Rush Medical College: Institutional Policy for Parent Information

Parent information must be included on the FAFSA or Renewal Application in order to be eligible for assistance from all Rush-administered funds. Rush-administered funds are need-based loans and grants awarded by the Office of Student Financial Aid. Eligibility is based on parental information since Rush has insufficient funds to meet the needs of all the students who qualify for aid as independent. Therefore, the university uses a more restrictive definition of an independent student for distribution of its funds.

Complete parent data must be included in both the FAFSA and the Institutional Application for Financial Aid, unless provided in the prior year. This applies to students in: 

• Rush Medical College
• a returning Rush student for whom parent data was required in the previous year in order to receive Rush-administered financial aid.

In addition, parent data is required of all medical students who want consideration for

• Rush grants and loans, or
• the Scholarship for Disadvantaged Students (SDS), or
• the Loan for Disadvantaged Students (LDS), or
• The Primary Care Loan (PCL)*. 

If parent data is not provided, the applicant will be awarded funds from non-institutional aid sources such as the Federal Subsidized and Unsubsidized Stafford Loans.

Students awarded SDS, LDS, or PCL funds will be required to submit parent tax form information from the most recent tax year prior to receiving the funds.

Federal Perkins Loan funds will be awarded to students with preference given to those who have provided parental information and demonstrate financial need.

* This program requires repayment with service in a primary care area during residency and for five years of practice.

(Graduate and federally independent students - submission of parent data does not mean that a contribution will be expected from them; parent data is used as a rationing device only.)

Parent income and amount of institutional aid

Parent data is used to determine the amount of institutional grants and loans awarded by the Office of Student Financial Aid. Submitting parental data does not affect the amount of Federal Stafford Loan that a graduate student is eligible to receive; however, parent data is used to determine the type and amount of institutional grant and loan. The chart below summarizes the characteristics of first year Rush Medical College students receiving institutional funds during the 2006-07 year. This is provided purely as a guide to the distribution of funds during that year. Because funding levels and demographics of the student population change from one year to the next and because other factors (i.e., investments, etc.) are used to determine a calculated parent contribution, the recipient population will vary from year to year.

Financial aid alternatives - Service Programs

Medical students may wish to explore other sources of financial assistance to fund their education. Alternative funding sources include Army, Navy or Air Force scholarships. These programs pay for tuition and medical insurance plus a monthly stipend in exchange for service as a commissioned officer following graduation. The Illinois Family Practice Program is similar except that the student agrees to practice in a designated shortage area in Illinois. The National Health Service Corps offers two different sources of funding in exchange for employment after graduation: one provides funds while in school; the other offers partial loan repayment following graduation.

Graduate nursing and health science students can also seek similar scholarship assistance from the National Health Service Corps in exchange for tuition and a monthly stipend. In addition, most states offer loan repayment programs to health professional graduates. Contact the Department of Public Health in your state for the most current information.

The Office of Student Financial Aid
600 South Paulina Street, Suite 440 Chicago, Illinois 60612
(312) 942-6256
financial_aid@rush.edu