Financial Information:
The following section is designed to help you estimate the cost of a year of graduate school at Berkeley and to acquaint you with the resources and options available to help you finance your education.

Numerous programs - fellowships and grants-in-aid, loans, research assistantships (GSRs), teaching appointments (GSIs), and subsidized housing and child care - provide ways you can cut the cost of graduate/medical school.  Some of the programs are merit-based and administered through the Graduate Division Fellowship Office;others are need-based and administered through the Graduate Financial Aid Office.

Costs:*
Each spring, the Financial Aid Office for the Berkeley campus computes budgets to help you estimate the average cost for a Joint Medical Program graduate/medical student during the 9-month academic year.  Budgets are revised each year to account .for changes in the cost of living, fees, and tuition.  Fees and nonresident tuition fees are set by the Regents and are subject to change without notice.  Actual JMP fees are shown on the Office of the Registrar's fee schedule.*  Please scroll through and note that first year JMP students pay Graduate Academic fees plus $61 per year for medical disability insurance; second and third year JMP fees are shown under UCB-UCSF Joint Medical Program.

The UC Berkeley-UCSF Joint Medical Program is a 12-month program in the first year.  Our students enroll full-time in the eight-week Summer Session and take Anatomy with a Radiology correlate, as well as Master's Research Seminar.  An additional amount for living expenses and summer session fees should therefore be added to the first-year estimated student budget.  For example, for 2009 the summer financial aid budget was $8,710.*

As indicated on  the Registrar’s fee schedule above, students in the JMP are assessed a Professional Degree Fee (an annual amount charged equally to all UC medical students) in the second and third year in the Berkeley Program and in the remaining two years at UCSF.* 

Technology Grant:  All JMP students are required to own a networkable computer.   After actual matriculation into the JMP, a departmental grant of up to $2000.00 is available to cover a substantial portion of this cost for those students who must purchase a computer.

Research Grant: Up to a total of $2000 per student, available over the course of your time here. An application process takes place each fall and spring. Expenses typically approved include travel costs necessary to carry out thesis research work, costs of developing and producing research materials and of collecting data, and costs associated with analyzing data. As a matter of policy, some sorts of expenses are not covered, e.g. hiring research assistants. Others are covered contingently, e.g. after a requisite amount of data has been collected.

*All fees are subject to change.

Legal Residency and Fees:
Every entering student is classified as a resident or nonresident of California for tuition purposes. Detailed information on establishing residency and documenting financial independence is available from the Office of the Registrar's Legal Residency Unit.

Financial Planning Guide for Graduate Students:
A variety of merit-based awards is available for graduate students. JMP students primarily apply for a Block Grant Fellowship (administered by the JMP), or a Summer Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) (administered by the Graduate Division). Some entering JMP students qualify to be nominated by the JMP for Graduate Opportunity Program Master's Degree grants funded by the campus.

Each year, some JMP students choose to serve as Graduate Student Instructors in undergraduate courses or as Graduate Student Researchers. Students apply for these opportunities as they are available.  GSI-ships and GSR-ships provide remissions of certain fees and stipends [income].

Most JMP students fund their medical education through a variety of need-based loans: Federal Direct Loan**, Unsubsidized Federal Direct Loan**, Work Study, Perkins Loan and the Graduate Opportunity Program.  Others seek loan-forgiveness opportunities from federal and state governments and agencies in return for agreeing to practice in certain under-served areas. 

The AAMC [American Association of Medical Colleges] has a useful site called Financing Your Medical Education, well worth exploring.

**All federal regulations subject to change.

Applicants invited to interview with the JMP need to submit the FREE APPLICATION FOR FEDERAL STUDENT AID (FAFSA) designating UC Berkeley by March 2 each year.   UCB's institution code is 001312.