Post Graduate financial aid

Paying for College
1

Several questions, some financial, some academic

Situation- My son is in his 2nd year of grad school and will be receiving a medical physics degree. His undergrad degree was in physics. He has decided he would like to apply to med school but first needs to take some more undergrad courses in biology and organic chemistry before he can apply.

  1. Financial questions. He has some small undergrad loans and some grad plus loans. A) I assume he will not be able to borrow for the additional undergrad courses. B) can he still defer his loans while taking the undergrad courses and then while he is in med school? C) Can he borrow for med school if he has already taken some grad plus loans?

  2. Academic questions. A) After getting a grad degree, is med school still a viable path? B)How do med school admissions look upon a student with a masters degree?

His background;

Vassar College- BA in Physics and astronomy
UPenn- Masters of Medical Physics
He is a New York State EMT
He is currently working a part time job at the hospital at Penn related to his field and has been trained in using the radiation machines in the oncology department at the hospital at Penn

He has decided the medical physics field is not exciting enough for him and wants to go into medicine (most likely Oncology)

This is a unique situation and I am not sure how to advise him either financially or academically. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

2

I believe your son needs to be a matriculated student at least half time to have his loans in deferment.

This is not unique. There are many students out there who decide they want to go to medical school who need to take prerequisite courses in order to meet the requirements.

3

  1. If your son is enrolled at least half time in a degree-granted program for second bachelors or post-bacc, he can borrow unsubsidized loans for additional undergrad courses.

  2. he can defer his undergrad loans if he is enrolled at least half time in a degree granting program or a authorize post-bacc program. He can defer his undergrad loans during med school.

  3. med students can borrow up to $40,500 in unsubsidized federal loans each year and up to the school-determined COA in federal grad plus loans each year. There is a lifetime limit of $224,000 of federal direct loans for med students (combined undergrad & grad). There is no limit on grad plus loans. However, if he has reached his lifetime limit on federal direct loans, he cannot take out additional grad plus loans until he has paid down his federal direct loans so he below the lifetime limit cap.


Med school can be viable pathway after grad school, but 

--med schools will still use his undergrad GPA/sGPA when screening for admission. His grad GPA may or may not be considered (Dependent upon individual school policies)

---there are no guarantees he will be able to become an oncologist. Unless he'd be happy to work as primary care physician, he should reconsider his goals.  (If his goal is radiation oncology, then he should know that this is among the most competitive of specialties and of those who have the grades, test scores, research and LORs to apply for that field, only 80% match into a residency and over 25% of those who do match hold a PhD. See: <a href="http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Charting-Outcomes-2014-Final.pdf">http://www.nrmp.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Charting-Outcomes-2014-Final.pdf</a>)

FWIW, my older D was a physics major who did post-bacc coursework to complete her med school pre-reqs, then went med school and is now a physician.
4

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Situation- My son is in his 2nd year of grad school and will be receiving a medical physics degree. His undergrad degree was in physics. He has decided he would like to apply to med school but first needs to take some more undergrad courses in biology and organic chemistry before he can apply.


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Next semester, if he can, he may be able to get permission to take a prereq undergrad class as a grad student at his school. He probably won’t want to take something hard, but if he could take psych or something “easy” for him, he could knock off that one.

5

IF he does not get to take them at part of his grad degree program he will only be able to borrow $7500 per year especially if he is not pursuing a degree. Although he is independent on the FAFSA, he would not yet be pursuing a grad degree by taking the pre-med courses.

Just last week I talking to my next door neighbor whose kid just started an 18 month post bac at Columbia in order to go to med school; she got a small scholarship, and the $7500 loan. Parents are helping to pay for some of and the rest they are co-signing loans.

6

I’m unclear about his current situation. Is he still a grad student at Penn? Is there any possibility he can parlay his part-time job at HUP (Hospital of University of Pennsylvania) into a permanent job with benefits? If so, do employees at HUP receive tuition benefits for Penn?

If the answer to those questions are yes, that may be the must inexpensive way of taking classes he needs for med school. He would have to work as well as go to school, and pay on his loans, if he does this.

7

Yes he is a 2nd year grad student at Penn. He will graduate this current May.

8

Thanks to all for taking the time to give advice, It is greatly appreciated.