Finance: Previous degree equal or higher to medicine degree

**Mara17** · 06-04-2011, 09:25 PM

I did a 1 year BA with no loans and it turns out im disqualified from everything except half a normal maintenance loan. The number of years thing doesn't seem to help me.

**Mara17** · 06-04-2011, 09:37 PM

The edit function for this forum appears to be broken..

Anyway the degree wasn't even done in this country.
So it seems to work like this. Degree? -> No tuition loans or grants or anything, except a small maintenance one if you are doing medicine.

**Jolt** · 06-04-2011, 10:18 PM

Originally Posted by Mara17

I did a 1 year BA with no loans and it turns out im disqualified from everything except half a normal maintenance loan. The number of years thing doesn't seem to help me.

Ah yea, the default stance for graduates is that they pretty much only get the bog standard maintenance loan, unless you can convince them that medicine is a higher level qualification than your previous degree on the basis that it's a professional qualification (level 7). That's when the number of years thing comes into play.

It also counts if you've studied previously but did not complete the qualification.

Originally Posted by reb.mcknight

So where are we actually up to with the guy that is pursuing action? Has a letter been written? Could we all use the same one and send it to our local MPs?

Like I say, I wouldn't hold your breathe. The guy who was talking big about judicial review and the like hasn't been logged in since January. I think there were a few people that have corresponded with SFE trying to get them to see the light, but I don't know of anyone that's been successful. In reality SFE seem to want to pay out as little as possible and we're not really a big enough group of people to do anything about it.

We can hope that when student finance is reconfigured to take into account the new massive fees, they give some consideration to the fact that medicine is a really popular choice for a second degree and would be prohibitively expensive with the higher fee amounts.

RE people that have done degrees abroad or where they've completely self funded, it's probably worth considering that there's no big centralised database that is going to tell SFE that you're a graduate. Unless you've registered with them for finance in the past, as far as they're concerned you've never been to university.

There are graduates that are studying medicine that are on full loans/grants packages, I'm just sayin'.

**Jolt** · 06-04-2011, 10:24 PM

PS: This is quite funny.

**emidee** · 06-04-2011, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by Jolt

PS: This is quite funny.

Lol, that was the first sensible thing I've read on the subject!

By the way, the student finance calculation for undergraduate financial support used to go like this:

(Length of new course in years + 1 year) - (Number of years of previous support taken).

So, for example if you started a 3-yr BSc course, then quit to start a 5-year medicine after completion of the 2nd year, the calculation would look like this:

(5+1) - 2 = 4

Therefore this person would be entitled to 4 years of financial support, which ordinarily would be the last 4 years - I'm not sure how this would work with the NHS paying fees in yr 5 though.

I'm guessing it doesn't apply to graduates though....or maybe it does, if it's possible to get SFE to recognise the level 6 / level 7 issue?

Who knows?!

**emidee** · 06-04-2011, 10:52 PM

The edit function works if you choose 'advanced'

**berrieds** · 12-04-2011, 04:10 AM

It would be interesting to hear what money people are getting from SFE for next year. A friend of mine on starting the 2nd year of MBChB at Manchester with me next year said they gave him a £3,000 grant; and he has a PhD in pharamcology... It might well have been a mistake, but I've just applied for my loan for next year this very evening, so I'll hopefully hear from them in the next couple of weeks. Fingers crossed. At least now I'll be 25 and an independent student, so should get a better deal.

**josepht** · 12-04-2011, 11:18 PM

Just applied for my loan for a 5yr course. I will have an MChem (same level as medicine

) when I start but at the end of applying the website told me I would be eligible not only for a maintenance loan but also for a tuition fee loan! Will this all disappear when they actually assess my application?

**bpr** · 13-04-2011, 10:10 PM

Good stuff Reb.
I haven't heard anything since we submitted the court proceedings earlier this year. We need DPSM to stick his head in here and update us.
I think its really good you're getting some lobbying going - sadly second degree medical students are increasingly being left unsupported, despite the fact that more and more students are doing medicine as a second degree.

If any newspaper/tv people reading this want an interview with a current student, I'm happy to speak to cameras!

**whatnow** · 13-04-2011, 10:31 PM

Thanks Rebecca, I will be writing to my MP too. It's really good that someone is fighting back.

I was hoping to apply next year and waiting to hear what is going to happen to the bursary and loans is driving me utterly bonkers. I really feel like the sky has fallen in and my life is one hold while I wait to see if my dream is over. I know this is very silly and over dramatic but it's how I feel. I can't understand how so many people are cheerfully talking about their applications when we don't know what's happening.