Medical Grad School Grants?
November 29, 2010 6:07 PM   Subscribe

I am seriously considering going PA school. Help me sort out the money part.

I know federal financial aid for undergrad inside and out, but not much about grad school aid.

It's my understanding that graduate level financial aid is limited to loans except for medical/dental studies, but Google has been unable to give me the names of any grants.

(I am 32 with a husband and three children, so the military is out.)

I did run across something called a Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students that is federal and specific to graduate level medical studies. I think I qualify, but it specifically calls for parental tax returns. My parents are divorced, and I have a shaky relationship with both of them. I'm not sure I could get tax returns from either of them, particularly my father, who hasn't worked in two years and doesn't have a great track record of filing taxes when legitimately employed.

I would rather not finance my entire graduate education with loans. Is there any free money out there?
posted by Leta to Education (8 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
At 32, haven't you been off your parents' tax returns for quite a while? If it's this program, wouldn't they be looking at your current family situation, not your family of origin?
posted by Ideefixe at 6:35 PM on November 29, 2010


Can you offer your father to pay someone to file his tax returns for him? If he owes money to the IRS, and it's not a huge amount, would you be willing to pay that for him, assuming that you gain to benefit from having the tax returns in your hands?

Considering how much is at stake, you and your parents should be able to keep communications professional and get the work done. No need to rekindle anything with them over this issue. Seriously, if you're not willing to get over the "shaky relationship" with your parents to take the initiative to do what it takes to apply for the grants, you should consider a cheaper career choice.
posted by halogen at 6:42 PM on November 29, 2010


Can you contact the PA schools you want to attend? In addition to talking to them about admissions and tuition, you could also stop by their financial aid office and find out about financial aid options for graduate school and they will also probably be able to provide you with additional info such as scholarship opportunities, etc.
posted by MsKim at 6:57 PM on November 29, 2010


I don't know of any health professions-specific grants or scholarships, but depending on what your plans would be after graduation, you might be eligible for loan forgiveness under the National Health Service Corps. As with anything, make sure you read the fine print and that you understand the commitment before you sign.
posted by honeybee413 at 7:01 PM on November 29, 2010


A friend of mine graduated from PA school about 3 years ago. She did take out loans (about 100k, I think), but is now in a program that repays her loans at a rate of 25k/year (going up to 40k/year next year, she just told me) because she is working with an underserved population. In her case, she's a PA in a prison clinic, which is kind of an adventure as well as adding those loan repayment funds on top of her almost 90k salary. The program she's in doesn't have a multi-year time commitment; she gets the loan money each year she works there and so has a commitment of a year at a time. When she was looking into these kinds of programs, there were also loan repayment programs for working in rural areas and in city clinics; her family had considered the possibility of spending a few years in northern rural Michigan after PA school, but working in the prison has let them stay put. I do not know off-hand the name of the program she's getting repayment through but will try to ask her.
posted by not that girl at 8:29 PM on November 29, 2010


Response by poster: DUDE! I live in the U.P. and very much want to stay here. That could be just perfect. (Yes, I know I would make less money here. My PA salary goals here would be $50k per year at a 32 hour week. I would be willing to earn more, of course, but not willing to work more.)

I will certainly also check out the National Health Service Corps.

And yes, you would think that because I have been off my parents' tax returns for years, they would be a non-issue, but I guess not. Everything I've read so far has specifically said that even if you are an independent student, parental tax returns are required.

I am looking hard at Wayne State and UW Madison's distance learning option. Wayne State is in state tuition, but separate living expenses, to whereas at UW I'd be mostly at home but have to pay out of state tuition. So I'm still crunching the non-tuition numbers to make sense of everything.
posted by Leta at 9:20 PM on November 29, 2010


There's no way that parental tax returns would always be required. Think about your situation, where you are effectively estranged from your parents? How would you make them give you your tax returns? You're not an "independent student", you're an "adult student".

This page says that dependency status can end once you reach 24 years of age. The idea that you must reconcile with your parents and pay for them to get their taxes done is ridiculous.

Find one or two schools you are interested in and call their Financial Aid offices. My understanding is that institutions are fairly motivated to get you whatever aid they can, especially on the graduate level. They're usually not paying for the grants themselves, so getting a student who can attend with someone else's money is a good thing for the university.
posted by Deathalicious at 11:21 PM on November 29, 2010


I guess just for future readers, but neither having dependents or being 32 would, by itself disqualify you for the armed services' Health Professions Scholarship Program. This forum says that you're well under the age limit and that waivers have been easy to get in the past.
posted by Jahaza at 12:03 PM on November 30, 2010


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