Applying to 5 year course as a second degree how will you afford it?

[wishful]

Hi guys,
I'm pretty new here but have been a resident stalker of the forums for a while!
I'm just wondering those of you who are applying to the 5 year courses how you plan to afford the tuition fees and how to live without part time work impinging your studies?
I have applied to two 4 year and 2 two 5 year and am praying that some sort of financial assistance comes along.

any other thoughts?! and good luck to everyone!

[Profanius]

I'm selling my house to go back to Uni. With a bit of luck the profits will pay for 4 years of tuition fees, leaving me the loans and any wages from part-time work to live on. Obviously I would rather not hand-over my life's savings... but if you want to live the dream...

Whether part-time work impinges on your studies depends on how productive you are in your spare time. I've been working and studying for a combined 80 hours a week for the past 2 years, so I don't see it being a problem.

I would be careful about five year courses if you don't have the funding. I'd imagine one of the biggest questions at interview this year will be how can you afford your studies. The worst case scenario would be starting a medicine degree and having to leave half way thorugh due to lack of tuition fees.

Fingers crossed you get on your 4 year options.

[CMash]

Hey,
I extracted this from the below website:
Students on university courses in medicine (recognised by the General Medical Council) may be eligible for financial help from the NHS as part of their course.

If you are accepted onto approved courses, you might be eligible to receive financial support from the NHS. The timing of when this is provided depends on the type of course you are doing.

1) Funding for undergraduate students on standard five-year courses

Gaining admission to the standard five-year courses means you are entitled to receive student loans from Student Finance England for maintenance and tuition fees in the first four years.

From year five onwards, tuition fees will be paid by the NHS Student Bursary Scheme and you will be eligible to apply for a means-tested NHS bursary to cover maintenance costs and a reduced maintenance loan from Student Finance England (equivalent to approximately half the full rate).

These funding arrangements will continue to apply if you are starting your studies in academic years 2011/12 and 2012/13 (universities can charge up to a maximum of £9,000 in tuition fees in 2012/13).

These arrangements will also apply if you are already a graduate and applying for a five year course.

2) Funding for graduates on accelerated courses in academic years 2011/12 and 2012/13.

If you are a graduate medical student on an accelerated (four year) course in the academic year 2011/12, you are eligible to apply to Student Finance England for a full maintenance loan in your first year. You will also be expected to self-fund your tuition costs.

In the next four years of your course, you can apply to the NHS Student Bursaries Unit for a means-tested NHS bursary to cover maintenance costs. Tuition fees are also paid by the NHS Bursary Scheme for this period and students can apply for a reduced maintenance loan from Student Finance England.

If you are starting your course in the academic year 2012/13, you will have to self fund the first £3,375 of your tuition fees in the first year. In later years, the NHS Bursary scheme will pay £3,375 towards your tuition. Throughout the course, a Student Loan Company loan will be available to cover the difference between £3,375 and the tuition charges of their universities, to a maximum charge of £9,000.

Financial support for students on degree courses in medicine - NHS Careers


I then rang SFE to confirm these details and this is what they had to say:
'Medicine is an exceptional course and the same rule for student finance therefore do not apply. Although they expect graduates to study on the 4 year course, they understand that is extremely competitive and therefore they will provide tuition fee support to all graduate medical students studying on the 4 year course or the 5 year course.'

Although they didn't say whether or not we would be expected to pay something towards the tuition fees as you have to in the first year of the 4 year course (e.g. £3000 ish), but the mere fact that they will provide some kind of support is some kind of comfort and enough for me at least to feel comfortable in applying for a mix of 4 and 5 year courses

I hope this makes choosing a bit easier for me, it has helped to relieve my worries a little but has made deciding which courses to apply for a bloody nightmare!

[snakefisch]

Yup I'm selling my flat too, but that's to pay for the 4 year living costs... LOL

CMash, not sure about your post, but there's definitely no tuition cover for the first 4 years of the 5 year course..
Usually SFE are wrong anyway!

[GIJane]

I wish we knew for sure! I only hope CMash is correct!!! Any help towards a 5yr course would be better than nothing. I believe we can get a maintenance loan towards living costs? Is there anything that could stop us using those towards tuition fees? are they paid in installments?

I have money in our house that we could free up but even that wouldnt cover 4 out of 5 yrs at Uni!!

Ive looked at career development loans too but the max you can borrow is £10k.

Its all so confusing!

[wishful]

Professional development loans cannot be used by medical students - the banks withdrew this from what i can remember over a year or so ago.

I applied for two 5 year because I would kick myself if the financial support changed and I didn't apply. The four year course, I believe, is going to be ridiculously competitive this year and I wouldn't say my ukcat is on par with most candidates - after all they need to select out of the many very apt and qualified candidates (I hated that exam!)

My gran is sat on quite a bit of money however I am hoping with savings and the maintenance loan given, plus working part time during study I may be able to get by, I hate borrowing money!

Suppose it's now a waiting game - application sent!

[ryujin]

Well I was (and still am) VERY cheap with my spending! As a result, over the past 3 years i've managed to save £20k (well, it should be that much by the end of my last loan payment!) from my maitenence loan, bursary and grant, which although not enough to pay off the entire fee, should pay for 2 years! and for years 3-4 I'm probably going to have to borrow (yes borrow, my family doesn't believe in giving money for free- we're not particularlly rich) money from my parents/relatives family friends etc. and if need be, take out a bank loan.... (worse case scenario!)

Thank god I did decide to save my money up though! I didn't actually decide to apply to medicine until halfway through my 2nd year at uni! That money was originally going to go towards a house though! Looks like thats going to have to wait a while!

[brokenangel]

Hopefully if i dont get a 4yr offer this year, my buisness will be profitable enough to pay my fees on a 5yr course however this means Newcastle/Durham will be my only option as I would be forced to continue running the buisness

Someone I know parents will be extending their mortagage to pay her feee if she gets a 5yr offer.

TBH if i worked for a year and saved around 9k I could then earn the rest on a year by year basis working around 16hrs a week

[J87]

I'll probably have to work Saturdays and Sundays... And over the summer. Subject to availability, of course...

[Kaiser Wilhelm]

If I get a place, my main earners/savers will be:

- Live at home
- Career development loan for 10k a year
- Work bank HCA shifts during the holidays/weekends
- Working 12 hour shifts 6 days a week as an HCA at the moment to save up
- Turn to crime if that doesn't work out