Medical students’ maintenance loans need to be reformed, according to a professional body which has warned that the “broken” finance system could put potential applicants off.
A survey by the British Medical Association of 3,500 medical students has found that 90 per cent said that the NHS bursary and student maintenance funds are not sufficient to cover living costs. Of this, 39 per cent that it does not cover living costs “at all”.
Currently, medical students only typically receive student maintenance loans up until their fifth academic year, when they then transition onto NHS bursary funding as they undertake placements.
However, the BMA said that students on their bursary year are £3,647 worse off on average than other students on maintenance funding from Student Finance England, and has called on the government to ensure that medical students have access to full student finance maintenance for the entirety of their courses.
It said: “The BMA is concerned that a failure to address this funding gap limits career options and is a serious barrier to widening participation in medicine, as the fear of financial hardship will be a deterrent for those students who do not have other sources of financial support.”
Some 43 per cent of students said that the financial situation has made them consider pausing their studies or “leave medicine altogether”. Over four in five (85 per cent) said their economic situation was having a detrimental impact on their studies.
An additional 85 per cent said they had been forced to cut down on non-essential items, while 62 per cent said they had cut down on essential items. One in five (21 per cent) said they had taken on additional work to support their income.
However, Tommy Collings, a fourth-year foundation entry student at the University of Manchester, argued that taking on additional work was not a realistic option for students who are already undertaking their NHS placements at hospitals.
He said: “I have a colourful array of part-time jobs that I have had to string together to keep things going but this becomes even more difficult to do in your final year when you are on placement and have less free time, so having a reduction in finances in this year just compounds the difficulties.”
The cost-of-living crisis has increased the financial burden on students, with more than ever undertaking part time work to supplement their student loan. However, the Labour government has gone some way to address this after it announced a £414 rise in maintenance loan a year at the same time as increasing tuition fees – a 3.1 per cent rise.
The BMA’s medical student’s deputy co-chairs for finance, Henry Budden and Sophie Mitchell, described the financial support system to medical students as “broken”.
Advice on helping students through the cost-of-living crisis
“It is ludicrous, that at a time when the government is committed to getting the NHS back on its feet and ensuring there is a strong medical workforce to care for patients, medical students that have worked hard to earn a place on their course are being met with these difficult financial barriers…It is only right then that they should receive the appropriate funding to see them through the entirety of their course.”
They added that unless the government intervenes, “it will only discourage hardworking, talented students from more diverse backgrounds to pursue a career in medicine”.
“By ensuring that medical students can retain their entitlement to full student finance maintenance funding throughout the entirety of their studies, the government can drastically improve the financial outlook for many concerned students in England today.”
