Route 3: Paying for Medical School
Going to medical school can be expensive. For example, in Ohio, the costs for tuition alone range from about $10,500 at one of the state schools (double that if you are not a resident of Ohio) to $36,500 at a private insitution (no difference for out of state). Add the cost of housing, food, living expenses, textbooks, transportation, and fees, and you can see how quickly the expenses mount up.
Just about everyone will need some financial aid. This can be in form of low-interest loans, scholarships, and grants. Scholarships and grants may have certain conditions attached, but do not generally have to be paid back. As far as loans are concerned, medical students are considered a "good risk," because they have the potential for a generous salary upon graduation, depending on the specialty. However, school debt can be a burden for the physician just starting out in practice.
There are some other ways of financing medical school, most of which involve some sort of service obligation. Some of the most popular are shown below:
- Loan Forgiveness Programs: for students willing to return to an underserved community
- National Health Service Corps: government service to underserved communities
- Project MedSend: for students interested in medical missions
- Military Scholarships and ROTC (usually involves service committment obligations):
