I'm a citizen of Ireland and have a place on a GEM course in the UK starting in Sept 2012 but I am not having much luck in obtaining additional funding from the banks here. I don't require a huge amount seeing as UK costs are significantly lower than their Irish equivalents and also the fact that I have a substantial amount of money saved. Just wondering if anyone has any suggestions on how to proceed, I could, assuming the SFE tuition loan comes through, fund myself for ~2 years but after that I would need assistance to cover living expenses. The banks in Ireland are in a terrible state as has been well publicised so would I be better approaching a UK institution?

Thanks.