Medical Student Debt

Medical student debt continues to be a hot topic. So what can you do? First, educate yourself on the subject by taking a look at these five key updates from the Committee on Student Financial Aid (COSFA) for November 2009. You can click on key words below to take you to sites with more information!:

1. FIRST - Financial Information , Resources, Services, and Tools - COSFA continues work with the FIRST team to update financial information geared towards medical students and applicants. Visit FIRST, check out FIRST Facts, become a fan of FIRST on Facebook, and link to the FIRST podcast. M.D. Economics presents "Dr. Median" and common repayment strategies encountered during residency.
2. Upcoming FIRST Tools - As requested by OSR, loan calculators that crunch numbers regarding repayment from data in the loan worksheet are now included under FIRST tools. Development continues on a student loan worksheet application that will store user-generated information about student loans and be used beginning the first day of medical school. Look for a beta version in 2010.
3. Medical Student Debt Facts - The Debt Fact Card contains updated stats on medical student debt, revealing that on average medical students graduate from medical school with $160,000 of debt.
4. New FIRST Fact Sheets - COSFA continues the campaign to increase financial information available to students, with several FIRST Fact sheets in the development pipeline. Recent additions include Loan Forgiveness for Public Service, Income Based Repayment, Cost of Applying to Residency, and Choosing a Specialty. Have other ideas? Let me know.
5. Loan Repayment/Forgiveness Programs - Medical students have numerous options to alleviate loan debt with 100+ programs at the federal and state level. Check out the online listings, and federal programs at the NIH, NHSC, HRSA, and Military for more information.

Online updates from the AAMC national meeting for COSFA, and other GSA Committees, are now online. Should you have questions or ideas about financial assistance issues and the OSR, please feel free to contact me as the liaison to the GSA Committee on Student Financial Assistance.