Mad money looks like a terrible film

May 18, 2008 5:13 PM

How do I make medical school affordable?

I will be attending medical school (in Canada) come September and I am already worrying about money.

I was hoping to find out:

1) What things I will need to buy and what things I can avoid (i.e. PDA or just a notebook).
2) Of the things I need, from where and what brand should I get to make it the cheapest?
3) are there any deals out there that I can take advantage of? I know that banks will give me a line of credit just because I am going to med school. Are there other deals for people entering advanced degrees, like cell phone plans or whatever?
4) other anecdotal ways of keeping costs down?

I know that there are other sources for this information but I was hoping for gems of information that only past experience can give. Thanks for any advice at all (even advice not directly related to the questions). I am petrified of debt.

posted by ouchitburns to work & money (7 comments total)

Congratulations! I just got into a Canadian medical school myself. Have you tried Premed101? There's a lot of good info (and some not-so-good info) there.
posted by greatgefilte at 6:01 PM on May 18, 2008

Can you say which city you'll be studying in? Besides the stuff directly related to med school, you could probably benefit from some city-specific advice for keeping costs to a minimum, as per question #4.
posted by lindsey.nicole at 6:35 PM on May 18, 2008

I'm a grad student. I understand your pain. You're not alone in your situation. Honestly, the best advice was given to me recently by a dear (and trusted) friend: Go to a financial planner and plan out your short, medium and long term financial plans. You'll have fixed expenses (rent, food, etc.) and flexible costs (entertainment, clothes, etc.) so make a budget. It's tough to swallow, but sometimes you need to think of education costs as a long term investment cost, and while there may be no guarantee of a large salary (especially if you end up say in family medicine), if you're smart you can make it worthwhile and not freak out about money daily. Seriously, having a plan will help you focus and sleep better at night. It's helping me.
posted by carabiner at 7:32 PM on May 18, 2008

In the U.S., there's some loan forgiveness if you commit to working in an underserved (generally remote or rural) area for a certain length of time. You might want to look into the Canadian equivalents as a possible option after graduation.
posted by ejaned8 at 9:15 AM on May 19, 2008

Seconding the Premed101 boards that greatgefilte suggested, if you haven't already been there. There's lots of helpful information for Canadian med students.

I would avoid buying a PDA until clerkship. Even then, there's a good chance you'll survive just as well, or better, with a paper notebook and a few choice pocketbooks. You'd have to find out from your school for sure, but there's a pretty good chance that you'll be fine with whatever computer you have right now. If you have to print pages of notes off daily like we do at Queen's, I'd recommend an auto duplex laser printer.

Re: perks, make sure you're talking to the right person at the bank. Not all people at all branches know about the med school LOC, and might laugh at you when you go in asking for a 150k LOC at prime. You can sometimes get credit card perks. For example, I was offered the RBC avion card with the $120 annual fee waived for a year. CMA offers some discounts with Bell, Porter Airlines, Hertz, Dell, and ViaRail. I'm not exactly sure of the details, but you'll be able to access them once you get your CMA number. I'm not sure what province you're in, but the OMA, for example, offers discounts on hotel rates.

Other cost saving measures I can think of:
- You don't need to go out and buy Harrison's, Robbin's Pathology, and a few other of those lovely, expensive textbooks. They look nice on the bookshelf, but really, you have FREE access to them, and many others, through the CMA and your school. Your library should also have one or more copies of the recommended textbooks on reserve.
- Get a roommate, if you can. Maybe not another med student, but someone else in a graduate program. Splitting bills helps a lot.
- When you're in the hospital, try to bring lunch if at all possible. Hospital lunches on a daily basis can really add up. So can the daily Tim Hortons/Starbucks that you need to keep your eyes open during lecture.
- Some provinces offer final year bursaries to all med students as a sort of payment. In Ontario, it's $6000 over the last 12 months. The amount varies by province.

Good luck, and congratulations!
posted by flying kumquat at 8:02 PM on May 19, 2008

I should add that, if you didn't know already, MD Management provides free financial advice to all members of the CMA. You don't have to have a LOC with them, and they won't try to push their LOC on you. A student CMA membership costs something like $20. I've never met with them, but I have several friends who have. They'll go over budgeting and the like with you, which might be helpful if you're terrified of debt. As well, they'll help you get together all that adult-type paperwork, like disability insurance, power of attorney/living wills, etc.

(A good part of my advice is based on the assumption that you're just coming out of undergrad, which is the majority case. Apologies if you're far beyond that and are kind of rolling your eyes at me.)
posted by flying kumquat at 8:05 AM on May 21, 2008

Thanks for the advice so far.

I am just out of undergrad but a little older than most graduates but I don't know much about wills and disability insurance (both of which I would like to have) so it is good to know about the CMA and the services they offer.

I am in BC, if that helps with specifics.
posted by ouchitburns at 10:09 AM on May 21, 2008