Financial Aid: non-trad w/ high income, how is financial need determined for M1 given that income goes away when school starts?

[Sapphia]

I’m a PA-C in my 30s w/ 2 kids with very adult sized expenses. I.e., $2200/m in child support… Given that my six-figure income goes away but my expenses remain once I start school, how does this figure into need-based financial aid & scholarship calculations?

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[xffan624]

I’m a PA-C in my 30s w/ 2 kids with very adult sized expenses. I.e., $2200/m in child support… Given that my six-figure income goes away but my expenses remain once I start school, how does this figure into need-based financial aid & scholarship calculations?

Every medical student has an income of $0 when they start. So any calculations for need based is off of your current income and your parents' income (school dependent, some don't require it for independent adults like yourself). Regardless, need based aid is pretty rare for medical school and scholarships are usually reserved for attracting high value students (not sure what your stats are.) Bottom line, you will likely pay for most of your expenses with student loans which you can borrow a lot of (even more so to cover dependents, if needed). I would recommend starting to cut expenses and save some of your income now to reduce that burden if you can.

 

[BritainKittenMittens]

Some schools (the generous ones) will go off of your estimate of what you'll make your first year (so the 6 months before school starts) and include your current income into your assets. But after your first year your income won't matter as much as your assets.

And then the most generous schools (even the tuition free ones) will have you pay most of your assets into your education before they start contributing. The idea is your parental assets are weighed less so, but you're expected to contribute whatever you've saved. I know for one tuition-free school, if you have say 200k, they'll ask you to pay 50k a year and they'll contribute the rest. Note, a select few schools don't include a primary residence into the calculation. But that's like, really, really generous schools. Most schools will not offer anything even if you're EFC is 0.

So the moral of the story is to be amazing and get into a tuition free rich school or be amazing and get a merit scholarship. Easier said than done though.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I’m a PA-C in my 30s w/ 2 kids with very adult sized expenses. I.e., $2200/m in child support… Given that my six-figure income goes away but my expenses remain once I start school, how does this figure into need-based financial aid & scholarship calculations?

Regardless of how the school calculates how much you *should* be able to pay, you can access loans up to the estimated cost of attendance along with other factors. As for scholarships, that is another matter entirely and based off of financial aid calculations, family income (even as an adult) or extenuating circumstances. In your scenario I don’t know if financial aid officers will be able to grant you an additional 24k a year in loans to cover child support payments. You may be able to take out private loans but that’s another matter entirely.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

It should be no problem getting student loans but i can't in good conscious tell you it's a good idea to pursue medicine when older and having multiple children to support. Sorry if that's not what you carne here for

 

[Itisnottoolate]

It should be no problem getting student loans but i can't in good conscious tell you it's a good idea to pursue medicine when older and having multiple children to support. Sorry if that's not what you carne here for

What is wrong with going to med school in your 30s and having a family? I am in med school and have children. I am doing great. Even if I finish residency at 42, that is over 20 years working with a physician salary. Granted, I do not have to take out any extra expense loans, only my tuition. Finances in school can be tough but you are only going without an income for four years. At least you get paid some during residency.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

What is wrong with going to med school in your 30s and having a family? I am in med school and have children. I am doing great. Even if I finish residency at 42, that is over 20 years working with a physician salary. Granted, I do not have to take out any extra expense loans, only my tuition. Finances in school can be tough but you are only going without an income for four years. At least you get paid some during residency.

Perhaps for you it is okay or maybe you're just an M2 that hasn't had to sacrifice 80hr/wk then deprive their children and spouse of many financial essentials because you're on loans or barely making enough to cover rent. If you're female in a traditional relationship where the mother has greater emotional impact, you'll be depriving them there too. Sure, at some point you'll have physician salary. By then, you'll have to catch up on paying off your student loans, paying off mortgage and your kids college. In the end, you won't financially off-set your time in medicine. I say this based on what I've seen from plenty of people that I have been around. I have the advantage point of hindsight on this.

 

[Itisnottoolate]

Perhaps for you it is okay or maybe you're just an M2 that hasn't had to sacrifice 80hr/wk then deprive their children and spouse of many financial essentials because you're on loans or barely making enough to cover rent. If you're female in a traditional relationship where the mother has greater emotional impact, you'll be depriving them there too. Sure, at some point you'll have physician salary. By then, you'll have to catch up on paying off your student loans, paying off mortgage and your kids college. In the end, you won't financially off-set your time in medicine. I say this based on what I've seen from plenty of people that I have been around. I have the advantage point of hindsight on this.

Fortunately for me my husband works. Only loans to cover tuition. Mortgage is almost paid off. We have almost 200k equity in our home for now. I guess as long as the market doesn’t crash. No car loans. We were financially responsible before med school.
I also know the emotional impact it could bring when I start m3 year with hectic rotations. As of now, I would rather be in the middle of the class and able to give my kids more attention than when I was working than being at the top of the class and giving little attention. My kids are very well adjusted. I do not study after 5 or on the weekends unless it is exam week. Again, I know this will change third year but for now it is working. I also am older so I know how to multitask very well. Thank you for your input. Hopefully, I will survive next year.

 

[Jett24]

I’m a PA-C in my 30s w/ 2 kids with very adult sized expenses. I.e., $2200/m in child support… Given that my six-figure income goes away but my expenses remain once I start school, how does this figure into need-based financial aid & scholarship calculations?

Sapphia, I’m also a PA-C starting in August and have been little concerned about how my current income will impact my financial aid. Have you received your financial aid package?

 

[Sapphia]

Sapphia, I’m also a PA-C starting in August and have been little concerned about how my current income will impact my financial aid. Have you received your financial aid package?

I haven't received anything from any schools, however my FAFSA EFC is like 25k. This number was always zero in the past so I'm not sure how it will impact financial aid. I included my retirement savings under "investments" and I'm a little worried that was an error... I'm waiting to hear back from the financial aid office.

 

[GreenDuck12]

I haven't received anything from any schools, however my FAFSA EFC is like 25k. This number was always zero in the past so I'm not sure how it will impact financial aid. I included my retirement savings under "investments" and I'm a little worried that was an error... I'm waiting to hear back from the financial aid office.

You should be ok - most schools do not factor in retirement savings - and even then they would only impact grants or need based aid. The EFC will not impact the amount you will be able to access in loans.

 

[thatonegrrl]

I haven't received anything from any schools, however my FAFSA EFC is like 25k. This number was always zero in the past so I'm not sure how it will impact financial aid. I included my retirement savings under "investments" and I'm a little worried that was an error... I'm waiting to hear back from the financial aid office.

I've worried about that too, I don't make enough on my current salary to put any away in savings to help cover tuition, and obviously I will be making $0 once school starts. One of the schools I've interviewed at also required parental income on FAFSA to qualify for scholarships. My mom is my only surviving parent and is semi-retired, but she had a lot in her savings because she took some out of her retirement account due to COVID market volatility, so it looks like she has more money than she really does. No way in h-e-double-hockey-sticks would I *ever* ask her to support me in medical school with that or any of her money. She is 67, a widow, and needs every last penny. No word on complete financial aid packages from any schools yet, so I'm just crossing all my fingers and toes.

 

[NontradICUdoc]

It is based on cost of attendance. Your income will be $0 and not an issue. However, you need to disclose your child support so that this can be taken into account when awarding you the financial aid.

 

[Medic2MD4me]

PA here graduating med school in 3 months. Same situation as you when I started. Your estimated family contribution will be high as the fafsa will collect data from year prior. So it won’t be until your m2 and m3 years that your “current” income of zero is reflected in your fafsa outcome. This won’t prohibit you from getting loans either way. However it does impact your ability somewhat to get grant aid from
Your school (if they offer it) and outside need based scholarships.

Although most outside scholarships have an area where you can explain your current financial situation and you can state how The fafsa doesn’t reflect your current income status.

As an older applicant , a PA and with kids I HIGHLY encourage you to seek out scholarships as being in that same situation i was very successful with it and many were renewable year after year. Ultimately private med school cost me about half of what PA school did but it’s definitely added work and bit of luck.

 

[thatonegrrl]

PA here graduating med school in 3 months. Same situation as you when I started. Your estimated family contribution will be high as the fafsa will collect data from year prior. So it won’t be until your m2 and m3 years that your “current” income of zero is reflected in your fafsa outcome. This won’t prohibit you from getting loans either way. However it does impact your ability somewhat to get grant aid from
Your school (if they offer it) and outside need based scholarships.

Although most outside scholarships have an area where you can explain your current financial situation and you can state how The fafsa doesn’t reflect your current income status.

As an older applicant , a PA and with kids I HIGHLY encourage you to seek out scholarships as being in that same situation i was very successful with it and many were renewable year after year. Ultimately private med school cost me about half of what PA school did but it’s definitely added work and bit of luck.

Any tips for finding scholarships? I've found a few but not a ton, and feel like those scholarship search sites just sign me up for spam (based on past experience).

 

[Medic2MD4me]

Any tips for finding scholarships? I've found a few but not a ton, and feel like those scholarship search sites just sign me up for spam (based on past experience).

Check out the financial aid pages of your area med schools. Some post a nice list of all the national and state/region specific ones. I think in my searching I remember wvu, brown and Yale having nice lists and was most successful with scholarships that required residency from my state versus the national ones.

Never had any luck perusing the scholarship spam search engines either.

I would also reach out to your Finaid at your school, especially if it’s done directly by the med school and explain your financial situation if you have kids.

It’s a lot of extra work getting the letters of Rec and essay done but once you do , you just reuse those over and over and update yearly. It’ll pay off, not many people apply for these. One big scholarship I got had to extend the application period because they didn’t have enough applicants.