Medical School funding Year 5-6

[HostessTrolley]

Hi all,

I know that medical students move onto NHS funding for the last two years (year 5-6 for courses with intercalation), and that this covers their fees and a small amount of maintenance. I’m already putting a bit extra away for this as Dd gets minimum maintenance already so if it’s going to drop further we need to plan for it.

Does anyone know if there’s a calculator or somewhere that I can find out more - or give me any idea of the amounts involved? She’s in London, that does affect normal student finance amounts but I don’t know if it affects nhs amounts.

I’d be grateful for any info or experiences that anyone can share

Oxford have a good guide to this: www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/fees-and-funding/oxford-support/funding-for-medical-students

I think there have been a couple of threads about this before, not sure how easy it would be to find them though.

Dd is in her final year. Moved to the NHS funding last year. She gets the minimum available & was on the minimum maintenance loan. They still get a maintenance loan once the bursary starts but it is reduced. Over all last year between the bursary & the loan I think it was slightly less than the normal maintenance loan. However Dd had worked quite a bit the summer before & off course lockdown meant less spending so she was ok.

This year, the student loan was reduced even more - I think it may be for all final years as the year is deemed to be Sept-June rather than August. I think maybe she is down around £1500 on what her younger sibling is getting. So we will help out (more) as and when she needs it.

DD will move onto this next year when she returns from her external intercalation.

Quite a lot of placements will be outside the University city so hospital accommodation is provided. It is not uncommon for people to hold off finding somewhere to live till the summer when they know where their placements will be. I also understand the medical school is willing to assist those who may be struggling financially by giving them two outside placements meaning they don’t have to rent anywhere themselves, which can be a huge saving.

Many of the placements London students get are within commuting distance. There are swings and roundabouts. DD has a small car, and her medical school relies on a good proportion having transport and being able to give lifts to others. There are some very out of the way GP practices in the West Country. Her current London peers are amazed. None of them have cars, and have no desire to drive in London.

Thanks for the replies and insights - the picture doesn’t look quite as grim as I thought which is novel! My older son just graduated this year so I started saving a proportion of what we were paying him towards her later years - before we had chance to get used to having the extra cash.

They’ve been lucky with the flat they’re renting this year so are hoping to stay in it for more than one year, so it’s interesting to read that some use hospital accommodation for the last year - that would be a massive saving on Hammersmith/Fulham rent!