Finance

With having to pay tuition fees in excess of £3000 each year as well as funding your living expenses for up to six years, you will need to think carefully about how you are going to budget your finances at medical school. Financial assistance may be available in the form of student loans, NHS bursaries, maintenance grants and scholarships to cover your tuition fees and living expenses. You may also qualify for a hardship loan from your medical school or consider going down the route of obtaining a loan from your bank, such as a career development loan. Major banks offer student accounts with differing levels of service and incentives, which can range from free cinema tickets to interest free overdrafts. Take out a credit card with caution, as it may seem a good idea to get cash but the rates, even if advertised as ‘competitive’ can be extremely high. You need to weigh up the benefits of your future earnings with the prospect that you may begin your career with a considerable debt of around £20,000. Where you study in the UK also affects what you pay in tuition fees:

• Depending on the course and medical school, for the forthcoming academic year students studying in England will pay tuition fees of up to a maximum of  just over £3,000 per year. Using student loans, this payment can be deferred until you are earning over a certain amount (currently over £15,000 a year). However, interest starts being added from when you take out the loan and the interest rate is set to double in 2007 from 2.4% interest to 4.8%).
• If you live in Scotland or the EU, you pay no tuition fees but on graduation pay an endowment which in 2005/06 was £2,216. This is linked to the rate of inflation but you may be eligible for a bursary to cover this cost.
• If you are domiciled in England, Wales or Northern Ireland and are completing your medical studies in Scotland, there is a fixed amount of £2,700 annually to pay. Again, this can be deferred if you obtain student loans.
• From 2007, if you complete your studies in Wales you will pay a deferred tuition fee of up to just over £3,000 annually. Welsh students domiciled in Wales and attending a Welsh medical school are eligible for an annual grant towards their tuition fees of £1,800 paid directly to the institution.
• You need to apply for student loans and bursaries noyearrmally by June for the money to be available by the beginning of the next new academic . If you miss this deadline, you can still apply but the money will not be available until after the start of term. The website at www.direct.gov.uk/countdowntouni has further information and links with helpful sites such as the National Union of students, the Student Loan Company and www.studentmoney.org provides a guide to student finances.