How to pay for medical school

When my student loan was denied by the bank, I wasn’t sure how to pay for medical school.

A few days later, I happened to receive a call from someone in the admissions team at my medical school and I described my situation. After asking about my GPA and MCAT score, she said that the school would provide an institutional loan to cover my tuition costs. All the paperwork is finalized now so I can share how I’m able to pay for medical school.

Paying for medical school using an institutional loan

For the application, I had to provide details about the income and assets for myself and my parents. I also had to provide the denial letter from the bank. I had applied for a TD Student Line of Credit since they were providing the highest loan at the lowest interest rate. When the school assessed my application for the institutional loan, they increased my initial scholarship offer and approved an institutional loan that covered the remaining tuition. This loan is for tuition only, so I have to arrange for the living costs.

Loan disbursement and interest rate

The total loan amount is divided equally over the total number of terms so I will have an individual loan for each term. This way, the interest isn’t accumulating on one huge amount over 4 years. Each loan will be disbursed a few days prior to the start of the term. The interest rate is about 2% higher than the bank, so for term 1 it’s about 4.5%. Not terrible. The interest depends on Canadian prime rate so if that changes, I could have a different interest rate for each term.

Repaying the loan

No payments are required during medical school, not even interest only payments, but interest will accumulate. I can make payments towards the loan at any time without any penalties. When I graduate, there will be a 6-month grace period (no payment required) but (of course) interest will accumulate. I’ll have 10 years from the time of graduating to pay off the loan. Luckily for doctors, once you’re in residency, it’s very easy to get a bank loan. So my plan is to borrow money from the bank to pay off the school first and then repay the bank at a lower interest rate.

All in all, Caribbean medical school is still very expensive, but it is definitely more manageable than what I had imagined. And I only learned about this after going through the process myself. So if you’re in a similar situation, you can try asking your medical school about an institutional loan.

I’m not sure about the specific requirements, I believe it’s assessed on a case-by-case basis. But it’s definitely worth asking about. This is what’s made attending medical school possible for me.

How are you paying for medical school?

-M

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