Table III.

Financing a Genetic Counseling Training Program

Question/Response	n	%
Institutional affiliation of genetic counseling program	411
Public	270	66
Private	137	33
Other a	4	1
Federal loans used to finance genetic counseling education	316
Federal Subsidized Stafford loans	245	78
Federal Unsubsidized Stafford loans	219	69
Federal Graduate PLUS loans	122	39
Federal Perkins loans	52	16
Do not remember	24	8
Other federal student loans b	23	7
Private loans used to finance genetic counseling education	82
I took out private loans	71	87
Parent(s)/Family/Spouse/Significant other took out private loans	14	17
No private loans were used	4	5
Do not remember	1	1
Importance of loan availability to attend genetic counseling program	410
Not at all Important	44	11
Somewhat Unimportant	13	3
Neither Important nor Unimportant	19	5
Somewhat Important	78	19
Extremely Important	256	62
Primary repayment option for federal loans	316
Standard Repayment Plan	182	58
Income-Based Repayment Plan	35	11
Loan consolidation	25	8
Do not remember	21	7
Extended Repayment Plan	20	6
Graduated Repayment Plan	20	6
Income-Contingent Repayment Plan	5	2
Extended Graduated Repayment Plan	6	2
Income-Sensitive Repayment Plan	2	1
Work/Employment used to finance genetic counseling program	402
TA/RA or other Assistantships	140	35
Paid work off-campus	113	28
I did not work during my program	110	27
Paid work on-campus	76	19
Federal Work-Study (FWS) program	35	9
Paid Internship	16	4
Importance of work to cover educational expenses	285
Not at all Important	22	8
Somewhat Unimportant	29	10
Neither Important nor Unimportant	33	12
Somewhat Important	112	39
Extremely Important	89	31
Effect of work on academic performance	285
Greatly hurt	3	1
Somewhat hurt	63	22
Neither helped nor hurt	161	56
Somewhat improved	52	18
Greatly improved	6	2
Items for which credit card was used during genetic counseling program	234
Other necessary living expenses c	210	90
Books/Other education fees	201	86
Food	197	84
Rent	26	11
Car payments	20	9
Tuition	16	7
Other d	9	4
Grants/Scholarships used to finance genetic counseling program	162
Program scholarship/stipend	114	70
Merit-based through school	24	15
Private/public agency or foundation	22	14
Other e	14	9
Needs-based through school	12	7
Needs-based through state	7	4
Merit-based through state	4	2
Financial assistance available through program	401
Full scholarship	3	1
Partial scholarship	120	40
Work-study opportunities	146	49
TA/RA opportunities	72	24
Assistance with grant applications	11	4
National meeting/Conference fees	156	52
Travel reimbursement or assistance	106	35
Research funds	61	20
Subsidized housing	3	1
Books	18	6
Other, please specify	51	17

^aOther included Canadian schools

^bOther federal loans include Canadian federal loans

^cNecessary expenses include transportation costs and appropriate clothing for clinic, prescriptions, etc.

^dOther included travel and daycare expenses

^eOther included work study, research grants and military scholarships

^f Other included Maternal and Child Health Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities fellowship and opportunities for in-state tuition/participation in the Academic Common Market