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2013-07-31

Paying for medical school

As I mentioned in the previous post about Medical schools that admit international students (and also in my post in Student Union, the student blog of Voice of America), one of the main reasons for low admission statistics for non-US citizens is that internationals attending American medical programs do not receive financial aid or loans from the government that Americans are eligible for. That usually means having to provide one's own funding sources for the entire duration of their studies - and sometimes even the need to prove having enough money (up to total of around $200,000 just for tuition) on one's account at the time of their admission. And that is not easy.
There are, however, several other options to consider.


MD/PhD

One of the options for the internationals is to try to apply for slightly more competitive MD/PhD programs that have different sources of funding, which are not governmental, but private. For international students who don't have some $200,000 set aside just for their studies, this might be, paradoxically, a more viable option. Once you get in to such program, you basically don't need to worry about the money. The question is whether you really want to pursue a career of a doctor-scientist (MD/PhD), or just a medical doctor (MD).
[More useful information on MD/PhD programs at MD-PhD.org.]


Institutions providing international loans

Although federal funds are closed to non-US citizens, some institutions do provide loans for international students. Of course, you need to give the money back, but as a medical doctor and alumnus of such university, you hopefully will be able to pay back, and so it is definitely a viable option.
Some loans might be also available from banks and other companies; most of them require a co-signer - an American citizen who would become your guarantee [1]. List of some of them (taken from official websites of medical colleges) is below:
 (More information on some of the above can be found here and here - documents by the Student Services center of the Medical College at the University of Connecticut.)


Schools providing scholarships

The best option, of course, is to get into a school that will pay for you. These institutions, however, for this (and many other reasons) are the most competitive ones to get admitted to, and so only a few lucky students can afford to rely on this luxury path. Most of them, moreover, offer some combination of institutional financial aid and private loans:

Foundations

Many international students forget about the fact that apart from the country they would like to study in (in case of readers of this blog, it's mostly the US), they can also search for funding in countries they come from! Do some research and try to find generous sponsors who are eager to support the talent in you, as a representative of their country. Although it sounds improbably, you might be successful - so far, I know about the following ones:
- Students from the Czech Republic can apply for a scholarship from the Zdeněk Bakala foundation


[The list above is not complete and it is being updated frequently. Please, if you know about any more options listed, let me know in the comments - thank you!!]


[1]: Definition of a co-signer according to InternationalStudentLoan.com: The Co-Signer must be a US citizen or permanent resident, with good credit, income history and who has lived in the USA for the past 2 years.
Last update: 8/7/2015