If your wife finds some kind of job, you will not have any problem with finances. I was on the island with my wife as well and she made about $600/month. I suppose we could have gotten by without that money....but eating out at the fine dining of French St. Martin will set you back a little if you don't have some extra green coming in.

In regards to the initial post, by all means take out the max. Don't stress yourself out about finances when you are trying to study and do well in classes. You never know when extra costs are going to pop up......plus recreational activities on the island are abundant and costly. There is a long period of time ie from the start of medical school until the end of residency where there will be struggles to make ends meet financially. In my opinion, there is no reason to take out only what is needed to get by. If student A takes out $100,000 over 4 years, he eats ***** noodles and tap water, never travels, and doesn't throw down a few bucks in the slot machines or never takes a scuba diving class.....he will roughly be paying $10,000 a year (estimation) for 10 years to pay off the loan. Student B enjoys the finer things in life, eats out at the great restaurants of St. Maarten, he goes scuba diving a couple times a month, travels to St. Bart's and goes hiking in Saba, plays the slots at the casinos every once in a while, buys all the books you need to build your library etc, etc......this student may be in debt $200,000 in the end and will be paying $20,000 a year for 10 years (yeah ok a little more but you get the picture). I would much rather enjoy my 4 years in medical school and have the liberty of being able to spend some money when I want and only have to pay an extra $10,000 a year for 10 years. I mean come on, if you get a job starting at $150,000 a year minus your $20,000 in loans per year you are starting at $130,000......not much of a difference, that is still a hell of a lot of money.......unless you want to live in LA or Manhatten I guess. Oh, and not to mention the travel opportunities if you choose to do rotations in the UK. I just got an email from a good friend of mine doing rotations in England right now and he just got back from a weekend trip to Milan, Italy......you can't do that if you take out the minimum amount to get by.

Point is: enjoy your medical school years to the fullest, eat what you want, buy the clothes that you want and don't put yourself in the position where you have to worry about money.