How to Navigate Financial Aid as a Grad Student, Part 2

In part two of this podcast Q&A, we talk with Jaime Schulang, MA, director of Student Financial Affairs. She talks to us about the different loans, scholarships and financial aid that is available for students when they come to Salus University.

Q: Does financial aid provide extra funds aside from just tuition?

A: I mentioned the cost of attendance earlier, and your cost of attendance is made up of a variety of different components. Tuition is the biggest one usually, but that also includes any university fees, any allowance for board exams that you may need to register for while you're a student. Specifically for the optometry program, a books and instruments allowance and then also an allowance for living expenses. 

We figure what the average cost of living is in the area, and we currently are offering students to borrow up to $2,200 per month for their living expenses. And when we figure out the cost of attendance, we do break it down by room, board, transportation, health insurance, and then miscellaneous expenses. But basically when you get your award, you get your budget, anything that you get back to use for your living expenses is a lump sum. You can use it however you need to. You don't need to necessarily follow the numbers that we put on the budget as long as you know what amount you have to spend and don't go over that amount. 

We also include, because there are loan fees that are currently taken out of your loans when they're disbursed for federal loans, we're allowed to put an allowance into your cost of attendance for that. When you receive your funds, you're not going to be shortchanged by that fee. You'll see that in the cost of attendance as well. And we do post those on MySalus, so anyone who has access to that once they're matriculated should be able to see the breakdown for each individual program.

Q: Is there a tuition payment plan available?

A: That's something that would really need to be discussed with the Bursar's Office. Generally, we do not have tuition payment plans. Tuition is due the first day of classes, but that's something you can talk to the bursar about if you're having issues or maybe you can see what they can work out. 

When it comes to financial aid, we only really process the aid and don't deal with the students making payments. For any student who is applying for financial aid, if we're still working on your award and your tuition is going to be paid a little bit late because your financial aid is in process, then that's usually okay because we just notified the Bursar's Office, or we have you notify the Bursar's Office that your financial aid is pending and it's forthcoming. And then you're not going to have any problems because they know that your tuition is going to get paid.

Q: Is it possible to appeal to receive more aid if a circumstance arises?

A: If you find that you're in a situation where you are short on cash and you had something happen that was maybe atypical of just normal expenses, then we do encourage students to come talk to us. There are some situations where we can look on a case-by-case basis and determine whether or not we can increase your cost of attendance and allow you to borrow more, but it is case-by-case. 

We usually tell students if they're in a situation where they run into a problem, come speak to us and we'll see what we can do. Let's say your budget is $60,000 - I'm just throwing a figure out there - and you're only borrowing 40 and you say, "Oh my God, my car broke down and I need money for that." Well, you have $20,000 at your disposal that you can borrow. In a case like that, you could just say, "I want to increase my loan," and let us know and we increase your loan, and then you get the money. 

But in a case where you borrowed that full $60,000 and you need more, that's where you can come to us and say, "Look, I'm in a bind. What can I do? Can you help me?" It all depends on what you borrowed and how much you may be able to get.

Q: How much debt does the average student accumulate when they graduate?

A: That really depends on the program, because obviously students that are in a two-year program have lower costs and fewer years of living expenses that they can borrow for compared to students who are in a four-year program. It really does range. The most recent stats from 2020 (we don't have the 2021 information yet for graduate debt because students can still borrow for this year), the range from last year is from $70,000 in debt up to $218,000 in debt. There is quite a gap depending on what program you're in. Obviously, $70,000 was a two-year program, $218,000 was a four year. 

On the whole, when I looked at all the programs and all of the students who borrowed it was $162,000, but I feel like that could be misleading because there are a number of students who take less because they're in a two-year program. That takes everyone into consideration. And considering the majority of students who are in a four-year program, it obviously makes that number seem higher. 

But about 84% of our students in the last award year had some degree of financial aid debt. If you're out there and you're thinking, "I'm not sure what I want to do," you're not going to be alone by taking a loan because you see the vast majority of students here do rely on financial aid to get themselves through school.

Q: Are there counselors to talk to, to get more information?

A: Yes, we do have our email address, financialaid@salus.edu, which everyone in our office has access to. There's very few times that there's not anyone available, with the exception university closures for holidays and things like that. That mailbox is monitored pretty much every work day of the week, Monday through Friday. And then of course, anything sent over the weekend is usually reviewed on Mondays. Email is a good way to get ahold of us. 

Right now, currently, we are only in the office Monday through Thursday with one staff member in the office per day. We are available if you need to stop by. I encourage everyone to use our email address right now because we're not always here to get the phone. But in normal circumstances when we are back to work full time, then calling us is fine too. 

We are doing, if you wanted to sit down and make an appointment with us, we are doing WebEx appointments while we're virtual. We still have the opportunity to meet somewhat face-to-face and not just via email, because it could be a lot easier to discuss things kind of in person. But we do have that opportunity available during the current situation so we can help students the best we can.

Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?

A: I always encourage you students to look for any scholarships that they can. We send out a lot of opportunities that sometimes go unapplied for. And I know it's a time-consuming task sometimes, but we've had students that have gotten money out of it. I wouldn't want to pass up free money, especially for school. It's important to try to take advantage of some of those opportunities and do some searches on your own if you can. 

I'm a big proponent of, and I know we've talked a lot about borrowing, I always encourage students to fill out a budget for themselves. I talk a lot about this when it comes to orientation, and we do have budgeting worksheets that we provide online. I always tell students, "I know a lot of you need loans and aid to get yourself through school, but borrowing as little as you possibly can is going to be the smartest decision you make because you don't want to have that loan-debt burden hanging over your head for years. Because you want to enjoy your life when you're earning money, not having it all go to your student loan." Make sacrifices now so you can enjoy life later. 

To learn more about the financial aid opportunities at Salus, you can visit salus.edu/admissions.