How to pay for medical school

Certain medical schools offer need-based grants, merit scholarships, and assistantships for students. An assistantship is a program that allows you to work while attending medical school so that you can pay for a portion of the cost.

Medical associations and non-profit organizations are two more types of entities that offer financial aid, grants, and scholarships to medical students. Here is a list of some of these types of organizations:

• American Medical Association

• American Medical Women's Association

• American Podiatric Medical Association

Certain loan lenders also have databases you can search for scholarship opportunities.

Federal student aid programs like The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) can help you receive federal grants and loans for medical school. This option may be able to also get you financial aid from your state or college as well.

Filling out a FAFSA may qualify you for one of three kinds of loans:

Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans are loans where you are responsible for paying all the interest on the loans.

Federal Direct Graduate PLUS Loans are also unsubsidized loans that you have to pay back the interest, and they are credit-based, so they typically have higher interest rates than Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loans.

Health Resources and Services Administration Primary Care Loans is a college-based program that offers a variety of different loans for medical students that can prove financial need. Some schools participate in this program, while others do not.

If you've exhausted the above options, you are going to need to apply for a private student loan for medical school. There are several large private lenders that can give you a student loan. These loans typically offer both fixed and variable interest rates.