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I'm not sure what the max is, I'm interested to know as well, but it doesn't matter much. You just have to apply and see what you get. Grants from StudentAid are automatic, I've gotten a few of them over the years but never applied for them. 

Other grants/scholarships/bursaries we can apply to on Aug 15. 

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I think if you choose professional program when applying for bcstudent aid, then you don't get any grants rather all the funding is only loan.

i tried that with the online Canlearn calculator. Although don't know how uptodate it is.

 

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a question about StudentAid BC Loan Application. For line#19, I selected the Program of Student as "VANCOUVER: Doctor of Medicine -- M.D. -UNDERGRADUATE (RAA3)" from the menu but line#20 showed as the dates not found/not listed. Apparently, there is an Appendix 3 that needs to be filled in by the faculty. Does anyone have the same format? 

Also, what should I put in for the "End Date"? 

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You'll get just under 12,500 in loans(provincial+federal), than another 3400(1700*2) in low income grants if you qualify. May very slightly by year.

This is what i usually got for pre-clinical.  And it should be the maximum for the category of student you described. Will change based on your prior career, marital status, and other things.

 

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On 5/31/2017 at 4:16 AM, Med888 said:

For BCStudent aid is medicine program at UBC considered a Bachelor or a Professional program?

How much funding can an independent student (over 22yrs of age ) can you get maximum.  Can you get any grants?

 

 

It's a professional program. You can check out the student guide at if you want more than my word for it :) https://studentaidbc.ca/sites/all/files/form-library/studentguide.pdf

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On 2017-5-31 at 4:16 AM, Med888 said:

For BCStudent aid is medicine program at UBC considered a Bachelor or a Professional program?

How much funding can an independent student (over 22yrs of age ) can you get maximum.  Can you get any grants?

 

 

We were told by the UBC financial program advisor to list the MD undergraduate program as a bachelor's or undergraduate program.

The only exception is if you are an MD/PhD student in which case you would list your degree as a graduate degree.

Don't list it as a professional program. If you have any questions about the application process for student loans or a LOC it is recommended that you go to one of the financial advice sessions run by the UBC financial program advisor for students.

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  • 10 months later...

Reviving an older thread instead of making a new one...

Would anyone be able to comment on how much in loans you would be eligible for if you worked full time the previous year? Say a salary of $60k/year. I also assume I would not be eligible for any bursaries with that income for 2017?

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Edit: whoops, was answering old questions and not the new one.

On 5/12/2018 at 2:17 PM, jfdes said:

Reviving an older thread instead of making a new one...

Would anyone be able to comment on how much in loans you would be eligible for if you worked full time the previous year? Say a salary of $60k/year. I also assume I would not be eligible for any bursaries with that income for 2017?

Based on my experience, it shouldn’t have much bearing on your application for loans or even bursaries — last year they mostly seemed to look at how much I said I planned to make while in school. I was in this situation and I got the full loan amount available (~12k) and a bursary from ubc. But no extra grants from the government.

But keep in mind that eligibility will also be affected by whether you live at home or are considered a dependent of your parents, or you live with a spouse and/or kids. You can PM me if you want more details about what I was able to get given my income / savings / living situation.

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11 hours ago, textbook88 said:

current ubc student here- you guys will get a workshop on it during the summer by jennifer wong and she will tell you how to fill out the application. But from memory, MD is considered undergrad for bc student aid purposes

would you suggest waiting to start figuring out getting a LOC until after the financial workshop? And do you remember if the workshop was early summer (like early June) vs later? 

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14 minutes ago, casajayo said:

would you suggest waiting to start figuring out getting a LOC until after the financial workshop? And do you remember if the workshop was early summer (like early June) vs later? 

As long as you get a LOC with Prime -0.25, there is very little else a financial workshop will tell you. The "perks" are just slightly different credit cards, which are really meaningless for the most part. Your goal as a medical students should be to not frivolously rack up debt. 

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42 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said:

As long as you get a LOC with Prime -0.25, there is very little else a financial workshop will tell you. The "perks" are just slightly different credit cards, which are really meaningless for the most part. Your goal as a medical students should be to not frivolously rack up debt. 

I was more wondering if they will be able to give us some contact details for people who specifically work at these banks and who deal with the professional line of credit, as it appears that not every financial adviser at these banks are familiar with them and can therefore give you false information. I've managed to budget and pay my way through both a bachelors and masters degree while paying rent and living costs in Vancouver so I'm not as concerned about "frivolously racking up debt" but moreso finding people who have the knowledge to accurately walk me through this process. 

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43 minutes ago, casajayo said:

I was more wondering if they will be able to give us some contact details for people who specifically work at these banks and who deal with the professional line of credit, as it appears that not every financial adviser at these banks are familiar with them and can therefore give you false information. I've managed to budget and pay my way through both a bachelors and masters degree while paying rent and living costs in Vancouver so I'm not as concerned about "frivolously racking up debt" but moreso finding people who have the knowledge to accurately walk me through this process. 

Post in the LOC thread in the medical students subforum, I think rmorelan keeps a list of advisors at different institutions - or someone else might be able to recommend someone.

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1 hour ago, casajayo said:

I was more wondering if they will be able to give us some contact details for people who specifically work at these banks and who deal with the professional line of credit, as it appears that not every financial adviser at these banks are familiar with them and can therefore give you false information. I've managed to budget and pay my way through both a bachelors and masters degree while paying rent and living costs in Vancouver so I'm not as concerned about "frivolously racking up debt" but moreso finding people who have the knowledge to accurately walk me through this process. 

No, they by default wouldnt give you specific advisor names. That would be a conflict of interest in a sense, if they as an official entity said "Oh, John at BMO is good if you are in Brampton".  Every bank(or almost every) will have contact info on their official sources. Just get a advisor that is specifically for professional students, and/or medical students.  

The process is really not difficult assuming you are getting the right product. If you are getting prime - 0.25, then you can be fairly confident the rest of the product will be right. (As no one, or rather the vast vast majority of consumers are not getting this sort of deal. Only med and dental students are getting it). 

The good thing with LOCs is you can't go wrong - if you notice some other feature or new product from a different bank later, you can easily up and switch or get them to adjust to your needs.  

Things you need to know about the LOC for med/dental students:

1. This is a professional student line of credit
2. Interest is prime - 0.25, as offered by most banks
3. Some banks will give you all the 275k up front, some will break it up into chunks and release funding year by year (i.e. 50k year 1, and so on so forth). Unless you're planning on using the money to pay off outstanding debt, or jump into a large purchase, it doesnt matter either way. You can always change it, or press them to get it up to the full amount before med school is over.
4. Repayment options: Depends on the bank, but again, doesn't really matter - since you can simply close and open a new LOC with a different bank come 3-4 years when you're getting closer to that time.  These things are constantly changing and may very well be different 3 years from now. Don't get too fussed about this.  It is much less important for med/dental students than the majority of LOC users, as they don't get the same extreme leniency and special treatment etc.

5. Credit cards: Most will offer you the fees waived to a premium credit card while in school.  Some won't, advisor dependent. Depends on your personal spending habits how valuable some of these points cards are. I.e. a frugal single student has different spending habits than a person with 2 kids at home and a mortgage.  Simply say "my friend so and so is with X Competing bank and gets the Visa Avion premium card fee waived, i would like it too". They usually will do so. Some will say their hands are tied. Again, depends on how much you are fussed about it. If you're spending habits are sub 1000$ a month, well you aren't going to rack up much points anyways. 

6. Chequing accounts, savings etc etc - all should be waived as a student. If you need cheques for rent, make sure they give you some free cheque books if not already included. 

7. Interest payments: As soon as you use any money from your LOC, interest starts accruing and you need to make interest payments.  Scotiabank has it set up, so that the interest automatically gets added onto the principal LOC balance every month. Most other banks don't do this - but really, it takes under 10 seconds to move the interest owed amount from your LOC into your chequing account, so that the LOC can automatically draw from that to make the "Payment". Some people love this because it means they don't have to "spend time". It's a nice feature, but surely you will open your online banking account at least once a month anyways to check your balances, make sure no odd charges made to your credit card etc etc, so it really is an unnecessary feature and shouldn't persuade you to scotiabank.  

8. For the rare times you need to go into the bank in person, it's nice to have one close to you.  For most people with simple financial needs, this ends up being the differentiating factor.  IF there is not a branch of bank X close to you, or close to where you frequent (school, hospital, gym etc), then i wouldn't pick that over another bank.


 

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7 hours ago, casajayo said:

would you suggest waiting to start figuring out getting a LOC until after the financial workshop? And do you remember if the workshop was early summer (like early June) vs later? 

Just checked my old emails - the summer workshops were held twice a week starting in early June. (Not sure if it's the same now but that's at least a rough estimate for your timeline.) There's also a Financial Night in September where different banks have representatives available to answer your questions, provide brochures, etc. Those reps are usually very familiar with professional LOCs and med students. But overall, like @ JohnGrisham said, there isn't much variability for rates between banks. It's mostly what perks you'd like to have.

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