Studying Medicine and NHS Bursary

[Origamiheaven]

Can anyone explain how the funding works for year 5 medicine course. My understanding is that the tuition fees are paid by the nhs and all students recieve a grant of £1000. However, I am confused in how the means tested maintenance grant works and are students still able to apply for a loan as before to top this amount up? Thanks for some clarification on this

As far as DD has told me so far (she's a 4th year so it's getting a bit relevant), they get £1,000 NHS bursary, then a means tested grant - think minimum is about £2,400. Some Unis then help with top ups (she is investigating this at moment), or it's down to savings. Fees paid by NHS. Hoping she'll find out more this term from Uni. But any other info v gratefully received too !

Thankyou. My son is in year 2 but just planning ahead re finances. Currently, he qualifies for the minimum loan. (Approx. 4300?) So potentially we will need to top up more money in year 5 ?

Than we currently do I meant

Potentially yes. DD who is also in her fourth year took a year out to intercalate so has two years on a bursary. (When looking at intercalations, or whether to apply for a five or six year course, it might be worth considering not just the cost of that extra year but the fact that there are two years of bursary funding.)

The best advice I can think of is for your DC to look at how graduate students are coping. They receive very little funding, so will already be practiced at ways to earn and to reduce costs.

Options include:

1. Working as an HCA or vaccinator.
2. Living in halls as a senior resident.
3. Negotiating with the medical school so that Clinical years include a full academic year of "out" placements, so you spent the whole year living in free hospital accomodation with no need to rent in the University city. Bristol, apparently, are understanding and prioritise those under financial pressure. Lots do it and friends are accepting of people crashing on floors at weekends.

For DD finals happen at the end of the fourth year so we prioritised that in terms of her having somewhere comfortable to live during what is an important and tough year of studying and placements. She lived at home during her intercalation year and will live in hospital accomodation during her final year. Hands in pocket time, but at least the end is in sight.

@Origamiheaven Dd just graduated this year. Like you we just qualified for the minimum loan. So after the fourth year she got the £1000 NHS bursary (paid monthly) and also qualified for a reduced student loan. I think the combined amount was slightly lower than the previous year but not significantly. But she intercalated so Y5 was not her final year. What to look out for is the reduction in student loan in final year (for all students not just medics). We did have to support her more because of that in final year. Off the top of my head I think she got around £1500 overall less than her brother who was in second year.

Thankyou for all these replies, very helpful

Once uni staff are back I’d suggest he books an appointment with the finance staff at the student support department of his uni so they can talk them through how it works for that specific institution - as PP have said some offer bursaries or hospital accommodation so he needs that kind of info to plan!

Hopefully most Unis run a 'how to do this' session for the 4th years.

Big exams for DD too this year (the ones that count for F1). Next year is SJT and pass or fail finals. All seems a bit quick to me !
I knew we'd have to top up for 5th year so been putting money aside for this. Hopefully enough - if not her 6th form Waitrose earnings will finally be used.

My DD is also a 4th year medic and although this has been at the back of my mind, I've not looked into it and not sure that she has either. She is intercalating next year at Cardiff, where she is now, and she has talked about doing HCA shifts while intercalating. Not sure how that would work for actual 5th year medicine though!
This year she got a bigger than expected student loan, so I did tell her that she should save some for the final years, so hopefully she's doing that!

A detail, but it might be worth thinking about the elective. Traditionally quite a lot would pay to spend their two months, or whatever in Australia or somewhere else abroad. With COVID this has become more tricky, and after seeing several in the year above have their plans wrecked, DD and presumably most approaching their final year have decided to stay in the UK. She has applied for something interesting near home, and would then spend the rest of that year in hospital accommodation, thereby cutting living costs significantly. Otherwise there is a back up option in Bristol, but that will mean AirBnB for a couple of months.

Here is the NHS bursary website so you can calculate what your DS will get on top of the £1k grant:

www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/nhs-bursary-students/what-you-could-get

Tuition fees are covered by the NHS. They can also get a small non- means-tested maintenance loan from SFE:

www.gov.uk/nhs-bursaries/what-youll-get

They can also claim back travel expenses for placements if they are above the cost of their usual commute to university or need temporary accommodation on site.

Thanks. DD seems to be on it. Isn't it ridiculous that 22/23 year olds still have their income based on their parents income ?

mumsneedwine, has your DD spoken to her University? Bristol, as one example, bend over backwards to help those who are struggling financially. It is not in their interest to have people dropout at this stage.

@Needmoresleep yes thankfully, Notts are being fantastic. Lots of extra support (& cash). She'll be fine as has also earnings from job when a teenager. And I'm saving as much as I can this year so can help her out.
They're almost there 😊

Exactly. I think it is important people don’t panic. We could afford to support DD in her final year so she had not asked the medical school for any favours. Even so, and assuming she can live at home during her elective, she will be in hospital accommodation throughout the fifth year and won’t need any support from us. Her good friend, who did not intercalate so is now in her final year, was able to take an elective close to home and is now in hospital accommodation so again does not have a problem. She was receiving a University bursary which I assume continues.

Some students already have degrees so were not eligible for student finance from the getgo. It is tough, but they manage, which is why I was suggesting OPs DC ask them for finance tips.

'Favours' ? I'm v sure you didn't mean that to come across as it does. No one expects favours, they just want a level playing field so students from all backgrounds can finish medical school.
My students get full loans, bursaries and scholarships from Unis. Because otherwise it's too expensive with no parental help.
Bank of mum and dad is not a luxury everyone has access to.
Right, off to the Covid swamp that is school today.

What?

Nottingham may be different but DDs observation is that Bristol put themselves out to help those who need help. By year 4 they really don’t want students dropping out if they can prevent it. So some will have “in” placements for their final years for personal or health reasons. Others, if they ask, might well be able to access hospital accommodation reliving them of the need to pay for it. A few HCA shifts, or savings from a vacation job and they won’t needs parental support.

Your DD should speak to them now and see what is available. If they are already giving her extra cash, I don’t think you need worry about having to try and save in order to contribute. As far as I can see it is as level a playing field as it can be, as long as she asks. Is she looking for an elective near home?

It is the final year.

Sorry, you made it sound like the Uni were doing favours to students by giving out bursaries. Which came across a bit patronising to the poor people. Didn't think that was your intention though.
Last year doesn't start until July so plenty of time to sort out student finance. DD will be fine as she's worked since 16 so has her own money to use if we run out. DD2 at Bristol is much more expensive to run - another 5 year degree as well. I'm v proud of my kids, but v broke 😊

No I was concerned about the money problems and wanted to reassure you. You have been very open over the years about what a struggle it has been. The final year is not one you need worry about. By then they will have worked out how to live within their means including earning during vacations plus some shifts at weekends. This particular cohort will have spent less, eg DD skipped the medic ball because she wanted to see GPS at Christmas. (She got COVID anyway, so lost the planned shifts with her old gap year job, so it evened out.) Plus had lots of encouragement to take on vaccination and other COVID related work. My second jab was carried out by a dental student.. can vet students train up? Fellow students will also be understanding, with group project work often scheduled around shift patterns of those who are juggling studies with needing to earn.

Medical schools do their best to recruit using a level playing field. They will work even harder to retain students. Given the length of the course I assume this also applies to vet students, or are their particular complications down to the fact their main campus is outside Bristol or that there is no NHS bursary for the fifth year. Either way, the fifth year medic should be able to sort something out if you are not easily able to support her.

DS1 at Oxford worked to supplement his income for the last couple of years mumsneedwine. Possibly your DD could consider doing the same? (He worked in a popular cafe in town).

I mean it's not bad practice for real life as an F1. Work hard, play hard etc. He had early starts at the cafe but earned enough to top up the NHS thing and also go to New Zealand for a ten week elective (and onto Bali :)). I'd strongly suggest she looks for a job - lots of hospitality ones going, because of Brexit.

And Nottingham has had a particularly large East European population, many off whom will have gone back to their original country when the English told them they weren't welcome, so she'd probably get a pub or cafe job quite easily tbf. It might be a little less genteel/ harder work than Waitrose though...

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
@Origamiheaven hope you've got the answers you needed. Lots of funding options out there if need them.

My own DD is loaded thanks to her jobs stacking genteel shelves and working as an HCA in Covid ICU last year. But nice you're so concerned😂😂😂

Thankyou for all of the comments. Very helpful discussion I've generated!