How easy/hard is it for someone in poverty to pay for medical school with the help of financial aid?

Paying for College
1

I’m doing an essay on how my class helps me to become a doctor, and I’d like to know to what extent financial aid helps those who are in poverty.

2

Or, I should say, to what extent financial aid programs help people who are in poverty.

3

Financial aid for undergraduate is different that financial aid for grad and professional schools. Which are you investigating?

4

Many/most med students do not have parents who pay for med school, so many are kind of in the same boat. Loans are rather easy to get for med school. Both the federal government and private banks rather easily loan to med students.

A very tiny number of med schools give “some” grant money to low income med students…but these aren’t free rides. These are just “some grant” money…with the rest being loans. However, most likely, you will take out loans.

The assumption is that even if a person is low income as a child, once they’re a doctor they will be making a good bit of money, and therefore can pay back the loans.

5

In addition to federal loans for medical school, there are programs that will pay for medical school in return for a term of service. These programs are offered by all branches of the US military, and also by National Health Service Corps–which sends primary care physicians (plus dentists and other medical personnel) to medically underserved areas, both rural and inner city. Some states offer tuition grants for medical school under terms similar to those offered by NHSC.