Financing Medicine

[jon1985]

Hi everyone,

I thought I would post this here, as there was not a more appropriate place to post a question on finance and those being interview for medical schools are further along with their applications and therefore may have more info on this matter.

How are you all planning on financing your way through several years of Medical School? I am planning to apply for 2009 entry and already have around £12K of debt to the student loans company from my degree in Human Sciences BSc which I have only recently completed (2007). Is there the possibility of getting further Student/career development loans? I have heard rumours of NHS bursaries -who are these for and how do you apply? I am not too concerned, although not happy, about getting into further debts as I really want to study medicine and I think qualifying as a doctor justifies the debt. However, I am concerned at this point about how and if I can actually afford to study medicine.

Any advice, thoughts or ideas would be much appreciated.

Cheers,

Jon

[Lyns]

can't you get a maintenance loan from the SLC for living costs??? one of my mates has and he did physiology as his first degree?!?!! although he has gone into medicine as an undergrad. you'll have to pay your own fees though, you could try finding out about NHS bursaries, else you'll be left with borrowing money from the bank! sorry i couldn't be of more help.

[Imhotep]

Here's a very basic overview of financing

If you're resident in England or Wales then for a 5-year course you get an NHS bursary (covering tuition fees and a means-tested maintenance grant) for the final year. For a 4-year graduate entry course the NHS bursary is for years 2-4. If you're resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland then there's no NHS Bursary (although Scottish students studying medicine in a Scottish university have their tuition fees subsidised by SAAS and there may be other funding). The NHS maintenance bursary for 2007/08 (for students starting on/after 1st September 2007) is £3225 (London)/£2672 (Elsewhere)/£2231 (Home) for a 30 week course with an extra £100 (London)/£78 (Elsewhere)/£52 (Home) per week that the course is above 30.

You can also get the maintenance element of the Student loan (part of which is means tested), although not the tuition fees part, and this is available to any student. However, if you are getting an NHS Bursary (the maintenance part) then your maximum student loan for the year is approximately halved. The maintenance student loan for 2008/09 is £6475 (London)/£4625 (Elsewhere)£3580 (Home).

There may be other forms of funding (I think the BMA provide some funding to graduates studying medicine, although only from year 2 on) but there isn't any central source of information on this that I know of.

More info on the NHS bursary can be found here:

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publications...ance/DH_077025

and

http://www.nhspa.gov.uk/sgu/

And for Student loans here:

http://www.studentfinancedirect.co.uk/

Hope this helps a bit.

Stephen

[Polaris87]

my degree in Human Sciences BSc which I have only recently completed (2007).

You didn't go to Sussex per chance did you?

I'm looking into being sponsored by charitable trusts. I just made a post about it on another thread, which said:

Look into charitable trusts. Look up BMA Charitable Trusts, you can send off for a list of charities which may sponsor you.

This website:
grantsforindividuals.org.uk

is run by the government. Unfortunately it wants around £100 to access their databases. I'm not sure what sort of people they think need charitable trust funding but certainly not those with £100 to throw about, grrrr. On the website they mention several books (also all costing stupid money, one costs £99!!) which lists charities which will sponsor you. Luckily my local library has them, so they should be worth looking into.

I don't have a mortgage but I'm just finishing my first degree and therefore won't be able to get a full student loan when I start GEP in September. I am planning to move back in with parents, however, this is not realistic for 4 years so I need some kind of monetary income! However, we are still entitled to some loan, check out the loan calculator on the student loans company website.

Good luck, if you find any other sources please let us know!

I hope that helps.