My opinion. It has often been the case that the bank of mom and dad have helped pay medical school costs. This isn’t new. Yes, some students did previously take grad plus loans up to the cost of attendance, but that created a ton of debt.
Some medical school aspirants also take a year or two off of school after undergrad, live at home inexpensively, and save money towards medical school costs.
I do agree that there will be new private loans created because of this new federal loan limit.
Definitely. And many med schools still require parent financials on fin aid forms when determining one’s level of need. This is coming into play with some of the loans the colleges are offering now. For example, U Mich med school has a type of loan program that one must demonstrate need to access (must have need with parental finances included.)
I presume that enrollment in the U.S. military may provide an option also – having Uncle Sam pay for medical school, with a certain length of time afterwards in service as a physician in the military.
I know two people who did this. One a dentist in the navy, one who is now an ER doc and hospital administrator but trained as a fight surgeon in the air force.
Young people considering this need to understand that for the most part, they will have ZERO input as to where they are deployed. Hawaii is gorgeous (and since WWII, mostly very safe). San Diego can be paradise. But an aircraft carrier near the Gulf of Hormuz needs physicians; all of our bases in the Middle East need physicians; your orders may come instantly “pack up, you’re being transferred”.
Military service is not a convenient way to pay for college. It is a very, very lengthy commitment with zero guarantees of a safe and stateside deployment.
^^
Agree with @blossom on this.
Enlisting in the military means an individual gives up a lot in return for “free” medical education. The “needs of the service” take always precedence over the desires of the individual. This not only means losing the ability to choose where they serve, but it also on what specialties are open to them.
And the age at which med students are consider financially independent of their parents is not the 24 years of age which the federal government uses. I know of a student who was 35 and he was asked to provide his parents’ financial info in order to be considered for FA.
Also being married does not affect the requirement to provide parental financial info, unlike federal student loans. Being married means the student has to provide parent AND spousal financial information to get FA.
OP, you are clearly a thoughtful and well-organized student! I am very confident based on the maturity you show here that you will do well wherever you land.
Just a thought though- give a tiny bit of consideration to your Plan B. And I don’t mean the gloom and doom “I can’t get into medical school because I got a B+ in my Russia History class”. I mean the Plan B that while you were focused and working hard on med school, another passion cropped up and swept you away.
There are VERY cool things going on in Cog Sci right now- medicine adjacent, but probably a PhD more useful. So many aspects of a human being that were thought to be personality, environment, etc. that now possibly have a genetic, cellular, chemical component. I met a guy a while ago who works on a team which is commercializing “wearables” to cure/contain a bunch of diseases. They have a very promising product (a cap, believe it or not) which is having great success with deep and chronic depression.
There are very cool things going on in epidemiology and biostatistics. As a young friend of mine said “Why treat 20 patients a day when you can treat thousands?”
And of course- our broken health care system, which can simultaneously deliver world class care while failing to contain measles, provide adequate primary care to the unhoused, pay for life-saving medications while the insurance companies battle the oncologists. SO MANY careers here- hospital administration, health care policy and advocacy, public health financing, etc.
So an interest in medicine is amazing. But there are also amazing and satisfying careers in “medicine adjacent” fields which cost less to become qualified and could be incredibly rewarding.
Who is going to be the creative genius to “rebrand” vaccines? There are professionals who have already quantified the number of people who have no problem taking a botox shot for their forehead wrinkles but “don’t want that poison in my body” (the poison being an annual flu shot). Lifesaving work if someone can figure out THAT conundrum!
Good luck!
I think that the military path is not the right one for me for many reasons, but one of them is that I am very sure I want children one day, and I would not want to be deployed away from my children. I have great respect for military women who make that sacrifice, it’s not a choice. I just looked it up, and there is a 7 year commitment, so that would mean I would either need to not have children, have children and be prepared to separate from them, or hope that when I am 42 and finished with service I can still get pregnant or adopt. None of those seem like the right choice for me. Compared to that the choice of a less expensive program during undergraduate, and then taking loans for whatever is left after my parents help seems like a better choice, but if that didn’t work then I think I’d prefer to find another career that let me have children and live in the same home as them.
I do realize that the actual choice to apply to the military would be years off, and I guess it’s possible I will change my mind. But right now, this isn’t a choice I think I would make.
Ditto - in spades.
I realize that I could get swept away by another passion, but I feel like I can’t plan for that, other than going to a college that has a lot of options and passionate people.
I really love the hands on care that I provide now, and I feel very passionate about providing access to medical care for underserved communities. If somehow being a doctor stopped being an option today, and you asked me to choose something else, I’d probably choose something adjacent, like getting a nurse degree and eventually becoming a nurse practitioner or midwife, or becoming a clinical psychologist or ther getting whatever degree would allow me to work as clinic administrator. But obviously there are other careers I haven’t even heard of yet.
Another reason to keep debt down - you have a great heart. Often, that leads to a less financially advantageous background - living that with my daughter right now. But the self satisfaction and impact are off the charts.
Of course, you could still do this on a “volunteer” basis like once a week or every other week vs. a full-on career.
@DCDC For the record, I never recommended the military option to you. Someone else did. So I don’t know why you directed your comments to me.
Choosing to enlist in the military is very personal decision and one needs to choose enlistment for the right reasons. “Free” med school is not the right reason.
Sorry, I thought it was clear I was agreeing with you.
This isn’t as easy as it sounds.
@WayOutWestMom can explain.
we know a few doctors who graduated from the Armed Forces School of Medicine (I think that’s what it is called.). They had to be accepted into the medical school program…just enlisting in the armed forces does not guarantee this.
there are a lot of health care fields. You might want to look at this site. It’s great!
The F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine at the Uniformed Services University for Health Sciences.
Army, Navy, Air Force and the Public Health Service trains their doctors there.
I know you have BS/MD schools on your list, but you might reconsider working between undergrad and medical school and applying the traditional way.
My daughter saved a lot by doing this and it was really a HUGE help (grad school, not medical school). This is something that you have control over.
You already know this, but nobody can predict the future of loan forgiveness and similar programs, even if we have a new administration.
Finances are a big concern and there will never be a perfect, sure way to calm your anxieties (you know this already). Keeping undergrad costs low and working before med school can help.
I agree that you sound like a mature student and I have no doubt that you will succeed.
How did it lead to her saving? Was it her earnings during that year? Or a cheaper school?
Working before med school is a great way to put away some money because even before starting med school you will have expenses.
You will be relocating to new area and will need to find a place to live. Rentals require a damage deposit, plus usually your first and last month’s rent. Utilities also often require a deposit to turn on electricity and gas. Ditto for internet services.
A new housing situation means you’ll need furniture and household goods like small appliances, pots & pans, dishes, silverware, linens and towels. You’ll also need a way to get your stuff to your new housing–so add in moving expenses.
You’ll need to pay for a criminal background check that the med school requires.
You’ll need to pay for a whole bunch of vaccinations and/or blood titers to prove your immunity levels.
You’ll need transportation to get back forth between campus and your housing. If that transportation is a car, you’ll need to buy a parking pass for the med school/hospital.
You’ll need a car to get to your clinical sites that are not at the med school campus.
You will need all of these things before you even set foot inside of your med school.
@twogirls can answer this question specifically regarding her daughter, but many PhD programs are funded by the university. The student works as a teaching or research assistant for the university. In return, the university gives them tuition remission, health insurance plus a modest stipend for living expenses.
But many of the expenses that a med student incurs before they start med school are the same for a grad student. Housing, transportation, moving costs, household goods.
She chose an affordable college and had some money left to put toward grad school. She also worked about 15 hours a week during her junior and senior year (her choice).
After graduation she worked and saved a considerable amount of money (she’s not a spender). Part of this time she lived in an expensive city with roommates, and part of the time she lived at home.
Her graduate program uses the match system, and she considered costs when choosing schools. She ranked all of the schools, but many of the costly privates were ranked lower (not her top choices). Her program allowed students to get in-state tuition right away (she just moved to the state).
She saved a lot by working first (enough to pay for much of her tuition and all of her living expenses- food, rent, transportation, etc). After graduation she moved to a different state and had money left to cover moving expenses, rent etc before starting her job. She applied for and received a grant, which covered all of the costs for tests, licensing etc- these costs were not cheap.
She has a two-year fellowship now (half research, half patient contact) and because the job market is poor right now (even in some areas of health care) I am glad she made the decisions she did.
She was still premed when she graduated college. She changed her mind during the time she was working.
As the saying goes, it is a marathon and not a sprint.