Budgeting and Debt Management

Using your financial aid to cover your living expenses is very different than creating a budget from an income that is earned.  Students who cover their expenses with financial aid will first need to create a spending plan to determine how much income (financial aid) they will need and then accept that amount in their financial aid award.

You can use the Cost of Attendance budget to get an approximate idea of the maximum you can safely spend on living expenses for the upcoming academic year.We encourage all students who are requesting loans to use the AAMC Monthly Budget Worksheet to estimate your living expenses and determine how much you actually need to borrow.

Suggestions for Living within the Cost of Attendance Budget:

While the living allowances in the budgets represent moderate medical student costs, many of our students tell us they live on less than we allow. The living expenses portion of the Cost of Attendance Budget is based on the following maximum figures:

Rent (including utilities)	$750
Food	$275
Transportation	$210-270
Miscellaneous expenses (including clothing, routine medical expenses, recreation)	$290

Please remember financial aid only covers a student’s enrolled period.  The budgets are based on the following enrollment periods (vacations and school breaks are not covered):

1st Year	2nd Year	3rd Year	4th Year
42 weeks	40 weeks	46 weeks	40 weeks

Incoming students should bring enough money with them to last until September. Even if you are expecting a financial aid refund, you should bring enough money with you to cover initial moving expenses such as: security deposits, utility charges, first rent payment, purchase of household supplies.

Managing your Refund Disbursements

Financial Aid refunds are generally disbursed twice a year.  Receiving funds in one lump sum can by difficult to manage for students.  Please use the following chart to estimate your next financial aid disbursement.

Year	1st Disbursement	2nd Disbursement
1st Year	1st week of August	1st week of January
2nd Year	2nd week of August	1st week of January
3rd Year	1st week of July	1st week of January
4th Year	1st week of July	1st week of January

Budgeting Considerations

• Consider having your financial aid refund deposited into a saving account and “paying” yourself each month into your checking account to better manage receiving lump sum payments.
• 2^nd & 3^rd Years will want to set aside $535 for USMLE exam fees (Step 1 & Step 2 CK)
• 4^th Years will want to set aside $1,140 for USMLE(Step 2 CS) as well as travel fees for the exam
• 4^th Years – residency interview costs are not included in your cost of attendance.  Please contact the Student Financial Services office to discuss other external payment options, including external private residency loans.
• All students should try to save some money each term for emergencies such as trips home, medical bills, car repairs, etc.
• All students have 120 days from the disbursement date of their loan to request a reduction and/or cancelation of the funds they received.

Need more help?  Please contact us to set up a time to discuss your spending plan.  We can assist you in living within your financial aid budget.  If you can live on less than your financial aid budget, please contact us to reduce your loans.

Other Resources:

AAMC FIRST – resources for students and residents including budgeting tools, repayment options on student loans, credit card payoff calculator

AAMC MedLoans Organizer – online secure site to keep track of your educational loans and calculate estimated payments amounts during residency and beyond

 

Last modified September 28 2012 09:01 AM