How to minimize student debt-Financial Aid

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Forum -> Chinuch, Education & Schooling

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amother

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 2:40 pm

My dd is very young but has already graduated college and has a BH good paying job, her Chosson is going for his Bachelor's now and is then looking at expensive schooling (think masters/phd or med school). Is anyone familiar with what makes someone qualify for Financial Aid? I am wondering if it makes sense for them NOT to get married legally so that he can qualify for Financial Aid or even have a longer engagement so that they get through more of his schooling. Or will it not make a difference? This is all new to us.

bruriyah

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 4:19 pm

He’s got a way to go till he applies to PhD or med school. Financial aid is a thing in undergraduate (BA), it’s not really thing for advanced studies (masters, doctorates). PhDs I think are funded. Med School most ppl take out loans.

amother

Lightgray

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 4:30 pm

amother OP wrote:

I put dh through med school.
A lot of people have the attitude that debt is debt and once you have it... what a little more [debt]...
This is how people graduate med school with half a million dollars in loans.
We live on my income and lived like students for the first many years. It was a choice we made, but it really took an emotional toll. Working so hard and saving every extra penny. At a certain point I eased up because I couldn't anymore.
However, looking back, we did not take out cost of living loans, and we also didn't take out loans for the full med school tuition. We did whatever we could to minimize the loans.
We tried to get any scholarship we could get our hands on, big or small. They add up. There are also some interest free loans we received.
So yes, there are loans, but not large numbers at all.

If your daughter has a good job, they can definitely live on her income. If in the beginning she is making more than they need, she can put away any surplus for when they'll need it later when their Income to expenses ratio is a narrower gap to avoid going into debt for every day expenses.

Hatzlacha!

amother

Denim

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 4:59 pm

There is free tuition from NYU and something called the Excelsior scholarship maybe look into that idea?

Also, maybe you can borrow money from someone or from Hebrew Free Loan Society instead of taking out a student loan?

HonesttoGod

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:01 pm

There are many scholarships in most schools. It may actually be worth it to be married because then they’re a 2 family household with not much income vs his parents may have a higher level.

bruriyah

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:10 pm

HonesttoGod wrote:

There are many scholarships in most schools. It may actually be worth it to be married because then they’re a 2 family household with not much income vs his parents may have a higher level.

Except medical school, not much scholarships there.

chestnut

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:21 pm

amother Denim wrote:

There is free tuition from NYU and something called the Excelsior scholarship maybe look into that idea?

I think it's for NY city and state schools and Bachelor's. Never heard of free tuition at NYU

amother

Lightgray

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:31 pm

bruriyah wrote:

Except medical school, not much scholarships there.

Not much, but you can get from different sources totaling ~100k

amother

Lightgray

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:36 pm

chestnut wrote:

I think it's for NY city and state schools and Bachelor's. Never heard of free tuition at NYU

Nyu started offering free med school Tuition in 2018.

Cornell, Columbia, WashU, UCLA, Cleveland Clinic are just some of the med schools offering free tuition to most of their students.

Yes, you need stats to get in.

But it exists.

amother

Powderblue

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:43 pm

HonesttoGod wrote:

There are many scholarships in most schools. It may actually be worth it to be married because then they’re a 2 family household with not much income vs his parents may have a higher level.

We have not found this to be true. (Law school but with friends in medical school as well). Your parents income is counted against you regardless of marriage until a certain age in some schools. Every school is different- some offer merit based, some need etc.

I will say that it did burn me out to live so frugally in our early years- we never vacationed etc. it took a few years to have our first and now we have a bit more flexibility in budget (my husband is doing well and loans are basically paid up) we have a few little ones and are not young free birds anymore. I wish we had taken a vacation or two.

bruriyah

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:52 pm

amother Lightgray wrote:

You listed 6 school. There are over 150 medical schools in the US. 6 provide significant financial aid. That’s 4%. So… it’s not common at all.

bruriyah

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:55 pm

Also, those schools don’t provide carte blanc free tuition (only NYU and Mayo Clinic do that.) They have very specific criteria including looking at parents’ income. It’s not an automatic freebie.

But more practically, you can’t bank on getting into *any* specific med school. You apply and hope for the best.

bruriyah

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:57 pm

amother Lightgray wrote:

Not much, but you can get from different sources totaling ~100k

True, but that still leaves 150K worth of tuition to cover. Either way, I don’t think ppl need to obsess about the cost of medical school. You take out loans, pick a specialty where you have a realistic chance of easily paying them back and call it a day.

Last edited by bruriyah on Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:58 pm; edited 1 time in total

chestnut

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 5:58 pm

amother Lightgray wrote:

Oh, didn't realize you were talking about med schools.

amother

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 8:03 pm

Thanks, so it sounds like getting married legally is a non-issue since financial aid is mainly for a bachelors.

Ellie7

Mon, Jan 02 2023, 8:30 pm

He should definitely not get a Ph.D. unless he's paid to do it. (No one should.)

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