Guest Clairisa Posted June 21, 2001 Report Share Posted June 21, 2001 Hello all I am wondering what people are doing in order to fund their medical education. Other that student loans what are people drawing upon as a resource. Is there any specific scholarships, bursaries, or loans available for people pursuing an education to become a medical doctor. FYI I am a BC resident hoping to eventually attend UBC. Also I read somewhere (not sure where anymore...though I wish I could) that the government will lessen or remove the debt load of medical students. Is this true? Or has ayone heard anything about this. Thanks all And good luck to all of you on waitlists! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 22, 2001 Report Share Posted June 22, 2001 Hi Clairisa, I'd estimate that a good 75% of my class has at least BC and Canada Student Loans. This includes myself, and we're doing it with an annual tuition of about $4000. I can't imagine how the Ontario folks are handling it. :eek Unfortunately for us, there is the very real, and almost certain increase of tuition as the Liberal government takes control. I haven't heard lately whether they will be maintaining the tuition freeze that has been sustained throughout the previous NDP government, but I think there are a number of medical school faculty who are recognising the advantages of a tuition increase. The other major options are to take out additional loans. You can get something known as a line-of-credit, which gives you access to a certain sum of money. In the case of many of my classmates, that's usually around $15,000 annually for a given number of years. Therefore, effectively in 4 years, you have access to $60,000. With these line-of-credits, you are only obligated to pay interest on the amount that you use; so if you have a $15,000 line of credit, but discover that you only used $2000 of it that year, then you only owe the bank interest on that $2000, not the $15,000 you potentially could have used. The rates of interest for lines-of-credit vary with each bank, and the person you are negotiating with. Realise that many banks like to get on your good side, as you are entering into a profession with a very secure source of income. It's in the bank's best interest to hook you in early (they'll make their money off of you). If I remember correctly, one local bank was even offering lines-of-credit at prime rate, so essentially they were making no money on the deal. Beyond that, scholarships will vary with each medical school. However, medical students at UBC, and I suspect most other Canadian universities, are classified as undergraduate students. This makes you ineligible for scholarships and bursaries directed for graduate students. The number of scholarships available at UBC is very slim. However, we do have a really good bursary program through Brock Hall, and many of my classmates ended up with bursaries anywhere up to $5000 for a year. I also discovered recently, and I don't think this information is available on the UBC web-site, but we get paid a small amount of money during third year. I think I remember hearing that the reason was that it would be cheaper to insure us for work in the hospital if we were paid (consequently becoming hospital workers, and therefore covered under the hospital insurance plan). Each month we'll receive around $500, so in the twelve months of Med 3, we'll actually receive $6000, which very nicely covers that year's tuition plus some. I don't know if that's the situation at other Canadian med schools. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strider2004 Posted June 22, 2001 Report Share Posted June 22, 2001 Oh my god! You guys in UBC have it so well! At Queens, we not only pay full tuition(now at $11,500) for clerkship, but we also pay whatever schools we do electives in. So if we do a 2 week elective in Calgary, then we pay $300 to UofCalgary. The tuition does hurt but the student loan program isn't bad. OSAP gives as much as $10,000 and you can apply for a Queens bursary for as another few thousand bucks. The banks have stepped in and now offer lines of credit up to $25,000/annum at prime interest rates. The banks really try to please you because they realize that as future doctors, you can become very good customers. After you graduate, they even automatically assign you a private banker at Royal Bank(if your line of credit as at Royal bank). But..with all those debts, it's estimated that 25% of UWO med students will have a debt of $100,000 by the time they graduate. And since you're only making btwn $35-60,000 for the next while afterwards, expect to live like a student for quite a while. Strider Queens Meds '04 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest money Posted June 22, 2001 Report Share Posted June 22, 2001 ian, could you tell us about the bursaries at ubc? are there any for the entering class? how do we apply for them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Clairisa Posted July 12, 2001 Report Share Posted July 12, 2001 Along the lines of bank loans, I know that Royal Bank for instance, offers a "student line of credit" for approx $5500 per year. This is for undergrad students. Do you know what they offer for med students? Or is it the same? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest strider2004 Posted July 12, 2001 Report Share Posted July 12, 2001 The Student line of creidt for medical students in Ontario is along the lines of $25,000/yr at prime interest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted July 12, 2001 Report Share Posted July 12, 2001 Here in BC I think we get about $15,000 per year. That's usually more than enough, especially when it's added on top of your Student Loan package, plus any bursaries that you manage to receive. I just realised that I didn't answer an old question. Bursaries at UBC are applied for during your first term. You'll receive more information from this by the Med 2 class, probably in the "Survival Guide" that they are putting together for you this summer. The application forms are at Brock Hall, and you'll fill these out sometime in September or October. You probably won't know if you've received any money until January or so, and at that time, you basically go and pick up your bursary from Brock Hall. Obviously, not everyone who applies is going to receive money, but if there's a genuine need in your situation, I think the odds of getting some financial help is pretty good. So, don't stress over the bursaries right now. You don't need to apply for them until later, and there's nothing you can do right now to increase your chances of receiving one. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest med2006 Posted July 12, 2001 Report Share Posted July 12, 2001 I was wondering if you could tell us what the criteria is for getting a bursary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Carse Posted July 13, 2001 Report Share Posted July 13, 2001 Does anyone out there know about low interest line-of-credits available to alberta students? Perhaps which institutions are the best, and how much they give? Any info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted July 13, 2001 Report Share Posted July 13, 2001 Hi there, I used the Royal Bank for my MBA LOC and was happy with their service--as a national bank, they should have LOC programs available in Alberta. The LOC was offered at prime plus one for the two years during the MBA program. The limit was negotiable, but could not exceed the full tuition amount: $52K. This LOC was specially arranged between the university and the Royal Bank, but I'd assume that other such programs are in place. Regarding the rate of interest charged, if you have banking products (RRSPs, mortgage, car loan, savings/chequing accounts) with the bank, then you have more leverage to negotiate a better rate of interest. Therefore, it may be an idea to check with your home banking institution first. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted July 16, 2001 Report Share Posted July 16, 2001 Bursaries are generally given out as long as you meet any stipulations given by the donor (ie. need to have been a member of "X" organization, or parents needed to have worked for "Y" company, or your program of study needed to be in "Z" area, or whatever), and you have proven financial need for that bursary. How bursaries actually get awarded is a complete mystery to me, and it seems like it often works like med school admissions, where there's some sort of a black box that all applications disappear into, and a result is then delivered by mail or telephone. Brock Hall at UBC is responsible for sorting through all the applications, but I really don't know how it all works up there. Some of my classmates got bigger bursaries than others, and nobody really knows why. Ian UBC, Med 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest b2sai Posted July 12, 2002 Report Share Posted July 12, 2002 is 8,000-12,000 canadian $ tuition fee in med school per year or per semester? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest maxell Posted July 12, 2002 Report Share Posted July 12, 2002 Per academic year - UofToronto charged $15000 last year if I am not mistaken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest shkelo Posted July 12, 2002 Report Share Posted July 12, 2002 you should check out this link on loan forgiveness for B.C. medical students: www.aved.gov.bc.ca/news/n...veness.htm For B.C. financial aid: www.aved.gov.bc.ca/studentservices/ Also, check out this link, which talks about doubling the number medical students trained in B.C.: www.aved.gov.bc.ca/news/n...04-02.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kevinlondon Posted July 12, 2002 Report Share Posted July 12, 2002 Hi, does anyone who has received these lines of credit know about ceilings? I thought I read in a recent post that somebody received $25k per year+ up to $125000 total, and that that was *in addition* to any previous debt (student loan/otherwise). I thought I had asked someone about this a couple of years ago, and I thought they had said that the total (LOC + previous loans) had to under $125 k. Anyone know for sure? (obviously coming from a lifelong student...PhD.... almost.. finished..) thanx, Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest BlueWooster Posted July 12, 2002 Report Share Posted July 12, 2002 Kevin, Of the banks I visited, Royal Bank and Scotiabank both had the highest ceilings of $125K. Royal Bank subtracted my previous student loans from this amount (i.e. they'll only give me $85K) but this was still higher than the other banks were willing to go. I signed with the Royal Bank so I'm not sure if Scotiabank would do the same - maybe someone else knows? Blue P.S. Actually, Scotiabank had a lower interest rate as well - not sure why I didn't explore them further.... Sleeping increasingly poorly.....brrrr..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DownUpDown Posted July 25, 2002 Report Share Posted July 25, 2002 Bank of Montreal is 125,000 ceiling, 25,000/annum. They DO NOT even look at govt loans. I am paying premium, have unlimited free cheques, gold card, 60 free transactions and life insurance for 26 cents/month (not mandatory). great deal. Best I've seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted August 7, 2005 Report Share Posted August 7, 2005 Floating back to the top. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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