Deferred Missions Appointment Program
Program History: The Deferred Missions Appointment Program (DMA) was developed by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists as a way to enable medical and dental students who are committed to overseas mission service to pursue their professional education with financial stability and to give focus and direction to this commitment.
Program Description: Mission appointees will serve in one of the many world-wide health care organizations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. In exchange for the appointee’s service in a health care facility overseas, the funds borrowed for medical or dental school will be amortized. A term of service for a family is five years and includes a one-month leave to the appointee’s home every year. After the five year term, appointees can chose to continue for another term or become career missionaries. The total allowable indebtedness, tuition plus $1,000 a year, will be amortized at a rate of approximately $25,000 per year.
Appointees can request to serve in their country of choice and efforts will be made to assign the appointee to that division and country. If there is no preference, the appointee will be placed where there is the greatest need.
Types of Specialties Needed
- Physicians: Primary care physicians: family medicine, internists, pediatricians, general surgeons, and obstetricians/gynecologists can be used at all times.
- Dentists: General dentistry
Funding Your Education: If accepted into the program, DMA participants will be given a living allowance for room, board, and personal costs while in school. Each school year, DMAs must complete a Loma Linda University Financial Aid application. Then, keeping within the predetermined borrowing limits for medicine and dentistry, the Office of Financial Aid will award the student low-interest loans first. A financial adviser in the University’s Office of Financial Aid will work closely with students to guide them through the process of funding their education as inexpensively as possible. Students may also qualify for scholarships.
Eligibility: All LLU medical and dental students who are interested may apply for the DMA program. Freshman students must await the completion of the first quarter of medical or dental school in order to apply. Applications are processed at the conclusion of the first quarter. Sophomore, junior, and senior students may apply at any time.
Global Service Scholarship Program
Program History: The Global Service Scholarship (GSS) was created in response to a growing dilemma that many graduates face: the desire to enter mission service while still being able to pay student loans. Because of changing circumstances in the world and in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, it has become increasingly difficult for young LLU alumni to have the financial stability to enter mission service after graduation. The GSS program has been established to provide educational loan payments for non-medical and dental alumni who wish to serve as volunteers in an international setting upon completion of their studies at LLU.
Program Description: The GSS program is administered by Loma Linda University’s Global Health Institute (GHI) in conjunction with the Students for International Mission Service (SIMS) Office. GHI and SIMS will identify service-learning opportunities for alumni and will work with the individual schools, Adventist Health International (AHI), and the LLU Financial Aid Office to determine the best graduate placement. Preference for placements will be determined by the needs in the field, the development of candidates as future faculty or church employees, appropriate skill sets matched with needs, length of service expected, and demonstrated commitment to service.
Eligibility: The GSS program is limited to non-medical or dental alumni who have graduated within the past 10 years. The length of service under GSS is a minimum of three months and a maximum of three years.
Costs/Funding: Funds for the GSS program are available from a GSS endowment to assist graduates with debt servicing. A maximum of $1,000 per month is available to students, with the exact amount to be determined after assessment of their debt needs and other factors. This financial support is available only while serving abroad, and any balance of debt after this service period is the responsibility of the graduate. Participants may be provided with a small monthly stipend, in addition to health insurance, subsidized travel assistance, and room and board.
How to Apply
For more information or to apply to the DMA & GSS program, please contact the General Conference Representative’s office at (909) 558-4563 or send an email to llugeneralconference@llu.edu or kporter@llu.edu.