Cost of medical school

[drmd2015]

Hi,

I am currently in high school and would like to become a doctor. My parents would like how much it will cost for me to get my medical degree. I've done some research but it seems like it's very difficult to find the cost. So I was wondering what the cost is for medical school in Canada. (not including undergrad or living expenses)

 

thanks:)

[bayervillager]

Hey vivelle90!

I'm expecting to be $100,000 in debt by the end of medical school, based on a projection of ~$15000 for tuition and $10000 for living expenses, rent, transportation etc each year. Of course, if you live at home you would save a bit of money in terms of living expenses and if you go to somewhere like U of T, you would expect to pay more in terms of living expenses. You can find out more about projected costs at each medical school/city by searching for "budget" or something along that line on the school website. I know that at least at Queen's they have a webpage with projected living expenses.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about getting your parents to pay for it. Unless you have really bad credit or are part of a religious faith that prevents you from borrowing money with interest, most likely your student loans and medical student line of credit will be able to cover all of your costs for those four years. So no worries for the financial stuff!

[eng_dude786]

"part of a religious faith that prevents you from borrowing money with interest,"

 

what religion would that be? (just curious....)

[Madz25]

tuition at some med schools is as low as $7000/year and it goes up to $18000/year (outside of Quebec). multiply that by 4 years...

[drmd2015]

so it's much cheaper in quebec? how about in Ontario (such as U of T, Ottawa of Mcmaster) ?

[007]

My understanding is that it's only cheaper in Quebec if you are a Quebec resident.

[Kyleh]

See this: http://www.afmc.ca/docs/2007_admissions_book.pdf

 

Also, just look on the school's websites.

[bayervillager]

"part of a religious faith that prevents you from borrowing money with interest,"

 

what religion would that be? (just curious....)

 

Some muslims believe that borrowing money with interest (ie. a conventional mortgage or loan) is wrong. Others don't believe it though.

I remember talking to a friend of mine who said that while at first glance it seems to make things like buying a house/car difficult, many alternatives exist. I'm not quite sure what they are, but if you are curious, I'm sure that you can google up some info about these alternatives.

I also had another friend from high school who also said that due to religious reasons, he could not take out an OSAP or a LOC. I'm not sure what the story is there since he was definitely not muslim. All I knew was that his family belonged to some kind of a New-Age religious community.

[Madz25]

so it's much cheaper in quebec? how about in Ontario (such as U of T, Ottawa of Mcmaster) ?

 

UofT's tuition is somewhere around $18000/year. No idea about Ottawa and Mac.

[NLengr]

The CMA listed the average debt for a graduating physician as $160,000 a few years ago. That seems to jive with my talks to people too.

 

Med. school tuition is also ~7k at MUN. The provincial govt. puts a lot of money into education here. Regular undergrad education is only $1300 per term.

[Fred]

Yes, in quebec it's around 2800-3000$ (about 60$ per credit) a year, you have to qualify as a quebec resident.

For residents of another province it's around 8500$ a year, if you can get accepted

[Devari]

Hi,

I am currently in high school and would like to become a doctor. My parents would like how much it will cost for me to get my medical degree. I've done some research but it seems like it's very difficult to find the cost. So I was wondering what the cost is for medical school in Canada. (not including undergrad or living expenses)

 

thanks:)

 

This really depends on what school you're going to since tution costs can differ significantly between different schools. Living expenses will be less variable but I would expect to budget around $15,000 to $20,000 per year at a minimum (depending on the city you're living in) in addition to the cost of tuition.

 

Hey vivelle90!

I'm expecting to be $100,000 in debt by the end of medical school, based on a projection of ~$15000 for tuition and $10000 for living expenses, rent, transportation etc each year.

 

If you have to pay for all of your expenses (rent, utilities, food, etc.) then you can't realistically expect to live on anything less then $15,000 per year, and for most people living expenses willl be closer to $20,000 per year in most cities. So four years of medical education will probably cost you around $70,000 (for four years of living expenses) plus the cost of tuition.

[drmd2015]

The CMA listed the average debt for a graduating physician as $160,000 a few years ago. That seems to jive with my talks to people too.

 

Med. school tuition is also ~7k at MUN. The provincial govt. puts a lot of money into education here. Regular undergrad education is only $1300 per term.

 

I have a question, what is MUN an acronym for?

[NLengr]

Memorial University of Newfoundland.

 

They've actually changed the name to just Memorial University now, but MUN is still used by pretty much everyone in day to day speech.

[up doc]

Aside from the tuition and living, you have to factor in the expense of traveling for carms, money for professional clothing (can be variable depending on how equipped you are already), unexpected car breakdowns etc. When your talking about 4 years a lot of expenses can come up. You just have to try and operate on a need basis and not a want as those wants can pile up when you see your already graduated friends bringing in the doe and going on trips.

[Pool Rat]

"part of a religious faith that prevents you from borrowing money with interest,"

 

what religion would that be? (just curious....)

 

Christianity, or more specifically in modren times the Catholic Church. Usury (the borrowing of money with interest) is forbidden in both the new and old testement. This was an issue during the protastant reformation and when the split happened the protastant churches began to interperet usury as meaning the leading of money with "excessive" interest. The Catholic church continued to forbid the lending of money with any interest, and still does today (Catholic churches do however regularly take out standard (ie interest incurring) bank loans and there are many creative explainations as to why this doesn't constitute usury).

[Devari]

Christianity, or more specifically in modren times the Catholic Church. Usury (the borrowing of money with interest) is forbidden in both the new and old testement. This was an issue during the protastant reformation and when the split happened the protastant churches began to interperet usury as meaning the leading of money with "excessive" interest. The Catholic church continued to forbid the lending of money with any interest, and still does today (Catholic churches do however regularly take out standard (ie interest incurring) bank loans and there are many creative explainations as to why this doesn't constitute usury).

 

In biblical times money and wealth simply weren't handled in the same way that they are today so it's difficult to draw direct parallels in many cases. There are theological and philosophical explanations for why charging interest was considered wrong but it's much more difficult to apply those arguments to the modern financial system. In modern times charging at least some interest is necessary to prevent the lender from incurring a loss. Since the lender's money could be invested and therefore making a profit it wouldn't really be reasonable to expect the lender to forfeit that income and take a loss from lending someone money. At the same time, charging an extremely high interest rate isn't necessarily justifiable, which is where the moral issues arise. The vast majority of Christians don't have any problems with charging or being charged a reasonable amount of interest on a loan, although excessively high interest rates can often cause problems from a moral and practical perspective.

[avenir001]

Devari!!! u're back! where've u been, we missed ya!

[Devari]

Devari!!! u're back! where've u been, we missed ya!

 

Actually, I never left, I just haven't had the time to post. I've been spending the majority of my time at the lab bench trying to get the results I need to start writing up my thesis.

[drmd2015]

what is carms?

[Madz25]

what is carms?

 

CaRMS= Canadian Residency Matching Service

 

http://www.carms.ca/

[RuralDoc]

Hi,

 

Here are my costs, starting after highschool (with no help other than food and rides from parents)

 

3 years undergrad:

Costs 15000 tuition, 1500 housing, 1000 food (mostly free from parents)

Student awards for undergrad- covered this

 

Starting med school:

I had $3000 in my bank account

 

Med school (3 year program)

Tuition- $38000, Books/Supplies $10000, Housing $10000 (average $300/m)

Food- $3000 (never went out to eat), CARMs $3000 (application, interview and travel costs), licensing exam part one- $700, transportation $3000,

 

After med school:

Costs to register with college of physicians- $350 and CMPA $1200/year but some reimbursed, residency registration fee- $350, moving costs (none thanks to parents)

 

Awards during med school

Tuition bursaries- $7500/y x 3- $22500

Millenium bursaries- $3000/y x3 = $9000

Other scholarships and bursaries= $10000?

 

Left med school with $11500 student debt

 

My understanding is that it doesn't have to leave you with $100000 debt unless you spend extravagantly on things like frequent vacations, designer clothes, fancy meals, and expensive housing. That is true even for me, the first md in the family without any parental financial support. You should apply for whatever financial aid you can. If you are truly interested in rural med, it is not difficult to find financial support.

[Devari]

My understanding is that it doesn't have to leave you with $100000 debt unless you spend extravagantly on things like frequent vacations, designer clothes, fancy meals, and expensive housing. That is true even for me, the first md in the family without any parental financial support. You should apply for whatever financial aid you can. If you are truly interested in rural med, it is not difficult to find financial support.

 

The cost breakdown is interesting, but from what you've listed you only spent an average of $300 per month on rent and $90 per month on food? Where did you live and what did you eat? In Edmonton and Calgary, for example, you generally can't find a basement suite for less than $400-500 per month, and then you add the cost of utilities, which gives you a minimum of around $600 per month for rent and utilities even in a run-down basement suite. Living in Vancouver or Toronto is even worse. And $90 per month for food is only $3 per day. What do you eat if you're only spending $1 per meal?

 

Also, how difficult was it to get those bursaries and scholarships? They totalled $41,500 which is a very significant amount. Were some of those bursaries specifically for students with an interest in rural medicine?

 

Being able to graduate from medical school with only $11,500 in debt is very impressive, but I can't figure out how someone could realistically live on a total of $400 per month for both rent and food, particularly considering the current housing prices in most Canadian cities.

[Pool Rat]

And $90 per month for food is only $3 per day. What do you eat if you're only spending $1 per meal?

 

I lived on $100 dollars a month in my undergrad and the answer is rice, rice, more rice, some macaroni and then some rice lol. I staved of the scurvy and rickets with frozen vegtables. Those were the days:rolleyes:

 

$11 500 is very impressive. My tuition alone is $14500 and my rent $700(balchor apartment a fair distance from school). Those 2 combined total $91 600 over 4 years. So if I can get $41000 dollars in scholarships I'll only owe $50 600 (assuming I don't eat, travel, buy books, pay the power bill or pay the interest on my LOC).

 

I can't realistically leave with less than $100 000 debt.

[RuralDoc]

Hi,

 

The first year I paid $250 total to an elderly woman for a basement room- in return for snow shovelling and yard work. She made a lot of my meals. The second two years were in another basement room and was all inclusive except for food. I only allowed myself to take $20/week out of my account for food. Staples were pb and day old bread. I did receive about $9000 in specific scholarships for rural med keeners. The rest was bursaries based on financial need. I learned a lot about living bare-bones growing up in my family (especially the traumatic experience of being a teenager in a family that could not afford a phone!).

 

Ruraldoc