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[justAnotherWallflower]

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[Helpful Troll]

Hello,

Will be starting med school next Fall. Currently in process of applying for Navy HPSP. I have asked my recruiter to prepare me a package for both the 3- and 4- year options. I figured if schools can offer some financial aid that perhaps I could get them to stack all the aid into one year and then HPSP the remaining years.

Suppose that is possible from the school’s end. I’m curious if I can execute this from the Navy’s end.

1) if I’m awarded the 3 year HPSP this year. Can I wait to start the payments until year 2? Or would I need to reapply next year?

2) alternatively, if I start payments this upcoming year, can I take a gap year in the scholarship payments so that the 3 years is spread over 4 years?

3) alternative #2, if i take scholarship payments for the first 3 years, what happens if I’m not paid M4 year? Would I just basically be effectively reserve for the year, and then the following year I would start intern year with the Navy like a normal 4 year HPSP?

Why are you pursuing the 3 year rather than 4 year? What benefits are there for you to do this?

 

[pawprint]

well, I don't plan on pursuing a military career, so that's one less year of service on the back end. and if schools offer me some financial aid off their total sticker price, then I wouldn't necessarily need 4 years of HPSP funding.

Understand that if you elect to get the sign-on bonus of 20k, it will automatically obligate you to 4 years (even on a 3 year Hpsp contract). So either take 3 years with no bonus, or 4 years with bonus.

And also know that if you do a residency that is 4 years or longer, you will owe the duration of your residency training instead of your Hpsp total. The 3 year scholarship only makes sense if you know you only want to do residencies that are 3 years total training time.

There’s a lot of technical math behind the scenes there but that’s the summary of it.

 

[Helpful Troll]

well, I don't plan on pursuing a military career, so that's one less year of service on the back end. and if schools offer me some financial aid off their total sticker price, then I wouldn't necessarily need 4 years of HPSP funding.

@pawprint is correct. A three year scholarship is rarely only three years of service post residency. Additionally, you are subjecting yourself to the military match which might not result in your specialty of choice. If selected for a funded civilian residency you will owe more than 3 years service post residency. Control your destiny and keep your options open - take out loans and match civilian. If you want to serve after completing training take one of the military loan repayment options with a medical Direct Commission.

None of the military services do well with exceptions to policy or variations as you describe in options #1-3.