To think it's unfair that students on NHS degrees get help with uni fee's

[serin]

When students on teaching and social work courses (equally needed and valued public service employees) don't.

It just doesn't seem to make any sense to me.

I do agree that sw and teaching students should perhaps have more funding, but this 'unfairness', would you have the funds removed from the NHS students to even it out? I honestly see your point op, and agree in principle, but it's not a race to the bottom.

fluffymouse unless it's changed since 2011 graduate medical students only pay fees in the first year, & do receive bursaries.

www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/funding/postgraduate-funding

Trainee teachers actually have very generous funding, far more than NHS bursary provides.

Sophie, fees are paid for the first 4 years now. Nhs bursary only in year 5 onwards.

I also did project 2000 I qualified nearly 19 yrs ago our bursery the pittance it was wasen t means tested then but as all nursing students are now on degree courses it is unfortunately tbh I wouldn't advise anybody to go into nursing paticularly mental health [ I,m an RMN] as it is so stressful, hard work especially now with all the cuts.

I am currently trying to get an nhs bursary for my fees, and have you any idea how impossible it is? i might as well give them a pound of flesh for all the information they want.

I have a friend who trained as a dentist - moved straight to Australia when he qualified, along with around 30% of his classmates. My chiropodist qualified last summer, works in a private practice and is looking to move to the UAE as soon as possible. I could give other examples.

I dropped out of nursing and am still paying off the loan. A year beforehand wouldn't have had one, they only just introduced loans for nurses in my cohort, used to just be the bursary. So nurses do still have debts, just not the huge amount of other students since they pay fees.

We should be paying for ALL HE courses. And funding it through a fairer tax system, in which the wealthy pay more.

It's total crap to think that education only benefits the individual and not the community as a whole. If we had a fairer tax system, we could make it into a truly collective gain.

Given there is currently a slump in the number of newly qualified nurses and the NHS are spending a small fortune paying for agency staff or importing nurses from abroad the NHS paying for tuition fees is probably quite cost effective.

I'm a student nurse (but on secondment so my fees are paid by the trust I work for and I'm salaried so not entitled to a bursary). We spend 50% of our time on placement doing 37.5hrs per week and 50% in university - which is less contact hours, probably closer to 25hrs. We still have directed study to do both in uni and on placement + exam studying / essay writing while on placement that isn't counted in our hours. We don't get 'uni holidays' we get 6 weeks a year - the past 2 years 1 week of which has coincided with school holidays so childcare is a nightmare (as is childcare for long days, lates and nights). Working on top of it is awful but I know a lot of people who do because the bursary doesn't stretch very far.

It would be much nicer if all degrees were tuition fee free of course but universities have to be paid from somewhere. I guess it's not cost effective for other professions to support student through university - otherwise they'd be doing it.

My wife worked 2 jobs whilst doing her NHS training, it was a diploma back then for her position, although it's now a degree..

She's now on £60000 a yr after spending 12yrs working direct for the NHS, so it's not all doom and gloom..

YABVU. We need people with health qualifications so much more than we need yet another unemployable graduate with useless degree in underwater basket-weaving (and I say that as an English Lit grad ).

Would you rather we carried on creaming off qualified doctors and nurses from developing countries and left their health services to suffer so as to make up the shortfall in ours?

Absolutely agree Manatee

Underwater basket weaving though teehee