OFFICE OF
FINANCIAL AID

DETERMINING NEED

How Financial Need Is Determined

Financial need is the difference between the cost of attendance at CWRU School of Medicine for one year (tuition and cost of living) and the resources that are available from you and your family to apply toward that cost. The Financial Aid Officer makes awards, which equal this determined need. When this award is added to the resources expected from you, your family, and other outside sources, this would enable you to meet the basic cost of attendance.

Budget

In the early part of the coming year, a budget guideline is determined for all incoming and presently registered students. These budgets should be ample to cover the student's needs. In establishing student budgets, the school includes costs based on full-time enrollment for the academic year for tuition, required fees and insurance, lodging, food, and modest personal expenses.

All students registered in the School of Medicine are required to be covered by an adequate hospitalization plan. Each student is responsible for evaluating the student health plan to be sure it meets his/her individual needs. If it does not meet those needs, the student must be enrolled in a health care plan providing adequate hospitalization coverage. The university health insurance rates for the current year are sent to you from the Office of Admissions. Any questions should be directed to Mrs. Billey, room T-308, or call (216) 368-3450.

Resources

The calculation of your resources is estimated with the principles recommended by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the Need Access Application results; these principles in turn are in accordance with Federal Government guidelines. Two categories of resources can be expected: a contribution from your parents and a contribution from you.

Parents’ Contribution:

The Financial Aid Office determines what your parents should reasonably be able to contribute by using the FAFSA/Need Access Application analysis and your parents' latest federal income tax return. This determination assumes your parents have an obligation to contribute toward your education in accordance with their financial capability. It is based on national objective standards. When Need Access calculates your parental contribution, the following items are deducted: federal, state, and social security taxes, unusual medical expenses, casualty or theft losses, and an allowance for basic family expenses, such as food, clothing and shelter, which varies with the size of your family. The result is called available income.

Parental assets such as home equity and savings are considered apart from income. This total is reduced first by certain allowable debts, then by protective allowance that increases with the age of your parents. The result is multiplied by a conversion factor to produce what is called income supplement. This is, in effect, theoretical income.

Then the available income and the income supplement are combined producing an index of the family's financial strength. This total is “taxed" at a progressive rate; the higher the total, the greater the “tax bracket”. The result is then divided or adjusted if there are other children in college.

Changes in the determined total family contribution from one year to another generally reflect differences in family circumstances either financial or personal. This is the reason that we require a new Financial Aid Application be completed every year.

Student’s Contribution:

This is based on savings and earnings shown as resources on the application for aid. If a student has substantial savings accumulated for medical school, he or she should divide this by four years so it will be a resource for each year. This should be noted on the application as the Financial Aid Officer should be aware that the student is doing this. A student's earnings as a resource should be a reasonable estimate of what was earned. Please do not over estimate your earnings. Always use the net figure after taxes. Incoming medical students will be expected to come up with at least $1,500 as their contribution for first year.

For the University Program:

The unit loan (Stafford Loan) is that amount which the student must obtain through bank loans or other sources before school funds can be allocated. The unit loan for the 2008-2009 award year will be $32,000 ($8,500 subsidized and $23,500 unsubsidized) for first year medical students.

For the College Program: