I am in the process of applying for financial aid. The medical school I will be attending requires that parental income be included if you are under the age of 32, which I am. However, I am married and am completely financially independent. I have not received any financial assistance from my parents since I got married 3 years ago and I will not be receiving any assistance from them when I start medical school. Including my parents' income will definitely put me at a disadvantage and I doubt I will be eligible for need-based funding. Is there any way out of this? Can I report my parental income (as required) and still be eligible for funding, given my marital status?
Reporting parental income for married student
- Thread starter Sandy4321
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You get loans, but if you want any institutional aid you’ll have to follow their rules.
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Med schools do not care whether married or not. However, I think that if we medical schools want ADULTS, we should not expect these ADULTS to ask their parents for money. It is one thing if the parents are millionaires, but in most cases, these parents need to save for their own retirement, support other children, and sometimes help out their own aging parents. Somehow it does not seem fair that students who have poor parents may graduate from some medical schools with NO debt, while others in their class graduate with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt, but that is the current system. Many parents who make even $200K+, esp if they live in an expensive location and have multiple children, are just not in a position to contribute their "EFC". In a place like NYC, parents pay upwards of 40-50K per year for private school, (which FAFSA does not care about), starting in pre-K, so including college, that is 19 years of tuition. By the time med school comes around, I am not at all surprised if they just can't or don't want to pay.
I was married with 2 children when I started med school. My father would not submit his tax forms, which was his right to do. I borrowed the entire amount of my medical school COA, and some of the loans from the med school at that time were 12%. I am still paying back some of my med school loans, and I graduated from med school almost 25yrs ago. I did choose a relatively expensive private medical school (no good state school in decent commuting distance from where we lived for my husband's HTF job), so that is on me. When it came to choosing my specialty, though I did not pick my specialty solely based on earning potential, some things like general PEDS were certainly less appealing, given my significant debt.
I was married with 2 children when I started med school. My father would not submit his tax forms, which was his right to do. I borrowed the entire amount of my medical school COA, and some of the loans from the med school at that time were 12%. I am still paying back some of my med school loans, and I graduated from med school almost 25yrs ago. I did choose a relatively expensive private medical school (no good state school in decent commuting distance from where we lived for my husband's HTF job), so that is on me. When it came to choosing my specialty, though I did not pick my specialty solely based on earning potential, some things like general PEDS were certainly less appealing, given my significant debt.
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I happen to know a couple of people in your situation As OChem said, as a graduate student for FAFSA purposes you're considered an independent student. This means that the medical schools can't force you to fill in your parents info & even if you do -- it won't affect your ability to get full COA in federal loans. If you want to be considered for internal scholarships etc. (this money is generously donated by alums or foundations normally) you need to play by the rules and submit your parents info. I agree it's bizarre but it is what it is.
