Leave of Absence

Students are not required to make loan repayments while enrolled for a minimum of 6 credits each semester.  Once you drop below that mark (either a leave of absence or graduation), you have 6 months before you are required to start federal student loan repayments.

• Students are only given one grace period for their MD degree.
   
  • If a student uses the grace period for a leave of absence before graduation, they will not receive another grace period.  Upon graduation, the student will enter federal loan repayment the following month.
    
    
• Once a student re-enrolls after their leave of absence, loans will automatically go back to non-payment (deferred) status.
  
  
  • It may take a month or two for the payment requests to stop, but the student’s status is automatically updated.
    
    
  • Students who do not see their payment requests stop should reach out to their loan servicer.
    
    
• Interest on student loans continues to build even during the grace period.

Once you've exhausted your Grace Period, students will be required to enter federal student loan repayment during their leave.

The standard default loan repayment option will calculate the cost of the loan over 10 years, and divide that amount equally by month.

• Students may elect to enter a different Income Driven Repayment plan, which bases payments on income (with the idea that their income is low/none and thus required monthly payments will be low).
  
  
• Ignoring repayment requirements will result in loans being delinquent and impact a student’s credit score.
  
  
• Loans will return to deferred (non-payment) status roughly one to two months after you re-enter the curriculum at half-time status or greater.

Students on leave of absence must be prepared to independently fund their living expenses or may obtain a private personal bank loan.

When you are on leave of absence from the JABSOM curriculum, you are ineligible for financial aid (loans, grants, scholarships).

Students are encouraged to submit the FAFSA and apply for scholarships each year.  If they decide to take a leave of absence, offers will be adjusted.

• Fall Leave:

  
  
  • Students returning for the Spring will need to submit a request to the Mānoa Financial Aid office to reinstate Spring-only loans.  Contact medfas@hawaii.edu in November to guide you through this process.
    
    
  • The Spring portion of the accepted JABSOM Opportunity Grant is typically kept as-is, while scholarship determinations are based upon those particular rules.
    
    

• Spring Leave:

  
  
  • Students enrolling for the Fall but not returning in the Spring shall notify medfas@hawaii.edu.  All Spring aid will be canceled.
    
    

• Entire Academic Year Leave:

  
  
  • Students returning the following academic year should submit the FAFSA in October and apply for scholarships in November during their leave.

If you need to purchase health insurance for coverage during your leave, please consider:

• Healthcare.gov
  • Marketplace rates
• QUEST
  • Low/no cost plans based on income status (many JABSOM students use QUEST)
    • A note from a previous student: “It could be helpful to tell students to avoid AlohaCare.  Instead students should try to select HMSA Quest.  Of course it could depend on their PCP etc but for many of my classmates Aloha Care has been disappointing due to lack of coverage for many specialists etc.”  [I am simply passing along what was shared with me, and I am not telling you to pick one provider over another. There are other providers, such as Kaiser, as well]
      • When you enroll in QUEST, you assigned to a provider.  You have 15 days to request a change in provider by calling Customer Service at 808-524-3370.  

Note: The JABSOM curriculum does not align with the standard UH Manoa academic calendar, and the UH student health plan dates may leave you without coverage.

Example: If taking leave in the Fall but returning for outpatient rotations in the spring, the rotations may start in early December, but the student health insurance plan doesn’t start until the 2nd week of January when Mānoa classes begin.  If you are interested in the UH Student Health Plan, the Student Health Insurance Office MAY be able to help align dates to your December rotations.  Please contact them as soon as possible if you are thinking of using the UH Student Health Insurance plan.  

• Email: shio@hawaii.edu
• Phone: 808-956-5361