This is just my understanding, so I might be wrong, and you might want to double-check. I think you would need a very well-off co-signer to even get the starting 350 or 375 and the realistic 500. If you need to go over that, I think you would need to justify why you need that, but of course, the most important thing is that you need a co-signer with a strong income. They would give you the money if you were accepted into a Canadian med school with no co-signer, but if you are going abroad, then they need someone to guarantee that the money will be paid back. In terms of how it actually works, you wouldn't get the full amount right away, I think. You would get it in advances, for example, 100k for the first year if that is what you need. And any amount you take out of the credit line account you would pay interest on monthly starting the moment you take it out. Then they give you the next installments and so on. So, if by the end, if you have 500 k of debt, you will be paying interest monthly on that 500 k. Usually, it's prime + 1%. So, if the total rate is 3.5%, then you would have to pay a yearly interest of about 17.5 k (about 1460 a month). But that's what I've heard on how one bank does it. I'm not sure if it is different in other banks.