More MUA money woes
Once again, we’ve been handed the short end of the stick and I’m trying to find my big girl words.
As a Canadian, I qualify for 52-weeks of maximum funding from the government to attend MUA. Since tuition in Canada is pretty cheap, this is not a lot of money. It doesn’t cover a full year of tuition and doesn’t touch living expenses, books or exam fees. During my first three years of med school, that deficit has been made up by an RBC student line of credit and the monthly support of my super, awesome, wonderful parents. Going to medical billing school would have been lighter on their wallet, but the job would be less rewarding. I hope to pay them back and help them retire someday. During this last year, the living expense deficit has been made up by Brandon’s hard work at his job (that was supposed to be part-time).
As an American, Brandon does not qualify for any government funding and has paid for his entire MUA trip through a private lending company that charges a ridiculous amount of interest. His parents are also amazingly supportive and took on hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt from his undergrad degree at a private university.
In November, Brandon anticipated passing Step 1 and starting clinicals. He applied via the regular route for MUA financial aid. He was told that the school and private lending company no longer process applications “off-cycle” from the trimester system and he would have to wait until the next processing cycle. Which would be in March for the May semester.
“But don’t worry. We’ll roll-over your application and everything will go through just fine,” the Financial Assistant at MUA told him.
That didn’t happen quite as smoothly as they promised, but his application was eventually resuscitated in time for the March processing cycle and once again he was assured everything would go through just fine.
This weekend he received a letter from MUA stating that his financial aid application has been denied because he’s already borrowed too much money to go to school.
He is only done 2 years out of 4. He still has $50,000 in tuition to pay for 5 semesters of clinical education.
Can someone explain to me the logic of providing funding to your students for only half of your program?
If we can’t get this sorted out or find an alternate source of funding, I’m really not sure how Brandon is going to be able to continue med school this year. We can barely afford to get me through as it is. He may have to spend the rest of this year finishing up his MBA and wait until I start working…
And we all know how attractive that option sounds for someone that has been chomping at the bit to get into clinicals since November.
UPDATE: After speaking with the Loan Company Charging Ridiculous Interest, it has been brought to our attention that MUA raised the qualifying credit score by 50 points. Which Brandon misses by about 15. This is an easy situation to fix with a co-signer. And it all would have been even easier if that reason for declining the application had been included in the letter in the first place. Ugh.
Thanks for your concern. Brandon’s parents have always been amazingly supportive of his education and this is no exception. They’ve even offered to put a second mortgage on their house(!) to get him through school. We are both so lucky to have moms and dads that believe in us and this crazy roundabout way of becoming doctors.
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March 28th, 2010 at 10:57 am
This happened to a friend of mine. She wrote nasty letters to the head of Sally Mae, and eventually got the rest of her funding. Talk to me on facebook and I’ll put you in touch with her if you have any Questions…
March 28th, 2010 at 11:27 am
sorry to hear about the situation you are both in. i would be soo upset and frustrated.
just wondering how much attending mua is costing you? hope you don’t mind me asking. you mentioned getting rbc loan, canadian loan, and family help. that sound like a lot of dough!!
March 28th, 2010 at 11:51 am
thanks, Kent. he’s calling the school tomorrow to figure out exactly what’s going on and i’ll keep ya posted.
Joe – med school is not cheap. doesn’t matter if you’re in the USA, Canada or the Caribbean. we pay $10,000 per semester for tuition alone and there are 5 basic science semesters (on Nevis) and 5 clinical semesters (in the USA). you do the math. then add living expenses, books and several thousands of dollars in USMLE fees.
it’s not uncommon for med students (anywhere) to graduate with $250,000 worth of debt.
there really is no wonder why low-paying primary care specialties and gov’t budget cuts aren’t more popular with recently graduated students.
March 28th, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Oh, Jen and Brandon, I am sooooo sorry to hear this. *HUGS* I will be hoping and praying and sending all good and positive energy out into the universe that this gets resolved and SOON!
March 28th, 2010 at 2:04 pm
wow tuition has increased a lot since ive been there. definitely understand the frustration of getting a loan initially and then getting denied thereafter. i was awarded a 25k loan as a premed there and when that year was up, i was denied every loan thereafter. strange. i called them up and said i was awarded a loan before how come i cant get anymore even with my parents as co-signers. they said, technically you shouldn’t have gotten a loan in the first place. oops.
March 28th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Sounds like it’s all a cash grab and they don’t really care if you succeed as a medical professional. Why else would they only fund half your education and not the other half. It makes no sense at all. I would have thought MUA would do everything they could to ensure their students succeeded, but then again, Post Secondary institutions operate as a business first and a school second. I can understand your frustrations… I was in a program a few years ago where they accepted students into the program who did not meet the minimum entry requirements, but let them enter and complete the program anyway, knowing full well they would never graduate because they wouldn’t be able to meet the minimum exit requirements… Cash grab. They didn’t care if we graduated or not. They just wanted the money and “stats”… but my tuition was only $5,000 for the year instead of $20,000+.
March 28th, 2010 at 9:11 pm
just playing the devil’s advocate (as you know I like to do), but I don’t think it’s logical to assume any lending company, or school is going to fund the entire cost of 4 years of education (med or otherwise). I think the general idea is that they supplement the money you should already have saved towards your education. Sadly, if you are relying solely on loans of one kind or another to pay your tuition and living expenses, you simply can’t afford to be going to school. I say this from experience cause i’ve been through the exact same thing…and it sucks. I ended up having to go part time for a while, and then i took two years off to work before i was able to continue with school. The sad truth is, they really don’t care. And as Jen pointed out, it only serves to prevent new doctors from going into primary care.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:10 pm
Holy crap! That really stinks m=big time, to put it mildly.
Like anything else, this too shall pass. I believe in you two.
March 29th, 2010 at 7:15 am
It’s going to work out. Maybe not how you two originally planned…but it will work out.
March 29th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
i am sorry, i think it’s ridiculous to think that one’s school wouldn’t have the resources to secure relationships with banks so that they students paying 200K+ are not guaranteed money to graduate.
as a medical student, especially since we are guaranteed an income, no one even blinks an eye when i apply for loans.
my school is 38K a year and i take out 20K to live on. granted, i am 30 and have my own credit going for me, but no one i know deals with bullshit like this. my school takes care of the 40K through FAFSA (they have a bank we all use that secures that money) and i take out the rest, which is FRIGHTNINGLY easy. it seriously takes me about 5 minutes to guarantee 20K every year.
i am not saying *everyone* will/should have it as easy as me….but i don’t think what J&B are dealing with is unacceptable.
unfortunately, i think another poster is right when she pointed out the buisness deal end of this. J&B’s school is better than some others, but there are plenty of students who get accepted withOUT the cognitive ability to graduate, and someone profits when that student has to pay it back, eventually.
anyway, just sayin’, this is crap.
March 29th, 2010 at 6:56 pm
“but i don’t think what J&B are dealing with is unacceptable.” ……i meant i do think it is unacceptable.
March 29th, 2010 at 11:18 pm
Maybe Brandon can get Canadian citizenship and then apply for the RBC line of credit. Regardless of that, he should probably get Canadian citizenship anyway.
March 30th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Oh my goodness!!! I’m soooo glad to hear this update! And I’m so amazed at the love and support your parents are providing the two of you – that is TEH AWESOME!!!!!!!!
March 30th, 2010 at 6:12 pm
i agree with Jillian and alexia.
i think it is utterly irresponsible of an educational institution to fail to provide funding for students that are accepted to and excel in their program.
April 5th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
It is utterly RIDICULOUS that the USA DISCRIMINATES against its own citizens by failing to offer government subsidized loans for medical education of foreign graduates. It is totally disgusting that the USA can afford trillions of dollars to kill and maim masses of strangers and even our own soldiers in war, but we cannot assist our own people who have dedicated themselves to a lifetime of hard work for the benefit of helping others.
Best wishes to you both!
April 6th, 2010 at 6:55 am
Well, I must say that I am very humbled by all of your opinions. I really think things will work out for the best. My grandpa set back money for me for school back when I was a tiny boy. I wanted to save it for our down payment on a house, but there was no choice in this situation. I decided to pull the annuity and cash it in. That is paying for this semester and then I think more than likely that I am going to have to utilize a second mortgage on my parent’s house. I am going to work to pay all of this debt off as fast as possible because it is killing me to be swimming under it all. Without Jen and her parents and my parents we would both be in really tough times. I continue to pray that we can just get through this and everything will be alright.
May 23rd, 2010 at 9:08 am
[...] couple of months ago, Brandon was turned down for the first time for student loan funding from our school. After guarantees from the school that [...]