I found out my parents can't pay my college tuition

Parents Forum
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Hi everyone

I’m currently a senior in high school, I’m basically done at this point and I’m graduating in like two weeks.

Anyway I got into the BS/DO program at nyit after getting rejected from various dual degree med programs, I was happy at first but going here would cost me 20k a year for the first three years. I was worried about this but my parents said that they can afford it and they can pay for the first three years and the med school part I would take out a loan and pay it off after I get a job. I committed to this school and everything was great for the past month or so until today. My mom was saying how she doesn’t think they can handle paying 20k a year. They would have to drain their entire savings money to pay for my first three years.

Plus the program is super hard to stay in. A lot of people fail out every year. My mom was saying she doesn’t think I can do it and if I fail out they would’ve spent their money on nothing. These are all good points, the only problem is it’s June 15, and it’s past the deadline for like every school. I can’t even go anywhere else even if I wanted to.

l also applied to other programs like nursing and pharmacy. I got in for nursing at molloy. and pharmacy at LIU. My mom was saying how she always wanted me to do nursing but she didn’t force me because med was what I wanted. LIU and molloy were the cheapest options in my lists. I could ve gone to LIU for free as they did offer me a full ride. And molloy. would ve cost me 12k significantly less than nyit.

So now I have two options:

Go to nyit, drain my parents savings/find some way to make 20k a year, and do what I want which is med but it’s a huge risk because so many ppl tail out or

Go to LIU/beg them to take me despite it being past the deadline and save lots of money but give up on the career I want (I could do pre med there but I heard it’s not good for pre med especially the Brooklyn campus)

I’m graduating in two weeks and I have no clue where Im going. What should I do?

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You have mentioned this before. Stop assuming you can’t handle it. Again, you wouldn’t have been admitted if they didn’t think you could handle it. I am wondering if part of the issue is that you are very unsure about BS/DO. It’s okay to not want to do it. Choose a different profession in the healthcare industry. Or better still, take some time to understand what you actually want to do in that industry. There are so many opportunities.

But your bigger issue is you actually can’t afford it.

Contact LIU asap and see if they will still honor their offer. But don’t be surprised if they don’t.

It doesn’t matter if you are graduating from high school in two weeks. It’s a day in your life. Take a gap year. Work and earn enough money to give you a cushion. Reapply again ONLY to affordable options for next year, or options where you will get a huge scholarship as a freshman. There is no reason you must start college in the fall. MANY students take gap years to work and save money for college.

Or go to community college. Earn as many transferable credits as you can. Get the best grades possible. Transfer to a SUNY. Or try to get into Albert Einstein, which I believe offers free tuition now. If you see being a doctor as your definite career, you will need clinical experience, which you could get started with during a gap year. @WayOutWestMom might have suggestions.

You have options, but going into debt and/or draining the family savings doesn’t have to be one of them.

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I know I’ve asked the same question just reworded, but I feel like I run into a new problem every few months, but every question I’ve asked the answers have been rlly helpful so thank you really, also I don’t think gap year is a good idea for me because it’s gonna be hard for me to take that long of a break from academic any return the way I’ve been, but I might consider community college thanks for ur suggestion

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I commented on your other post when you said your parents wanted you do to a combined PA program but you wanted BS/MD.

But fast forward just a few weeks and it seems like you have managed to accomplish your dream (as well as many other people’s dream) by getting into a combined medical program and well on your way to become a Doctor.

BUT what I’m now reading is exactly the reasons many allopathic medical schools do not like combined programs or admitting people young: fear, uncertainty, lack of confidence, and may be a little bit of immaturity.

There is actually value in students going to UG, surviving a “pre-med” curriculum and make it to medical school. Because after all that struggle, there is no doubt with most people that they will make it. Oh, and that interview for admission really is a psychological profiling :rofl: to make sure people who get in are not some imposter.

Here, I’m reading your fear and insecurity, more so than the money itself.
I’m going to make a big assumption here and please let me know if I’m wrong.
I’m guessing you are FGLI from the self doubt. One thing I have found is that my peers who have professional parents or with graduate degrees do not ever think or feel like they “can’t” do anything. OTOH, FG people who had to figure out for themselves, generally struggle just because they don’t know. That fear usually is what holds them back.

It’s all really on you to believe that you can do anything. These programs are not generally designed to fail you. medical school is not easy, but plenty of less than intelligent people make it thru anyway.

Money aside, do you have the desire and confidence?

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How much can your parents realistically contribute? You can take out a federal student for $5500 your first year, $6500 your second year and $7,500 each for your third and fourth years. I believe as a medical student you can take out much more.

You can also work this coming summer and hopefully future summers as well, and you are likely eligible for work-study employment during the school year (but make sure you prioritize your academics! Don’t work so much that your academics and other components of college life suffer, especially as a pre-med).

So depending on how much you can earn during the summers and how much your parents can contribute, combined with the federal student loan, is the program possible?

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I’m not positive of the exact amounts but medical school students can take $40,000 or so a year in federally funded Direct Loans. They can also take grad plus loans up to the cost of attendance.

@WayOutWestMom probably knows the exact amounts.

BUT that isn’t going to help this student with the costs of the first three years of her program. Even with the $5500 direct loan as a freshman, they will still need an additional $15,000. Can the parents fund that amount? That sounds iffy.

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It might be a good idea for you to rethink that. It’s hard, but your financial constraints might make a gap year necessary. It will be much harder in the long run to go into a lot of debt.

I know you are anxious to get started. Keep in mind that you are a young person. You have time on your side. Don’t make a decision that means you or your family will be saddled with debt.

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I mean if the money wasn’t an issue, then I would definitely go to nyit, I do have the desire and in terms of confidence - I know I’ll try my best, I feel like I always have

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After the 5k loans, the amount would be around 15k but even then my parents would struggle. Plus I rlly wanted to avoid loans for the undergrad part at least but I guess that can’t be helped

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Money will always be an issue whether you make $20,000 or $2 million a year. It will just be different kind of issues.

If you have the confidence and smarts, the money is an investment in yourself. I’m not saying you should be irresponsible, but unless you are taking the advice and start at a CC (not that it’s a bad plan. That is what I’d do if I was to take this path today / or sign up for the military), you will have to be concerned about money. LIU is for pharmacy, and Molloy is for nursing, right?

Didn’t sound like those were options you wanted. Just saying.

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I am so sorry they sprung that on you :hugs::disappointed::hugs:
What CAN they afford?
While your parents figure out how much they can afford, email Molloy and LIU to see if they still have your scholarship-odds are that when you declined they offered it to someone else though.
Getting into a BSMD program is incredibly hard - the acceptance rate often rivals Harvard’s. In short, if they admitted you, they think you can do it. But, yes, it’s not a guarantee.
Pre-PA/PA may be a safer, shorter path so ry to think through what appeals to you in medicine that MD, DO, and PA have in common, then list the differences: whixh matter?
CC is generally not a good idea for premed and if you got into a BSMD program may not be the appropriate level of challenge.

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Are you in New Jersey? The NJ minimum wage is just over $15 an hour. If you get a job that’s 40 hours a week for 12 weeks, that’s a bit over 7k for the summer. If you can work 10 hours a week in college (which is pretty typical) that’s another 600 a month or approximately 5k for the school year. Plus more over winter break is also possible. So loans of 5.5k plus maybe 12k earnings only leaves 2.5k for your parents to contribute.

Now, this is best case scenario regarding finding a job for 40 hours a week during the summer, but it’s definitely within the realm of possibility.

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Or maybe you are in New York? That’s also $15 an hour, and $16 in some areas.

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I suggest that you go the community college to state college route for an undergrad degree, then MD school (or possibly DO school), assuming that you can compile the record that you need to get into MD/DO school.

Here’s how you do it. You go to your nearest community college (for the gen eds) that has a transfer agreement with your flagship state U (or the nearest 4 yr state college) while living at home. You can start this summer (although it might be too late for summer school). You can file a FAFSA for 2023-2024 for summer classes, and if your family is low income, qualify for Pell, or at least a federal loan, for summer classes. Meanwhile, you also see which CLEP exams your school will take. You learn the material on modernstates.org, take the CLEP exams, get some free gen Ed credits. You go to school year-round, with the goal of being at your in-state 4 yr or flagship by Sept '25. You file the FAFSA each year, and take the fed loan, and the Pell grant if you qualify.

Take as many gen eds as you can at the community college; also intro psych and intro sociology (since these are now on the MCAT), and calc and stats, but try to leave all of your pre-med sciences for the 4 yr college, since med schools think that the community college sciences are insufficiently rigorous. If unavoidable, take the first year of college chem with lab at the community college (because when you do well in organic at the 4 yr college, that will confirm the A that you will have gotten at the community college in gen chem), but don’t take bio or physics there. You really must get straight A’s at the community college, because anything less than an A at a community college shows weakness. If you get straight A’s, no one can question the rigor, since you got the top grade possible.

After one year of this, you transfer to the 4 yr college or preferably the flagship state U, and that’s where you find out whether or not you can hack the premed curriculum, whether you can do well in the sciences there. If yes, you continue on the premed path. If no, you already have all your gen eds done, and can switch into something else - even nursing, if you prefer.

All the way through, starting this summer, you begin compiling the EC record that you’ll need for med school. Clinical hours. Volunteering. Shadowing. Research, as soon as you can get into a lab. Assuming all goes well, you will probably need a gap year or two, since you will need to study for the MCATs after you’ve finished your sciences in senior year, probably won’t take MCAT until winter or spring after you’ve finished college, will submit an application in May/June a year after college, start med school two years after college.

The federal gov’t will allow you to borrow all the money you need for med school. There is a loan forgiveness program currently, that after 10 yrs repayment forgives the remaining balance, if you’ve worked in public sector/non-profit for 10 years. Since that would likely include all of your residency/fellowship years, and since the payment is keyed to your income, it’s a pretty good deal. Assuming 5 yrs of residency/fellowship, and assuming that you work for a hospital or public clinic for 5 yrs afterwards, you’d qualify. Hopefully, the program will still be in existence.

Do not go to pharmacy school. We made too many, plus the job has become supervising many pharmacy techs, with your license on the line, without much patient contact. And that’s if you can even find a job. Pharmacists these days are miserable. Not a good field to go into currently.

If you are interested in nursing, and maybe becoming a nurse practitioner, there is a huge demand as NPs take over the role of physicians. You can do the community college to state college route for a BS in nursing, and then go the NP route. Much shorter, cheaper, and easier than the MD/DO route.

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I’m hoping @WayOutWestMom will provide the details. This makes it sound like it’s very simple to qualify and do…it’s not all that easy and there are lots of conditions one must adhere to.

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Excellent suggestions!
CLEP is a fabulous way to earn credits without taking classes. https://clep.collegeboard.org/

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That’s an oversimplification. Most physicians will not qualify for PSLF. In fact I’ve only known one who did.

The biggest disqualifie is that most attending physicians do not work directly for a non-profit entity. They work for a physician’s group that is contracted to supply services for a hospital. That alone is enough to disqualify them for PSLF.

There are bunch of other disqualifiers too. Like doing a residency at for-profit healthcare system ( Any HCA hospital, for example.) Or moonlighting or consulting on the side.

Also even if one does qualify for PSLF and completes their 120 uninterrupted repayments, there is a very nasty surprise for those who do. The amount of the loans forgiven is considered taxable income and the recipient of the loan forgiveness must pay all relevant taxes (federal, state, local incomes taxes) on that amount.

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Except that almost all medical schools will not accept CLEP credits for admission purposes. And no medical school will accept CLEP credits for science/math requirements.

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Apparently in CA, Kaiser has managed to place themselves in a position where most, if not all of their physicians will qualify for PSLF. This effectively decimates the recruiting of smaller practices who lack the resources and connections to complete the necessary paperwork for the designation. I know three people who work at KP who just had their loans wiped out.

I also have several co workers who qualify by just being in the military. One person spent her $150k signing bonus on her house knowing in 10 years, her loans will be forgiven by PSLF and it was.

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Thank you for that. Great point.

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