Graduates affording to study medicine as a2nd degree?!

[longlashes]

HI

This is a please to anyone out there in the same position as me who already has a degree and therefore student loan nad therefor cannot get another student loan to help fund their medical degree.

I am 26 with a HUGE mortgage and have been offered a place to fulfil my dream to study medicine, HOWEVER - There is no WAY i can do it without financial support..

Apart from a career devlopment loan from back what are my other options? Any options GREATLY recieved, as the way things are looking now - I wont be able study medicine after all
PLeeeease help!?
thankyooou!

[Polaris87]

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!

[Imhotep]

You should still be entitled to the maintenance component of the student loan and if you're going onto a 4-year course an NHS bursary (if you are ordinarily resident in England or Wales) for years 2-4 which will at the very least pay your tuition fees. For the 5-year course this is only available in the 5th year.

All the Best and I hope you can manage it.

Stephen

[addy1]

Unfortunatley the fact that you have a huge mortgage is not the responsibility of the govornment or the charitable organisations. I cannot get a mortgage (as an undergrad) and then ask the govornment to help me out cos I am a student.
You will either have to work out a way to pay your mortgage with the funds available to you, or sell the house, or not study medicine.

I don't understand why you cannot afford to take out a student loan but can afford a professional development loan???
The student loan is a good loan to get (you will be entitled to it at least in part even though you are a grad) and the interest rates are still low despite rises. You will also not need to pay it back until you start work. Bear in mind the changes to job security/pay and make sure you will be in a position when you qualify to pay back whatever you borrow.

Also you could consider going to interest only mortgage payments if you aren't already - discuss your plans with your lender.
Make sure you tell your mortgage lender, they can be a bit funny about paying debt with debt.

[mussed]

You can take out a student loan, it'll just be at a lower level... you don't discuss your house much, but perhaps it might take care of things if you sold it?

[469er]

HI

This is a please to anyone out there in the same position as me who already has a degree and therefore student loan nad therefor cannot get another student loan to help fund their medical degree.

I am 26 with a HUGE mortgage and have been offered a place to fulfil my dream to study medicine, HOWEVER - There is no WAY i can do it without financial support..

Apart from a career devlopment loan from back what are my other options? Any options GREATLY recieved, as the way things are looking now - I wont be able study medicine after all
PLeeeease help!?
thankyooou!

Tough one. Would need many more details to say anything very sensible but here are some ideas:
1. Career development loans - if you have a huge mortgage you are presumably creditworthy, so it may be worth thinking again.
2. Sallie Mae loans - may be a better rate of interest though not as good as SLC ones.
3. If you're a single parent, you qualify for housing benefit, though not for the first 6 months if it's paying a mortgage rather than rent.
4. If you're an OU graduate, you should qualify for the ordinary tuition loan anyway (was just in correspondence with someone else here about this, so it was on my mind, though admittedly unlikely to be the case).
5. Yes, as above, charitable trusts are worth a try, though you'll need patience and a lot of stamps.

As others have said, you qualify for all the usual stuff (maintenance loans, etc). For the sake of c£3000 a year, is it really worth sacrificing your dream - wouldn't it be possible to earn this over the summer? I appreciate that there are other expenses ahead, but these apply to everyone, not just grad med students.

Presumably you thought all this through before applying to non-GEP courses - has there been a change in your circumstances meantime? If so, perhaps asking to defer for a year while you sort yourself out and earn some extra money would be a possibility?

HTH

[addy1]

For the sake of c£3000 a year, is it really worth sacrificing your dream - wouldn't it be possible to earn this over the summer?
HTH

Not sure if you are at Med School already, or if you are in preclincal years, but I can assure you you won't be able to earn 3 grand a year during clincal years! I work my socks off at weekends (earn nowhere near 3K) and we do not get tradition uni hols, just a couple of weeks here and there. Unless perhaps you are a dentist (in which case you prob would not be doing 4 year course) or a pharmacist with easy locuming it would be pretty difficult to totally fund yourself and your huge mortgage from part time work!
My student loan (I am final year, so receive what you would be receiving if you did GEP course) does not even cover travelling expenses and I am not entitled to bursary.

[Christian1985]

I think it is ludicrous how 5-yr Grad applicants are made to pay up front tuition fees. This Government is doing everything it can to drive people away from applying to uni. Now they have gone and cut £100m from adult education funding. I am very tempted to write a very hard-worded letter to my useless 'local' Labour MP and give him a piece of my mind especially as he went to Oxford (courtesy of the taxpayer). The Government moans about the shortage of graduates (esp medicine, engineering etc) then makes it difficult for people to go to uni.

Sorry for the rant guys but this is something I feel VERY strongly about, as the hypocrisy and unfairness of it sickens me.

[Kangy]

Just wanted to add, after trying to sort out my funding yesterday, if you have already done an undergrad degree you are not automatically entitled to any money including student loans, even at the lower level. Apparently you have to apply as per usual and it is at the discretion of your LEA if they will allow you to receive anything.
I spoke to Student Finance Direct yesterday and they told me this.

[chris5656]

So we might not be entitled to any maintenance loan? - without that I cant afford to go. Im going to contact them today.

Kangy, was your conditional offer letter good enough as proof of a place at university next year?