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A Note About Scholarships

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Students often indicate that they want to receive scholarships to fund their medical education. Scholarships can reduce or eliminate the need to borrow, and they can come from a variety of resources, including your medical school (if available), outside sources such as faith-based groups, civic and community organizations, businesses, and even state, federal, or county organizations. There may even be service-based or military scholarships that appeal to you.

If participating in a service-based scholarship program, the participant agrees to complete a service commitment to receive the scholarship, and if the service commitment is not fulfilled, then the participant will likely be required to repay the scholarship and may even be required to repay the scholarship along with a fee or penalty. If you accept a service scholarship, be sure to understand what is required of you and what responsibilities are associated with accepting the scholarship.

If you do not find scholarships or other alternatives to borrowing loans, then you may want to familiarize yourself with loan forgiveness and/or loan repayment assistance programs. While these programs might not be immediately impactful during medical school, they can certainly help with the total loan repayment costs later by repaying (or forgiving) a portion of the loans borrowed.  Learn about these programs as you begin medical school and continue to explore new programs and opportunities as they become available throughout your medical school journey.

The AAMC Loan Repayment/Forgiveness/Scholarship and Other Programs Database lists available programs that may interest you. We also encourage you to talk with the financial aid staff at your school to learn about options specifically available at your school.

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