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Introduction/disclaimer
This program should be considered by ANYONE considering applying for or taking an HPSP scholarship. I made an good faith effort to be factual, please correct wrong numbers and information. I am biased in thinking that this (or the reserves/guard) is a better route for anyone not previously associated with the military to take towards service as a military physician (note, Im a veteran). For prior service and/or military brats, the HPSP makes sense. Note I didnt get into active duty pay etc, which can be found elsewhere.
This sticky is intended to summarize several components of the Financial Assistance Program (FAP) that likely would be of interest to pre-med and medical students considering entering the military the help pay for medical school. This program is also of interest to current or soon-to-be residents considering practicing in the military.
In very short, the FAP is financial program that individuals sign into immediately before residency, or while in residency. The application process may be started before starting residency, but the contract starts when you sign (for practical purposes of discussion, immediately before the first day of residency).
The financial benefits
In this program you receive two types of payments during the residency year:
1) You receive a large check at the beginning of your residency year (e.g. July 1st 2006), and on each subsequent start of the next residency year (i.e. July 1st 2007, July 1st 2008 and so on) through the start of the last residency year. For example, an internal medicine resident signing before the start of a 3 year program will receive 3 large checks. In another example, a surgical resident in a 5 year program signing up at the beginning of his/her 2nd year will receive 4 large checks (for years 2 5).
2) You receive on a monthly basis a stipend (in addition to the annual check).
The current payments are (may be higher, subject to change, likely only up, but not by much in the current fiscal climate):
1) Annual check $25,049.
2) Monthly payments of $ $1,185.
The contract obligations
The contract obligation for this program requires individuals to enter active duty service on a year for year plus one basis. This means you must repay the service for each year you receive benefit plus one year. For example, an IM resident who received benefits for 3 years while in residency must serve on active duty for 4 years. In another example, a surgery residency who signed up at the beginning of their 2nd of 5 years of residency will have to go on active duty for 5 years. In addition to active service, you will have to remain in the inactive reserves (you dont drill on the weekend etc, but you may be called up during time of war, vote appropriately) for a period equaling 8 years. For example, if you served on active duty for 4 years, you must remain in the reserves for an additional 4 years; if you served 5 years on active duty, you must remain in the reserves for 3 years.
If you drop out of residency, snort coke, etc, you will wish you were dead. There are stiff penalties for not completing the obligation; read on this elsewhere. This is not dissimilar to any other military financial program.
The practical benefits
-YOU decide and match into whatever CIVILIAN residency you choose, THEN sign into the military (unlike the HPSP)
-(Worth over-emphasizing) In this program YOU have COMPLETE control over the specialty you will enter, and the location/program (unlike the HPSP)
-Enter the fleet as a FULLY TRAINED physician in your specialty (unlike the HPSP for many)
-I am not 100% sure of this, but you may enter the FAP after HPSP (for those who know that the military is for them as the obligation years really pile up)
-With this program you can delay your decision regarding whether or not to go into the military until AFTER medical school
-In residency you will make your regular residency salary (roughly $40-50K) PLUS the FAP payments (roughly $40K), allowing for a better standard of living during residency
-NO GMO tour if choosing the Navy route
-Practically speaking: have a pulse, not a fatty, not openly gay, in a competitive specialty, youre in (no GPA, MCAT, etc worries, unlike the HPSP)
-While repaying your obligation requirements, you will earn a little more in that youve completed residency (possibly at a higher rank, possibly with board certification pay benefits)
Arguments to wait and join the FAP later instead of signing early for the HPSP
-You may decide during medical school that you dont want to go into the military
-MANY HPSP recipients regret their decision (not so much the prior service recipients)
-Much of the positive HPSP feedback is either from prior service recipients who knew the military and knew what they were getting into, or from new to the military HPSPrs for whom the military is still new, exciting, and interestingcaveat emptor
-No military duties/rotations/service while in medical school
-Even though the concern of student loan debt is understandable when starting medical school, you will likely realize during medical school that the debt is a pittance in the long run, thus making a grin and bear it choice to enter the military less desirable means to finance medical education
-No military commitment hanging over your head in medical school
-Living circumstance in medical school may change (e.g. meet a significant other not fond of being a military spouse, children may enter the picture, etc)
-You may head to medical school interested in a lower paying specialty where the military financial trade-off doesnt seem that bad (e.g. Family Practice) but may end up in a specialty where you could theoretically pay off your loans in one year (e.g. Radiology), making any long-term financial benefit moot.
Detractors against the FAP
-In the end, its still the military, and military medicine (read these boards)
-Almost NO ONE taking a military route will be financially ahead of their classmates who took student loans and a subsequent civilian job
-Earning ~$80k+ during residency will likely mean that you will have to go into student loan repayment, which for most people means spending ~$10k a year in payments
-FAP payments outlined above are subject to tax (at least the large check is)
-The HPSP allows you to live the high life while in medical school on ~$1,185 a month, at least for those for whom $1,185 is the high life.
-I knew one emergency medicine resident who was taken out of residency for Gulf 1. People say this isnt possible. In researching this I found no specific order, but I did find reference to the point of not being eligible to enter the service as a practicing medical officer until the individual holds a license to practice medicine. This could mean after PGY-1. My story is an anecdote; research the orders on this if this is a concern regarding signing.
Again, Ive tried to be fair in outlining the above. Please throw in any additional information or make corrections to errors.
This program should be considered by ANYONE considering applying for or taking an HPSP scholarship. I made an good faith effort to be factual, please correct wrong numbers and information. I am biased in thinking that this (or the reserves/guard) is a better route for anyone not previously associated with the military to take towards service as a military physician (note, Im a veteran). For prior service and/or military brats, the HPSP makes sense. Note I didnt get into active duty pay etc, which can be found elsewhere.
This sticky is intended to summarize several components of the Financial Assistance Program (FAP) that likely would be of interest to pre-med and medical students considering entering the military the help pay for medical school. This program is also of interest to current or soon-to-be residents considering practicing in the military.
In very short, the FAP is financial program that individuals sign into immediately before residency, or while in residency. The application process may be started before starting residency, but the contract starts when you sign (for practical purposes of discussion, immediately before the first day of residency).
The financial benefits
In this program you receive two types of payments during the residency year:
1) You receive a large check at the beginning of your residency year (e.g. July 1st 2006), and on each subsequent start of the next residency year (i.e. July 1st 2007, July 1st 2008 and so on) through the start of the last residency year. For example, an internal medicine resident signing before the start of a 3 year program will receive 3 large checks. In another example, a surgical resident in a 5 year program signing up at the beginning of his/her 2nd year will receive 4 large checks (for years 2 5).
2) You receive on a monthly basis a stipend (in addition to the annual check).
The current payments are (may be higher, subject to change, likely only up, but not by much in the current fiscal climate):
1) Annual check $25,049.
2) Monthly payments of $ $1,185.
The contract obligations
The contract obligation for this program requires individuals to enter active duty service on a year for year plus one basis. This means you must repay the service for each year you receive benefit plus one year. For example, an IM resident who received benefits for 3 years while in residency must serve on active duty for 4 years. In another example, a surgery residency who signed up at the beginning of their 2nd of 5 years of residency will have to go on active duty for 5 years. In addition to active service, you will have to remain in the inactive reserves (you dont drill on the weekend etc, but you may be called up during time of war, vote appropriately) for a period equaling 8 years. For example, if you served on active duty for 4 years, you must remain in the reserves for an additional 4 years; if you served 5 years on active duty, you must remain in the reserves for 3 years.
If you drop out of residency, snort coke, etc, you will wish you were dead. There are stiff penalties for not completing the obligation; read on this elsewhere. This is not dissimilar to any other military financial program.
The practical benefits
-YOU decide and match into whatever CIVILIAN residency you choose, THEN sign into the military (unlike the HPSP)
-(Worth over-emphasizing) In this program YOU have COMPLETE control over the specialty you will enter, and the location/program (unlike the HPSP)
-Enter the fleet as a FULLY TRAINED physician in your specialty (unlike the HPSP for many)
-I am not 100% sure of this, but you may enter the FAP after HPSP (for those who know that the military is for them as the obligation years really pile up)
-With this program you can delay your decision regarding whether or not to go into the military until AFTER medical school
-In residency you will make your regular residency salary (roughly $40-50K) PLUS the FAP payments (roughly $40K), allowing for a better standard of living during residency
-NO GMO tour if choosing the Navy route
-Practically speaking: have a pulse, not a fatty, not openly gay, in a competitive specialty, youre in (no GPA, MCAT, etc worries, unlike the HPSP)
-While repaying your obligation requirements, you will earn a little more in that youve completed residency (possibly at a higher rank, possibly with board certification pay benefits)
Arguments to wait and join the FAP later instead of signing early for the HPSP
-You may decide during medical school that you dont want to go into the military
-MANY HPSP recipients regret their decision (not so much the prior service recipients)
-Much of the positive HPSP feedback is either from prior service recipients who knew the military and knew what they were getting into, or from new to the military HPSPrs for whom the military is still new, exciting, and interestingcaveat emptor
-No military duties/rotations/service while in medical school
-Even though the concern of student loan debt is understandable when starting medical school, you will likely realize during medical school that the debt is a pittance in the long run, thus making a grin and bear it choice to enter the military less desirable means to finance medical education
-No military commitment hanging over your head in medical school
-Living circumstance in medical school may change (e.g. meet a significant other not fond of being a military spouse, children may enter the picture, etc)
-You may head to medical school interested in a lower paying specialty where the military financial trade-off doesnt seem that bad (e.g. Family Practice) but may end up in a specialty where you could theoretically pay off your loans in one year (e.g. Radiology), making any long-term financial benefit moot.
Detractors against the FAP
-In the end, its still the military, and military medicine (read these boards)
-Almost NO ONE taking a military route will be financially ahead of their classmates who took student loans and a subsequent civilian job
-Earning ~$80k+ during residency will likely mean that you will have to go into student loan repayment, which for most people means spending ~$10k a year in payments
-FAP payments outlined above are subject to tax (at least the large check is)
-The HPSP allows you to live the high life while in medical school on ~$1,185 a month, at least for those for whom $1,185 is the high life.
-I knew one emergency medicine resident who was taken out of residency for Gulf 1. People say this isnt possible. In researching this I found no specific order, but I did find reference to the point of not being eligible to enter the service as a practicing medical officer until the individual holds a license to practice medicine. This could mean after PGY-1. My story is an anecdote; research the orders on this if this is a concern regarding signing.
Again, Ive tried to be fair in outlining the above. Please throw in any additional information or make corrections to errors.