HPSP Finances

Here, I breakdown the financial benefits one receives in Army HPSP. You may check your finances at any time via the myPay website.

Stipend

Unfortunately, every bit of funding you get from HPSP is taxed. After taxes, I get a little over 2K a month (half on the 1st of the month and half on the 15th). You can thank your congressperson for approving this amount.

BE WARNED: I did not get my first direct deposit from the Army until about 2 weeks into school. A buddy of mine did not get his until almost 6 weeks in. Depending on your financial situation, you may want to consider taking out a small loan to cover your first rent payment or two. If you get your stipend early, great! Pay back the loan immediately. If not, you'll be happy to not have to borrow money from your relatives and/or significant other!

Bonus

One of the more elusive selling points your recruiter likely slipped to you. I am more than grateful for this little bonus, but you may want to temper your expectations. First off, you will not receive this right away. I did not see the first part of my bonus until the beginning of November. Secondly, it, too, is taxed. Initially, I only saw about 2/3 of my bonus. However, in the following tax season I saw a beautiful refund that gave me almost the full amount! (Note: based on your financial situation, your dependent status and other factors, your tax refund may vary).

Health Insurance

Like most costs you will see in medical school, the Army is happy to cover them...if they are required by your school. It is pretty straight forward - if you school requires insurance and adds it to your tuition, the Army will pick up the tab. If you acquire insurance from outside of school, you will be required to submit a CDW for reimbursement. You should check the HPSP handbook and contact the HPSP office if you have a unique situation.

Active Duty Pay

During your ADTs (active duty training), you will receive, you guessed it, active duty pay! This is a good amount more than your stipend. The way the balance between stipend and active duty pay works is that as part of your contract, you will receive the stipend for 10.5 months, and active duty pay, regardless of what you are actually doing, for 1.5 months. By this, I mean you will likely not be performing an ADT after your second year in medical school as you will be studying for boards. The Army understands this, and still pays you active duty pay, despite the fact you just study!

To clarify: you receive only stipend OR active pay at a given time. Not both, you greedy devil.

Deposit

I was able to get my med school acceptance deposit refunded from my school. If your acceptance deposit to your school went towards your tuition, you should be able to get this money refunded to your from your school. The Army pays your full tuition, so your deposit is extra money that you can get back!

Reimbursement

The Army covered my medical supplies (over $700), my textbooks (over $1200), COMLEX I ($615), and both parts of COMLEX II (>$2000) so far. When you make a request for reimbursement for such items, make sure you include the receipt (e-mail receipt if applicable or invoice if you got it from Amazon) as well as your bank statement showing the charges and that you paid off the credit card bill. The Army will also pay for your professional certification exams (USMLE I, and both parts of II, OR COMLEX I, and both parts of II).

All such expenses are reimbursed through MODS, by submitting a Cost Data Worksheet (CDW), along with all relevant receipts and bank statements. You may only submit a CDW once every 30 days, so it is best to group your purchases together.

If you are looking to get reimbursement for textbooks, you MUST have a required textbook list. This is really a no-argument issue. If you do not present a required reading list signed by your school's dean or other authority figure when you submit your book receipts, you will not get your books paid for. If your school does not have a required list, speak with your school's administration, they may be able to set one up for you.

I discovered an annoying little tid bit - you can only submit one CDW every 30 days. I submitted a request for reimbursement for medical equipment and was quickly reimbursed, but I couldn't submit a request for books until a month later.

Uniform Allowance

Around the time of your first ADT (most likely DCC or BOLC), you will receive $400 to cover the cost of all of the equipment you must purchase for BOLC/ADTs. Normal commissioned officers receive $600. Due to the nature of the program, you receive $400 during DCC/BOLC and receive the rest at a later date. There are two points to make here:

1. You will NOT receive the money before you leave, which means the money for the equipment must come out of pocket.
2. $400 is a significantly smaller amount than you will need to cover all of your gear. I spent roughly $1200. I spoke to people who spent as little as $1000 and as much as $1400. The variability, here, come from the differences in things like boot quality, backpack, etc. This is NOT counting the ASU (formal dress uniform) that is included in the packing list, however, IT IS (likely) NOT NEEDED FOR BOLC (double-check with your BOLC HPSP contact). You will need it for your Army residency interviews later on. The ASU will run you another $500, easily.

If you are low on funds, even after receiving your bonus, you will be offered a $1000 pay advance about 1 month prior to BOLC. This is as it sounds: $1000 of the money you would have received during BOLC will be given to you early.

Commissaries and Exchanges

One of your entitlements as an Army officer is that you are allowed to shop for groceries at a commissary and general goods at an exchange. If you are lucky enough to live near one, these stores provide good for military members and their families at discounted rates. Everything I buy at the commissary near my apartment costs $0.50 to $1.50 less than it does at a supermarket or Target/Walmart, which adds up to some well-earned booze money for after exams.

In case you are wondering:

Yes, you can go to a Navy or Air Force exchange store.

Yes, you can bring a guest with you to a commissary or exchange (unless the location's rules specify otherwise).

No, a guest cannot make a purchase.

Resident and Attending Salary

I have a whole page dedicated to this topic!