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My husband is currently applying for med school to start in fall of 2012. We have two small children, and will have to rely heavily on loans for living expenses because I don't make enough and I'm actually hoping to work less once he starts school. My question is: what can we expect to receive ? Are you able to borrow more because there are more people to be supported? Is it even possible, or are we crazy? We also want more kids, but don't want to have to wait until he's done with school. I know we'll have to make sacrifices, and I'm more than prepared to be frugal. I just want to know what my future may look like. TIA!
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~Heather~
Wife to pre-med student; mommy to a four & three year old. -
I work FT, but the FAFSA does take number of dependents into account when calculating your "Estimated Family Contribution" so you will likely have a very low EFC. This does not always translate into more scholarships/grants however. You will most likely be offered Subsidized & Unsubsidized Federal Loans and possibly Federal GradPLUS loans. If this doesn't make ends meet, there are always private loans (ick). If your DH were to secure a HPSP military scholarship, he would be paid to attend med school with a small monthly stipend AND the military would pay for all education expenses, there are spouses on here with more experience with this than I have, but it is an option if you are concerned with finances. Start looking at the loans available, don't count on scholarships from the school considering he hasn't been accepted yet. Even though I work FT, we are still racking up the loans (thanks out-of-state tuition). If you go that route, you will join a huge group of us who have enormous spousal (and our own) educational debt.Wife to PGY4 & Mother of 3. -
Yes, loans will cover family living expenses. But it ain't much to live on. Doable, but barely.Comment
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I think the amount of financial assistance you are offered depends on the info you provide on your FAFSA form.
Year 1 he applied as a single with no income. He was offered $40k in loans (we didn't take all of it, I'm working and tuition is only $15-16k here) and $5k scholarship. It was a steal.
Year 2 he applied as a married person with my income, but only half the amount, as I started working in July. He was offered the same $40k, but no scholarship, and the loans weren't as "good" (more federal loans that accrue interest immediately vs. "award" loans that don't accrue until post-residency)
Year 3 he will be applying as a married person, with my full income and a child. No idea what he will get!
I wish I could tell you more...I suspect it is highly dependent on the school and state. I think Rapunzel might know more about getting extra assistance, though? (Could be totally wrong on that)
We do have a lot of friends that live off the loans and they make it work...budgeting superstars.Married to a newly minted Pediatric Rad, momma to a sweet girl and a bunch of (mostly) cute boy monsters.
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My DH's med school tuition was $43K/year (!!) and he could petition for extra funds for living expenses.Comment
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ST - Have you thought of amending your FAFSA for this upcoming year? There is a question that states "do you expect to have a dependent anytime during the 2011-2012 school year?" This is not true of taxes, the kid has to be born before you can claim for taxes, but for FAFSA, it is a prediction.Originally posted by SoonerTexan View Post
Wife to PGY4 & Mother of 3.Comment
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DH was only able to get cost of living loans for him. That didn't care how many dependents he had. I worked, but did not make much at all, and we took advantage of gov't programs.Comment
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I know...we are really get off SO easy. I don't know if there is a cheaper med school in the US. (and if there is, it is probably in Texas). Hedixo...I know I sent you a PM about this, but you should REALLY consider applying to my DH's school. It's highly ranked and they reserve 10% of spot for out-of-state students. Those students get in-state tuition if they receive a scholarship...so they give every out-of-stater a $1k scholarship to automatically qualify them. Cheap tuition AND a guaranteed $1k scholarship...you really cannot do better than that!My DH's med school tuition was $43K/year (!!)
Didn't know that... Loans/scholarships have already been given out by the school and accepted by us, though. I'm assuming it is too late?ST - Have you thought of amending your FAFSA for this upcoming year? There is a question that states "do you expect to have a dependent anytime during the 2011-2012 school year?" This is not true of taxes, the kid has to be born before you can claim for taxes, but for FAFSA, it is a prediction.
Married to a newly minted Pediatric Rad, momma to a sweet girl and a bunch of (mostly) cute boy monsters.
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Yeah we're sitting pretty at almost $50k a year for tuition. We get no grants this year, only offered more loans now that we've filed as married. They expect me to "cover" his living expenses even though that just means more loans; no more grants to the married folks. Living expenses for him (if I weren't working) amount to $14k/year in their calculation on top of tuition. So we were offered subsidized and unsubsidized loans for $64 ($50+living expenses). We had the option to take out more if we wanted more than $14k to live on but because I work, we did not do that.Originally posted by diggitydot View Post
So, without an income, that's what we'd be living on - $14k + additional loans. And those loans have sucky rates. It's totally school dependent though. I will tell you though that we live in a low cost of living area and I don't feel like we could get by on that (esp expecting our first baby).
Anyway, it's possible. There are several people on here who had children and did not work during med school. They got by. They just ended up with more loans. Anything is possible, just depends on what you're looking at when you're all said and done.Married to a Urology Attending! (that is an understated exclamation point)
Mama to C (Jan 2012), D (Nov 2013), and R (April 2016). Consulting and homeschooling are my day jobs.Comment
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I'm not sure exactly how much we got, but it was enough to live on! Granted, I got some student loans too, but it wasn't nearly as much as my husband got. Graduating with 200,000+ in student loans was not pretty though. hopefully some of the public service loan forgiveness programs will help us out!-Mommy, FM wife, Disney Planner and HoosierComment
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Oh, thanks for reminding me. That will definitely go on our list. Thanks for all the replies. I'm really trying to get a head start on all the planning.Originally posted by SoonerTexan View Post~Heather~
Wife to pre-med student; mommy to a four & three year old.Comment
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I have a friend who decided not to work during med. school while they had two children. BTW I did home daycare so that I could be with our children. They took out private loans instead and promptly owed $1500 a month six months into residency. Her DH then quickly became a part of the armed forces to pay back those loans.Comment
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This is very smart re: home daycare. Definitely something to consider if you've already got 2 little ones. It's not something I could do (not enough patience, prefer my privacy, etc) but I think it's a great idea for mom's who need to be at home with their littles.Originally posted by Chrisada View PostMarried to a Urology Attending! (that is an understated exclamation point)
Mama to C (Jan 2012), D (Nov 2013), and R (April 2016). Consulting and homeschooling are my day jobs.Comment
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I think it depends on the school. E's tuition alone was over 40k a year. Every year despite his being married with children we had to provide both his parents w2s. When he had a falling out with his dad we had to write a letter explaining why we couldn't provide his fathers info. We got a little under 20k to live on which included having to petition for funds to pay for health insurance. We started MS with one child and had our second during MS2. It was so over whelming financially when he first started. He applied for the AF scholarship, got accepted, but in the end he turned it down because he was terrified of actually matching into ortho and the AF telling him that there wasn't a need which had happened to someone he knew. I have stayed at home with the kids since we started MS. We have been half the country away from any family. It is hard to rely on your spouse for help with caring for the kids, taking them to and from, staying home when someone is sick, ect which their unpredictable schedules.Comment
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Tuition for us was about 45k. We got about 14,000 to live on per year. It was super tight. We did take out private loans, but we were able to defer through residency which I don't think can be done anymore. We did not receive any extra money for me or our kids, but I did have to provide a letter stating that I was not working and had no income. We did have to rely on some public assistance and occasional bailouts from IL's.Heidi, PA-S1 - wife to an orthopaedic surgeon, mom to Ryan, 17, and Alexia, 11.
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