University of Michigan Medical School Financial Aid Office April 2015
•2015-2016 FINANCIAL AID NOTIFICATION PROCESS•
•SCHOLARSHIP THANK YOU LETTERS•
•ELECTRONIC MASTER PROMISSORY NOTES•
•FALL 2015 FINANCIAL AID DISBURSEMENT SCHEDULE•
•2015-2016 TUITION DUE DATES•
•2015-2016 STAFFORD AND GRADPLUS LOAN INTEREST RATES•
•GRADPLUS LOAN FOR GRADUATE AND PROFESSIONAL STUDENTS•
•PRESIDENT OBAMA’S FY 2016 BUDGET PROPOSAL•
•DEADLINE FOR CURRENT YEAR (2014-2015) FINANCIAL AID•
•FINANCIAL WELLNESS VIDEOS•
•HOMEBUYING WEBINAR•
•SPECIAL NEEDS•
•GRADCARE INSURANCE CHARGES•
2015-2016 Financial Aid Notification Process
The Financial Aid Notification process for the 2015-2016 application year is in full swing and notices continue to go out daily. You will receive an email message to your umich email account when your 2015-2016 Financial Aid Notification is available for you to view/print on Wolverine Access.
If you are required to submit additional application materials, you will be sent an email regarding missing
documents. This email will direct you to the View Financial Aid Documents Section on Wolverine Access, which will provide links for further information or to PDF documents for you to print and submit to our office. All additional application materials must be received by May 1 to consider your application for all aid programs.
Scholarship Thank You Letters
It is important to remember, if you have received a scholarship from a living donor, you are expected (required) to write a thank you note to the donor of your scholarship EACH YEAR that you receive the funds.
In conjunction with the U of M Health System Development Office, a new system is currently being designed to collect thank you letters. Those of you receiving scholarships from living donors should have already received a letter from our office notifying you of this change. You will be receiving another letter in the early fall from Development giving you specific information on submitting your thank you letter. We will not hold fall disbursements this year, rather, you will have ample time in the fall to write a thoughtful and informative thank you letter to your benefactor. A later deadline will be given and submission of your thank you letter will be required prior to winter disbursement.
This only refers to scholarships for which the donor is still living. If you receive a scholarship and the donor of those funds is deceased, a thank you letter is not necessary.
Electronic Promissory Notes
Please read this section carefully
If you are being offered a Federal Perkins Loan or Loan for Disadvantaged Students (LDS) for the first time as part of your financial aid package, you will be given instructions to electronically sign your promissory notes. You will not be sent paper promissory notes for these programs. When you view your Financial Aid Notification on
Wolverine Access, you will be provided with a link that will take you to “eSign Loan Documents” within Wolverine Access. Instructions for electronically signing your promissory notes (s) are explained in this section. In addition, the note that you will be signing is a “Master Promissory Note” similar to the Direct Loan Master Promissory Note (MPN). You will not have to sign another Perkins or LDS promissory note as long as you are receiving aid from the University of Michigan Medical School. If you receive subsequent LDS loans, you will be required to sign a Rights and Responsibilities Statement each year.
If you’ve previously received a Federal Perkins Loan or Loan for Disadvantaged Students and signed a Master Promissory Note at the University of Michigan Medical School, you will not be required to sign another. LDS borrowers will still be required to sign a Rights and Responsibilities Statement each year.
If you are a first time Direct Loan borrower, you will be required to sign a Master Promissory Note (eMPN) as well as do Entrance Counseling on-line. You will receive instructions for signing the eMPN and doing the On-Line Entrance Counseling when you view your Financial Aid Notification on Wolverine Access.
Fall 2015 Financial Aid Disbursement Schedule
Financial Aid disbursements for fall term are scheduled to be delivered according to the schedule below. Funds over and above the amount of tuition and fees will be refunded to you. If you have a direct deposit authorization on file the funds will be deposited directly into your designated account. This will provide you with the quickest access to your living expense funds. You can set up direct deposit in the Student Business section of Wolverine Access. Select Direct Deposit. Be sure to allow 10 days for processing. If you have a direct deposit authorization on file from previous years it is not necessary to complete a new one, unless you have changed financial institutions. If you do not have direct deposit, the funds will be mailed to your local address as listed in Wolverine Access. Please be sure that this address is accurate and up to date.
Fall Term tuition charges for clinical students will be charged at the 2014-2015 rates and at 2015-16 rate for the winter term.
Note: You must be registered for fall term to receive financial aid. All negative service indicators must be resolved before registration can be completed. Any payments due should be made as soon as possible, in person, at Student Financial Services, Teller Window in the Student Activities Building on Central Campus or electronically through the Student Business section of Wolverine Access.
Fall Term Disbursement Dates M1 August 3, 2015 M2 August 17, 2015 M3 May 4, 2015 M4 May 11, 2015
2015-2016 Tuition Due Dates
Fall Term 2014 5/31/15 M3 and M4 students 8/31/15 M1 and M2 students Winter Term 2015 10/31/15 M3 and M4 students 1/6/16 M1 and M2 students
The process for viewing bills in Wolverine Access will remain the same. May billing statements will be available in mid-May. For information regarding the payment schedule and for answers to frequently asked questions, please see the Student Financial Operations website at www.sfo.umich.edu/faqs.html. Because some financial aid disbursements will not be made until AFTER billing statements are generated, all aid that is ready to be disbursed will appear on your statement as “anticipated aid”. Any balance remaining is your responsibility to pay PRIOR to the due date.
2015-2016 Stafford and Grad PLUS Loan Interest Rates
Unsubsidized Stafford Loans disbursed between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2013 – 6.8% Unsubsidized Stafford Loans disbursed between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014 – 5.41% Unsubsidized Stafford Loans disbursed between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015 – 6.21% Unsubsidized Stafford Loans disbursed between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 – TBAGraduate PLUS Loans disbursed between July 1, 2006 and June 30, 2013 – 7.9% Graduate PLUS Loans disbursed between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2014 – 6.41% Graduate PLUS Loans disbursed between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2015 – 7.21% Graduate PLUS Loans disbursed between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016 – TBA
Loans disbursed prior to July 1, 2006 will remain variable.
GradPLUS Loan for Graduate or Professional Students
If you have exhausted your Federal Stafford Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loan eligibility for the year, you have the option of requesting a GradPLUS loan to cover your remaining need for the year. You must submit two additional forms to our office before we can process the GradPLUS loan. These forms, the Federal Direct GradPLUS Loan Request Form and the Consent to Obtain Credit are available on our website at
http://medicine.umich.edu/medschool/education/md-program/financial-aid. Click on “How to Apply” and then “Important Documents and Forms”.
Applicants must not have an adverse credit history and must have exhausted all eligibility in Federal Unsubsidized Stafford Loans for the academic year. The interest rate is 7.21% and begins to accrue once the loan is disbursed. This is an unsubsidized loan. Graduate PLUS loans are eligible for in-school deferment.
President Obama’s FY 2016 Budget Proposal: Impact on Medical Student Financial Aid
Many of you have come to us with questions and concerns about President Obama’s FY 2016 Budget Propsal and the possible effects on Public Service Loan Forgiveness. The statement below is from Paul Garrard, President, PGPresents and following that is a link to Fast Fact from AAMC’s Government Relations. As we learn more about the proposals we will pass the information along.PGPresents’ Statement on Public Service Loan Forgiveness:
The Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) was established in 2007 as part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act (CCRAA) and was designed to encourage student loan borrowers to both enter and remain in public service as a means for helping them manage their student loan debt (see www.StudentLoans.gov under Managing Repayment for details). The program as written is neither discipline nor degree specific, and thus applies to all eligible borrowers, including those from graduate and professional degree programs.
Since its inception, there has been considerable concern and resulting discussion regarding the long term viability of the program, especially in light of how long it takes borrowers to qualify (at least 10 years).
These discussions have recently been exacerbated with the proposed changes to PSLF referenced in President Obama’s 2016 Budget which contains language that would change the forgiveness programs, including placing limits on the amount borrowers may have forgiven under PSLF. Some argue these changes are targeted at highly indebted borrowers from the graduate and professional school communities who could see substantial forgiveness under PSLF, even though these responsible borrowers (who may have incurred substantial opportunity costs on top of the costs of additional borrowing) may potentially have higher earning potential.
There is no guarantee PSLF will be available when eligible and responsible borrowers have met all the eligibility requirements. However, PGPresents would encourage borrowers interested in PSLF (and those that counsel them) to consider the following and then decide on their own comfort level having PSLF as part of their repayment strategy.
1. Changes in student financial aid, including loan programs, tend to be “prospective”, meaning changes most often apply to a new cohort or new group of borrowers. There are many who think that any proposed changes in PSLF will not impact current borrowers, including those already in repayment, but there is no guarantee such would be the case.
2. The President’s Budget is a proposal, it is not law, think of it more as a request for spending and budget cuts. The process for any changes to become law is generally a lengthy and cumbersome one, and many believe no action will be taken this year on this proposal.
3. PSLF currently operates like an “entitlement” program, and thus is not currently subject to annual appropriations. However, that being said, no borrowers have seen the benefits of PSLF yet and the earliest eligible borrowers could take advantage of PSLF will be in 2017, 10 years after passage of CCRAA. 4. PSLF is referenced in many borrowers’ Direct Loan promissory notes in the section on Borrower Rights
and Responsibilities.
We understand borrowers interested in PSLF often face important decisions regarding aggressive repayment (which would pay down the potential forgiveness amount) as well as possible decisions about how to file taxes (for those married borrowers interested in PSLF who are trying to minimize their payments and for whom the inclusion of spousal income in the determination of payment amount under income-driven plans is detrimental). However, we would respectfully remind dental and medical residents and fellows that decisions about continuing with a strategy based (at least in part) on PSLF are likely to come towards the end of residency or fellowship when they are evaluating future employment opportunities that may or may not be part of the public service sector.
PGPresents encourages all borrowers who are using income-driven repayment plans such as Income Based Repayment (IBR) and Pay As You Earn (PAYE) as part of their repayment strategy (especially those doing so as part of a repayment strategy tied to PSLF) to reevaluate their repayment strategy on a regular basis, at a minimum when they renew their IBR or PAYE eligibility.
AAMC Government Relations Fast Fact can be accessed at: https://www.aamc.org/download/373928/data/fastfacts.pdf
Deadline for Current Year (2014-2015) Financial Aid
The deadline for requesting financial aid for the 2014-2015 academic year is April 30, 2015 or before the end of your academic year, whichever is earlier. Please take a look at your budget. If you feel you have a need for additional funds for this academic year, please make your request as soon as possible.
Financial Wellness Seminar Videos
Videos from most of the Financial Wellness Seminars presented this year are now available on Mediasite at http://recording.umms.med.umich.edu. If you have ideas/suggestions for next year’s Financial Wellness Series, please let us know!
Homebuying Webinars
Presented by PhysicianLoans
PhysicianLoans is once again offering the Home Finance Workshops in webinar form. Like the live presentations, they are strictly informational in nature and presented with no sales angle or bias. The schedule for the April webinars is now available. Simply go to PhysicianLoans website at http://www.physicianloans.com and click on the Free Webinar logo to view the current month’s dates and to register to attend.
Special Needs Fund
The Financial Aid Office has limited funds available from a number of sources for special needs of students, over and above the standard budgeted expenses. Some of the more common expenses that can be considered are emergencies (family emergencies, medical expenses, etc), individually arranged clerkships (domestic and international), uninsured medical and dental expenses, USMLE prep course (request in conjunction with Office of Student Programs), research, conference travel, etc. Funding is not necessarily 100% of the request; there are limits on many of these items. In order to be eligible for Special Needs Funds, students must first submit a financial aid application for the year in which funds are being requested. Students are required to provide parental information for eligibility determination. For further information on this program, please go to our website at
GradCare Health Insurance Charges
Please remember, if you borrowed funds to cover your GradCare Health Insurance premiums, you are responsible for making the payments to your Student Account when the charges appear. GradCare charges are billed monthly to your Student Account. These must be paid monthly to avoid late fees. If a negative service indicator is placed on your student account as a result of non-payment of these charges, you will not be able to register for winter term until it is resolved. The 2015 calendar year monthly student premiums are listed below.
Coverage 2015 rates (your cost)
You only $176.67
You+one adult $400.67
You+one child $346.67
You+adult and child(ren) $570.67 You+two or more children $346.67
If you take a leave of absence, your GradCare coverage is continued. Your account will continue to be billed the monthly premiums and it is your responsibility to make payments. If you go on leave of absence and wish to have your GradCare coverage discontinued, you must contact the GradCARE Student Help Line at 734-615-2000. Remember, before you can return to registration, you must have GradCare or another comparable health insurance policy in place.
Any questions regarding GradCare should be direct to the University of Michigan Benefits Office at (734) 615-2000 or (734) 615-0258.
