Are parents' income considered for financial aid?

[DoctorWannaBe]

I have heard that the financial information of your parents is considered when applying for medical school financial aid. Is this true? I have been independent for the last few years on my tax records, and I do not believe that my parents will help me financially for medical school. Therefore, I am hoping to be considered independent on my financial aid applications and don't want my parents' salaries to be considered.

Also, are there loans available that are not need-based?

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[KyGrlDr2B]

Parents' income isn't considered if you are getting governmental loans. Therefore, if you want a subsidized loan, no need to worry because they will only look at YOUR income. Anyone can get an unsubsidized loan because they accrue interest while you are in school. (The subsidized waits until you are out of school, therefore you can only get a max of 8500/yr this way. The rest can be made up with unsubsidized) They want you to include parental income on your fafsa because some medical schools (I don't know if all do this) give aid that DOES take into account your parental info.

I hope this helps.

 

[phil413ru]

As far as I have heard from all my med school that I 've interviewed, parental income is only considered if they wish to take out a loan to help you or you are applying for a primary care loan.
I did not include my parents income on the FAFSA. Anyway, it would be too confusing because they are getting divorced and probably will not have things straigtened out until Mar (too late for FAFSA). I am still student, with debt now due to deposit on Med schools, so I have "net worth" of zero. Thus, I have vitually no expected family contribution. I remedied this by joining the Army.

 

[paean]

A number of schools require parental info before they will consider you for school loans (at great interest rates) or grants. As it won't hurt your federal eligibility, and may help you get even better aid, it's advisable.