any information about her parent. She only had to prove her own eligibility for state residency. (Driver’s license, lease and/or utility bill in her name, car registration, proof of in-state insurance policies [health and/or auto]; voter’s registration and proof of her graduation from an in-state high school.)</p>
<p>Thank you WOWM, this is very useful info! There is a HUGE difference in tuition between the public schools in N Carolina / Texas and the most expensive private schools in the nation. No wonder many choose to go to instate public schools.</p>
<p>A friend of mine just graduated from ECU (he’s a NC resident) - I was (and am) super jealous of his tuition costs compared to my out of state tuition lol.</p>
<p>We, too are NC residents and are very appreciative of the low in-state public tuition! NC also offers a Board of Governor’s Scholarship/Loan program for med school here in NC. Tuition and fees plus $5000 in stipend for all 4 years in exchange for time working here in NC after graduation. Or one can opt to pay back the money if you decide to work elsewhere, hence the loan part.</p>
<p>Yup. Even with very generous financial aid policies at my D’s private ( for which we are forever grateful) it will still cost her $80k+ more than her Texas scholarship school, apples to apples.</p>
<p>Our state has one FREE Medical school. I would say that FREE is the least expansive.<br>
As far as my own kid, she got very little in Merit award from one of our state publics. We told her to disregard the cost since she was on full tuition Merit in UG…so she went ahead with this advice … and happened to choose the most expansive on her list…which we are paying for without any kind of FA. The amazing fact was that the adcom of her current Med. School called her pre-med advisor after she wsa accepted there and expressed a great desire to have her as their Med. student while apologizing for not being able to provide any Merit award becuase of the extremely high caliber of incoming students…which 2 years later proved to be true based on the average Step 1 score in her class (so far).<br>
Keep in mind, money is not everything when selecting Med. School. It is not the same as selecting UG. D. still feels very good about her decision selecting her Med. School.</p>
<p>^Where you fo to UG does not mean much if you plan to apply to Med. School. However, choosing the cheapest of them is important, again, while plan is to pay for the Med. School later. There are very very few free Med. Schools and there are very few Merit awards for Med. Students. At the same time, it is not that uncommon for the top caliber HS kid to get a full tuition / full ride at few UGs.<br>
I did not want my D. to choose her Med. School based on cost. I wanted her to choose the one that matched her the best…and she went to the one that she has been dreaming about since the HS, it just happened to be the most expansive option, but not by much in comparison to another one in D’s final decision making debate.
She loves it so far (she is in third year). She believes that being at this school might help her gaining a spot in her goal residency (this is still in a future though). But the programs are different from Med. School to another. Program at D’s school allows more time for Step 1 preparation and she believes that it makes a difference in the scores that they are receiving. Anyway, it is all very personal and each family situation is very different. So, my advice is to assess your own situation rather that listen to others.</p>
<p>Miami - Can you elaborate why money is not a factor in selecting Med. school but an important criteria in UG?</p>
<p>I think Miami meant that it wasn’t an important factor for them because they (the parents) are willing to foot the bill (no loans for D).</p>
<p>for a premed who will be borrowing, cost can be an issue.</p>
<p>My son was offered merit money from two of his med schools. One offer brought tuition down to about $10k per year, but he chose the school that wasn’t the most expensive nor the cheapest.</p>
<p>DS’s loan amount per year is at least twice than that.
We also currently chip in a significant amount per year. The financial burden to us is higher than what it was when DS was a junior and a senior in college, but lower than what it was when he was a freshman and s sophomore.
( it was due to the “middle class financial aids movement” that happened at several schools, including DS’s college, starting from DS’s junior year.)</p>
<p>Hopefully we are capable of continuing doing this in the next few years. Knock, knock!</p>
<p>This is exactly to the point, mcat2: “Hopefully we are capable of continuing doing this in the next few years. Knock, knock!”
It crosses my mind every single day to stop and pray for having our jobs tomorrow.</p>