Sources of Financial Aid

Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan Program

The unsubsidized loan is not subsidized by the federal government; interest begins to accrue from the date of disbursement and is the responsibility of the borrower. Borrowers may either pay the interest as they go or allow it to accrue and capitalize (be added to the principal) at the end of the six-month grace period following graduation.

• Once you receive your preliminary award email, you must follow the instructions to request your federal loans. Request loans by July 1st each year to ensure they will appear on your fall tuition bill. Loan requests may be adjusted (increased or decreased) at any time during the year, until at least March 1st, with no difficulty – just contact your counselor.
• Disbursement: The Federal Direct Loan funds will be credited directly toward payment of tuition and fees in two equal installments (August and January or February). If your tuition and fees have already been paid, or your financial aid proceeds overpay your account, the overpayment amount will be refunded to you at the beginning of each semester.
• For information about the Federal Subsidized Loan, which was available in 2011/12 and previous years, please contact your financial aid counselor.
• Congress has ended the subsidized loan program for graduate and professional students.

Maximum Loan

This loan cannot exceed the lesser of $40,500 (adjusted for any academic year greater than nine months) or the cost of attendance minus other aid per academic year; $224,000 cumulative undergraduate and graduate unsubsidized borrowings.

Loan Fees

Loan Fees: This loan fee is subject to change each October 1st due to the impact of the sequester. Loan fee changes will be announced by the financial aid office.

Interest Rate

Interest Rate: 6.8% Fixed Rate for all unsubsidized loans disbursed after July 1, 2006 but before July 1, 2013. New loans after July 1st of each year are subject to a new interest rate.

Grace Period

Borrowers will automatically receive six months of grace immediately following graduation or withdrawal from school. No payments are expected during the grace period. However, interest on the unsubsidized Direct Loan will continue to accrue and will be added to the principal at the end of the grace period.

Residency Forbearance

Borrowers may request residency forbearance for any years of residency training remaining. No payment of principal or interest is required during the forbearance period, however, interest continues to accrue and, unless paid by the borrower, will be capitalized at repayment.

Deferment Options

Once repayment begins, borrowers are entitled to a deferment if they meet any one of the requirements below. The borrower must request deferment on a form provided by the lender and provide documentation in support of the deferment request. For more detailed information regarding deferment requirements, see your financial aid counselor.

Note: Interest on federal unsubsidized loans continues to accrue during deferment and, unless paid by the borrower, will be capitalized at repayment.

• Periods of unemployment (cumulative 24-month limit)
• Full- or half-time study at an eligible school (no limit)
• Residency training (only those borrowers who have an unpaid balance on a Stafford loan disbursed PRIOR to 7/1/93; 2-year maximum deferment)
• Graduate Fellowship (lender must approve eligible program – no limit)
• Rehabilitation training (no limit)
• Economic Hardship – (only those borrowers who received their first Stafford Loan after July 1, 1993; borrower must meet the federal definition of hardship; 36-month limit)
• Unable to find full-time employment (36-month limit)

Repayment: Standard repayment allows 10 years excluding periods of grace, deferment and/or forbearance. Longer repayment periods may be available depending on the borrower’s total debt. Income-driven repayment options may be available depending on the borrower’s situation.

Loan of Last Resort

• The Graduate PLUS loan provides funding for students whose maximum federal unsubsidized loans, along with any other aid, do not fund the student up to the Cost of Attendance. This is a more expensive loan, and we encourage students to delay borrowing and to minimize borrowing to the degree possible. Please see your counselor for more information.

Interest Rates for loans taken out during:

The UVA School of Medicine, like most medical schools, requires students to submit parent information to qualify for need-based institutional scholarships and loans. We use a “Calculated Parent Contribution” which is used to determine your eligibility for school need-based aid.

The calculated parent contribution comes from the federal needs analysis formula, which is explained below. The benefit of using the federal needs analysis formula is that it treats all students the same and so allows us to distribute our limited school funds equitably.

However, the downside is that the federal formula produces a “contribution” that is sometimes unrealistically high. The University of Virginia School of Medicine does not expect that your parents will contribute the entire “calculated parent contribution.” While medical school is expensive and we strongly suggest that families help to the degree that they are able, the amount that your parents are able and willing to contribute is a family decision. Any amount of the calculated parent contribution that your parents are unable or unwilling to actually contribute can be covered with federal loans.

Parent Information and the Federal Needs Analysis Formula

Determining the calculated parent contribution is complicated, but it is not secret.

All information that you submit on the FAFSA is verified using the UVA financial aid application (in SIS) and the tax returns. If information that you have submitted is found to be erroneous, we will adjust the figures in our calculations. For example, if you report on the FAFSA that your parents have a family size of 4 with 2 in college, and your parents do not claim any dependents on their tax return, we will adjust these numbers to be a family size of 3 (your parents and you) with 1 (you) in college, because the FAFSA rules dictate that people included in the “family” must appear as dependents on the tax return.

Once all of your parent information has been verified, the contribution is calculated using the federal needs analysis formula.

Most students will find these worksheets cumbersome, but the basic formula is this:

Then take INCOME + ASSETS, and use the chart on page 19 to determine the “calculated parent contribution” (generally, it is between 22%-44% of INCOME + ASSETS). This number is then divided by the number of children in college. This final calculated parent contribution is then applied to our packaging policy to determine your aid eligibility.

You can get an extremely rough estimate of your calculated parent contribution online using the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator from finaid.org.

Financial Aid Packages: 3 Examples

The following examples are three hypothetical financial aid scenarios intended to illustrate our financial aid packages for incoming first-year students.  All assume 2020/21 costs for a first-year medical student at UVA, and that the student has applied for school-funded aid and been assessed as a parent contribution based on Federal Need Analysis Methodology. This methodology considers family income and assets, taxes paid, size, # in college, age of older parent, state of residence, etc.  Contribution estimates for your individual family circumstances can be calculated using the Expected Family Contribution (EFC) Calculator from finaid.org.

To the extent of funding availability, it is our current policy to meet demonstrated need as follows:

• Virginia Resident: Up to $25,000 need-based scholarship.
• Non-Virginian: Up to $30,500 need-based scholarship.

If need for institutional aid remains after the student has been awarded the maximum University scholarship, up to $10,000 of the remaining need can be met with Institutional Loans.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

NOTES:

• The total aid you can receive from combined sources can never exceed the approved Cost of Attendance.
• Your family circumstances or changes in federal regulations and/or school awarding policies may result in packages different from those above.
• Outside scholarships may reduce parent contribution, but will be considered a resource available to meet the cost of attendance.

International students admitted to the UVA School of Medicine should visit the International Studies Office website to determine the next steps necessary for enrollment.

Loans

In some cases, there are private lenders who will issue educational loans to international students; however, the UVA School of Medicine does not recommend any particular private lenders.  The website finaid.org maintains a list of lenders offering private student loans which you may find helpful.  The University also has a search engine to help you compare private lenders.

If you apply for a private loan, please then contact your financial aid counselor to discuss the next steps. Private loans must be certified by the financial aid office. The maximum that we will certify is the official Cost of Attendance.

Common Sources of International Student Funding at the UVA School of Medicine:

• OSAP: For Canadian citizens who are residents of Ontario
• Private Loans

(FEDERAL: non-need based/Service Commitment)

Applicants must be U.S. citizens who can meet physical and personal qualifications for a commission in the uniformed services and who are enrolled or accepted for enrollment in accredited schools in the U.S. or Puerto Rico. Awards include payment of full tuition, reimbursement for health insurance, books and supplies required for study, and a monthly stipend for ten and a half months when the student is not on active duty. Students receiving HPSP cannot receive any other federal or institutional aid, as the HPSP funding exceeds the Cost of Attendance. The award is based on agreement to undertake service obligation. A minimum three-year term of service is required. The program is highly competitive.

Contact:

Students who join the Army Reserve or the National Guard program receive a monthly stipend during medical school with no interruption to medical school or residency training.  In addition, students may be eligible for loan repayment and a continued stipend during residency.  Some students may be eligible for a special pay bonus with service agreement.

Contact:

Eligibility and Benefits

The National Health Service Corps of the United States Public Health Service offers the following educational support to selected scholarship applicants: Payment of full tuition and required fees, a single payment for other reasonable educational expenses, and a monthly stipend. You must be a citizen of the United States to apply and must submit proof of citizenship with your application.

Service Obligation

For each year of support you would be obligated to practice for one year in a federally-designated, high-priority Health Manpower Shortage Area of the United States. (Minimum obligation is two years.) Service areas include rural community health centers, the rural health care facilities of the Indian Health Service, and the medical facilities of the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons.  For information about finding a location to serve after residency, please see the NHSC website.

Selection

Selection priority will be given to

• former recipients of the NHSC Scholarship or the EFN Scholarship from their school of medicine;
• applicants with those characteristics that increase the probability they will continue to practice in a Health Professional Shortage Area after they complete their service obligation;
• applicants with second priority features who are from disadvantaged backgrounds.

How to Obtain Detailed Information and Application Material

You may request an application from the National Health Service Corps Scholarship Program directly at 1-800-221-9393.

Application Deadline

The deadline for submitting completed applications to the Department of Health and Human Services is generally in March.

1. Our Scholarship Bulletin Board.  Check our Scholarship Bulletin Board periodically for updated outside scholarship information.
2. World Wide Web. There is a vast amount of financial aid information available on the web. Perhaps the best site to begin with is Finaid. It is an excellent resource and links to hundreds of other sites such as individual school pages, financial aid eligibility estimators/calculators, debt management services, free scholarship searches, and the US Department of Education. In addition, there are many websites where you can search for outside scholarships. These online searches can be frustrating, but we encourage students to spend some time searching: Dept of Education Scholarship. Also investigate med-specific scholarships from scholarships.com.
3. Medical School Admission Requirements (MSAR) – published annually by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Available through most pre-medical advisors and college libraries, this publication contains a comprehensive overview of financial aid for medical students and includes descriptions of federal aid programs, requirements of specific medical schools, and a bibliography of additional resource materials.
4. National Medical Fellowships. Minority students (Black Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians and Mainland Puerto Ricans) who need financial aid may request information and applications from National Medical Fellowships, Inc. The deadline for application is August 15 of the year in which aid is requested.

Other Potential Sources Of Financial Aid

Most colleges and universities provide student aid reference materials in either their financial aid offices or libraries. The following sources may also warrant your investigation:

Need-Based National Medical Fellowships

NMF is the only nationwide, private organization providing financial assistance to medical students of the four underrepresented minority groups: Black Americans, Mexican Americans, American Indians and Mainland Puerto Ricans. Most awards are granted to first- and second-year medical students who demonstrate need; special merit awards are sometimes given to outstanding juniors and seniors. Awards may range from $500 to $3,000. Although awards are not considered loans, NMF does ask recipients to agree to contribute to the NMF scholarship fund subsequent to medical school in order to help perpetuate their ability to assist needy medical students from these minority groups.

Qualification Requirements

Applicants must be from one of the four under-represented groups described above and must have been accepted by or be attending an accredited school of allopathic or osteopathic medicine in the U.S. Applicants must demonstrate need through a conventional needs analysis.

Application Procedure/Deadlines

Minority students who need financial aid should request an application from: The Scholarship Program; National Medical Fellowships; 254 West 31st Street, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10001. The deadline for applications is May 31 for currently enrolled students and August 31 for new applicants.