NO Student Loans available to HPSP recipients

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

Perhaps this is not news to most people, but I had long been under the assumption that HPSP students could still take out some or all of their unsubsidized student loans even though HPSP is paying tuition plus stipend. I was personally hoping to use this money to pay off some debts that were higher interest than the loan. However, when I went to the financial aid office today, I found I could only receive $1800 for the ENTIRE SEMESTER!!!!! WTF, over! The financial aid lady informed me that financial aid directors across the country were directed BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (it was unclear whether this was DoD or another gov't agency, i.e. Depts of Treasury of Education) to not provide these loans to HPSP students. After discussing this with my classmates and reviewing my loans from last semester (I am on the 3.5 year scholarship), I calculated that I RECEIVED MORE MONEY BEFORE HPSP, THAN AFTER!!!!!. This is further disincentive to join HPSP! Why not just go FAP? Your ultimate reimbursement for expenses during medical school will be greater under FAP than HPSP!!!! Given that all the services are unable to meet their quota for HPSP for at least two consecutive years, are taking ever increasing numbers of DOs and FMGs, how is the system NOT broken?!?!

Are the powers that be so detached that they don't see this problem?!?!? Jumpin jimminy christmas, someone should e-mail a link to this forum to all the SGs to give them some clue as to what is going on out here!
Thanks for letting me vent!!

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[delicatefade]

Yeah, it seems to be a problem at some schools but not others although this may be more across the board than I thought. I had heard anecdotally (probably from this site) that some HPSPers were able to still pull out quite a bit of federal loan money, including the valuable subsidized loans. My school unfortunately counts my "scholarship value" AND stipend (EVEN THOUGH WE ARE TAXED ON IT!!!!) as "financial aid" and refuse to offer much in the way of additional loans. I can understand them counting the tuition part of the scholarship as financial aid, but the stipend?!?!?!?!

 

[dpill]

Perhaps this is not news to most people, but I had long been under the assumption that HPSP students could still take out some or all of their unsubsidized student loans even though HPSP is paying tuition plus stipend. I was personally hoping to use this money to pay off some debts that were higher interest than the loan. However, when I went to the financial aid office today, I found I could only receive $1800 for the ENTIRE SEMESTER!!!!! WTF, over! The financial aid lady informed me that financial aid directors across the country were directed BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (it was unclear whether this was DoD or another gov't agency, i.e. Depts of Treasury of Education) to not provide these loans to HPSP students. After discussing this with my classmates and reviewing my loans from last semester (I am on the 3.5 year scholarship), I calculated that I RECEIVED MORE MONEY BEFORE HPSP, THAN AFTER!!!!!. This is further disincentive to join HPSP! Why not just go FAP? Your ultimate reimbursement for expenses during medical school will be greater under FAP than HPSP!!!! Given that all the services are unable to meet their quota for HPSP for at least two consecutive years, are taking ever increasing numbers of DOs and FMGs, how is the system NOT broken?!?!

Are the powers that be so detached that they don't see this problem?!?!? Jumpin jimminy christmas, someone should e-mail a link to this forum to all the SGs to give them some clue as to what is going on out here!
Thanks for letting me vent!!

When did she receive this notification? I am on a 4 yr scholarship and I received $7,000 in unsubsidized loans this semester and $7000 last semester
- the difference between tuition (covered by HPSP) and living expenses, etc for my school.

 

[orbitsurgMD]

Perhaps this is not news to most people, but I had long been under the assumption that HPSP students could still take out some or all of their unsubsidized student loans even though HPSP is paying tuition plus stipend. I was personally hoping to use this money to pay off some debts that were higher interest than the loan. However, when I went to the financial aid office today, I found I could only receive $1800 for the ENTIRE SEMESTER!!!!! WTF, over! The financial aid lady informed me that financial aid directors across the country were directed BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (it was unclear whether this was DoD or another gov't agency, i.e. Depts of Treasury of Education) to not provide these loans to HPSP students. After discussing this with my classmates and reviewing my loans from last semester (I am on the 3.5 year scholarship), I calculated that I RECEIVED MORE MONEY BEFORE HPSP, THAN AFTER!!!!!. This is further disincentive to join HPSP! Why not just go FAP? Your ultimate reimbursement for expenses during medical school will be greater under FAP than HPSP!!!! Given that all the services are unable to meet their quota for HPSP for at least two consecutive years, are taking ever increasing numbers of DOs and FMGs, how is the system NOT broken?!?!

Are the powers that be so detached that they don't see this problem?!?!? Jumpin jimminy christmas, someone should e-mail a link to this forum to all the SGs to give them some clue as to what is going on out here!
Thanks for letting me vent!!

There is a legal limit to what you can borrow. The maximum is the ceiling allowed per semester by the loan program or the difference between the estimated total expenses of your program less the "value" of the HPSP scholarship, which includes the stipend, books, fees and tuition, whichever is less. You ought to ask how they calculated that figure of $1,800.
Schools may be able to assign that value differently.

It wouldn't surprise me that both the school and the military want to keep a lid on borrowing. For the school--and this was the case with my very expensive school--military "scholarship" recipients didn't borrow much, so that kept their stats on average graduate debt down when they averaged the low/no-debt military people in with everyone else. As for the HPSP programs wanting to keep a lid on other concurrent Federally-guaranteed
lending to scholarship recipients, they get more mileage out of saying that their scholarship covers nearly all the expenses and that graduates accrue little additional debt while in medical school. (And with some people's six-figure undergraduate borrowing, that might be a good idea.)

 

[Heeed!]

I'm getting a little over $20k this year in financial aid. I don't like the idea of being in debt $100,000+ from med school, but I wouldn't even be in med school if I didn't have access to that money. I got mouths to feed!

 

[grayce79]

Perhaps this is not news to most people, but I had long been under the assumption that HPSP students could still take out some or all of their unsubsidized student loans even though HPSP is paying tuition plus stipend. I was personally hoping to use this money to pay off some debts that were higher interest than the loan. However, when I went to the financial aid office today, I found I could only receive $1800 for the ENTIRE SEMESTER!!!!! WTF, over! The financial aid lady informed me that financial aid directors across the country were directed BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (it was unclear whether this was DoD or another gov't agency, i.e. Depts of Treasury of Education) to not provide these loans to HPSP students. After discussing this with my classmates and reviewing my loans from last semester (I am on the 3.5 year scholarship), I calculated that I RECEIVED MORE MONEY BEFORE HPSP, THAN AFTER!!!!!. This is further disincentive to join HPSP! Why not just go FAP? Your ultimate reimbursement for expenses during medical school will be greater under FAP than HPSP!!!! Given that all the services are unable to meet their quota for HPSP for at least two consecutive years, are taking ever increasing numbers of DOs and FMGs, how is the system NOT broken?!?!

Are the powers that be so detached that they don't see this problem?!?!? Jumpin jimminy christmas, someone should e-mail a link to this forum to all the SGs to give them some clue as to what is going on out here!
Thanks for letting me vent!!

At my school, they first calculate cost of living plus tuition/books/etc. Then they subtract the amount of scholarship you have (if it's hpsp or any other kind of scholarship). Then the amount left over is the amount of student loans you can take. The hpsp students at my school can take out about 15000 a year extra if they choose to do so. Your financial aid person must know something my school doesn't!

 

[threepeas]

Perhaps this is not news to most people, but I had long been under the assumption that HPSP students could still take out some or all of their unsubsidized student loans even though HPSP is paying tuition plus stipend. I was personally hoping to use this money to pay off some debts that were higher interest than the loan. However, when I went to the financial aid office today, I found I could only receive $1800 for the ENTIRE SEMESTER!!!!! WTF, over! The financial aid lady informed me that financial aid directors across the country were directed BY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (it was unclear whether this was DoD or another gov't agency, i.e. Depts of Treasury of Education) to not provide these loans to HPSP students. After discussing this with my classmates and reviewing my loans from last semester (I am on the 3.5 year scholarship), I calculated that I RECEIVED MORE MONEY BEFORE HPSP, THAN AFTER!!!!!. This is further disincentive to join HPSP! Why not just go FAP? Your ultimate reimbursement for expenses during medical school will be greater under FAP than HPSP!!!! Given that all the services are unable to meet their quota for HPSP for at least two consecutive years, are taking ever increasing numbers of DOs and FMGs, how is the system NOT broken?!?!

Are the powers that be so detached that they don't see this problem?!?!? Jumpin jimminy christmas, someone should e-mail a link to this forum to all the SGs to give them some clue as to what is going on out here!
Thanks for letting me vent!!

you can take out money beyond stipend and tuition payback by the government if your budget justifies it. you can present a modified budget beyond what the school sets up for the average student. you have to submit receipts etc. for example i took out an extra $35K because my rent is high $2200/month (had to get into suburbs for decent schools), i have childcare, an extended food budget(4 kids), 10K year in family health ins. etc. the federal govt will not give you money to pay your car and credit card loans so dont submit this.

 

[SquidDoc]

you can take out money beyond stipend and tuition payback by the government if your budget justifies it. you can present a modified budget beyond what the school sets up for the average student. you have to submit receipts etc. for example i took out an extra $35K because my rent is high $2200/month (had to get into suburbs for decent schools), i have childcare, an extended food budget(4 kids), 10K year in family health ins. etc. the federal govt will not give you money to pay your car and credit card loans so dont submit this.

There is a 3rd yr HPSP student at my school (35k+ tuition at COMP) who takes out an additional 15k or so per with the school. I would say that you should not give up on this, and instead talk to the head of financial aid at your school.

 

[QM1]

I'm in the same boat. I'm only able to borrow $2915 in student loans. My school obviously coounts the stipend against you, but what's worse is the fact that when I submit my budget, most expenses except gas are cut in half because I'm married. It doen't matter that my wife only works 9 hours/wk and stays home with our three year old.
It's no surprise that the incentives are toward a) put child in day care so spouse can work, or b) just get divorced so you can claim the total amount of your bills.
If they think they're keeping a lid on borrowing, that's a mistake, too because I still have to borrow the same amount, it's just now I have to borrow it through a private lender with higher interest.

 

[Mirror Form]

I was personally hoping to use this money to pay off some debts that were higher interest than the loan.

So, in other words, you're mad that you couldn't use student loans to pay for non-medschool related expenses? I can see where you're coming from, but I don't think this system is that unfair. If anything, being able to still get a huge amount of stafford loans while doing HPSP (and therefore not needing them directly for education related expenses) would be an abuse of the student loan system. The government guarantees those loans so that students can afford an education, not so they'll be able to pay off other loans.

 

[usnavdoc]

So, in other words, you're mad that you couldn't use student loans to pay for non-medschool related expenses? I can see where you're coming from, but I don't think this system is that unfair. If anything, being able to still get a huge amount of stafford loans while doing HPSP (and therefore not needing them directly for education related expenses) would be an abuse of the student loan system. The government guarantees those loans so that students can afford an education, not so they'll be able to pay off other loans.

This is true but in most cases the HPSP students simply need more to live on in the four years they are in school than HPSP allows. In my case that meant 15000(over four years) at a much higher interest rate than should have had to happen.

This is just another example of how HPSP could change to attract more applicants, or more information to those uninformed as to not sign up.

 

[kaikai128]

It depends totally on the school. When I was applying (and making an effort to see how individual schools handled this), I found that some schools counted the stipend as part of the scholarship, and others considered this income (if it is considered income, it doesn't affect your financial aid package hardly at all).

I was careful to choose a school that counted it as income, and not as scholarship. I don't see how they can consider the stipend as part of the scholarship in the first place, as it is considered income and therefore taxes are with-held. Regardless, if you are applying now--keep your eyes open to see how each individual school handles this.

 

[DD214_DOC]

I don't see why any school would count it as part of the scholarship -- it's taxed!

 

[BOHICA-FIGMO]

Turns out that the financial aid director at my school is simply a hard-ass who wants to improve her metric on average student debt. Since our class is one of the smallest in the nation, their average student debt goes down significantly when someone goes on HPSP. Total BS, but what can you do Thanks for the inputs!