Forums » BMJ » Careers » ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduate's are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 21/4/2011 12:10 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 2
First: 20/4/2011 Last: 21/4/2011 |
In Response to Re: ATTENTION! Graduate's are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!: In Response to Re: ATTENTION! Graduate's are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!! : There was no need for this comment. Posted by Mrdell Agreed - we are talking about a serious issue here. There is no need to interrupt and be rude. |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduate's are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 21/4/2011 2:33 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 141
First: 22/7/2009 Last: 14/2/2012 |
In Response to Re: ATTENTION! Graduate's are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!: What does the BMJ think of this issue? Posted by Rebs I wouldn't presume to speak for the whole BMJ on this, but as the careers editor my own personal view is that there are two issues here. Not sure if this will make me very popular, but.... 1) If people have applied for or worse started a medical degree under one promise and then the goalposts are moved that is a serious problem. That should not happen. 2) I am less concerned by a more general lack of funding for graduate entry into medicine. By definition the goverment will have supported the applicant in a previous degree to a greater or lesser extent and (particularly in light of the fact that we are producing a lot more medical graduates than we need at the moment) I can understand that a government may not feel that supporting second degrees of any sort is much of a priority in the current financial climate. It's a nice to have, not e necessary to have. I think it means we will miss out on a lot of good doctors and a lot of individuals will find that their career hopes are thwarted by it, but ultimately, from a workforce planning point of view, we will still be producing enough good doctors for our NHS. I actually see a strong argument that medicine should always be a graduate degree, but until it is, and as long as we have oversupply of medical students, I don't think we can necessarily make medicine a special case for funding students through more than one degree. |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 21/4/2011 3:11 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 69
First: 21/8/2009 Last: 14/7/2011 |
I think Ed is right to make the distinction. Have any current medical students here been told that the funding available to them has changed, or is it only people who are thinking of applying? |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 21/4/2011 6:12 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 1
First: 21/4/2011 Last: 21/4/2011 |
Ed, I am an entrant for 2011 and have a place secured; as far as I’m aware the four years will run in exactly the same fashion as before. That is, ~£3k up front out of one’s own pocket for year 1, then NHS support kicks-in for years 2-4 (to pay the university tuition which will still be set at ~£3k). Putting aside the potential reduction of competition, and in turn the resulting effect on standards; along with a few other little niggles that I won’t mention for fear of opening a can of worms - I partially agree with you from a rigid workforce planning point of view. However, I don’t think decisions should always be made with pure efficiency in mind, poor economic climate or not. I’m more concerned about what this all means for social mobility and fairness. Especially so in the worst case scenario, where the NHS ceases to fund the tuition fees in years 2-4 and banks continue not to offer loans. If it costs anywhere between £9k and £36k to study medicine, ignoring all living costs, then medicine becomes yet more elitist. |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 21/4/2011 11:28 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 3
First: 19/4/2011 Last: 21/4/2011 |
I entirely agree with Ed that there are two seperate issues here. I do feel that the goal posts have been moved in a very short time span. In my situation, I have been offered a place but have deferred till 2012. I won't go into my reasons for deferring but its not an option for me to start in 2011. Between the time I sat the gamsat and applied last septmeber/october all of these changes have come into effect and it will mean the decision to defer has cost me an extra £6,000-33,000 depending on what happens with the NHS bursaries. I and others in my situation have already incurred significant costs in applying to medical school, and have not been given enough time to adjust to the new situation. In regards to an over-supply of medical students and the current economic climate. If there are too many med-students then this should be dealt with by reducing med school places across the board, rather than simply excluding one section of the population based on age and socio-ecomic status. Making things financially difficult for graduates will not solve the problem of an excess of medical students. The places on GEP courses will still be filled, only by those that can afford them, rather than those that deserve them on merit. |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 22/4/2011 2:39 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 3
First: 19/4/2011 Last: 23/4/2011 |
My issue with this is that all of these changes came into play around the Oct. 15th deadline. In other words, we never had a chance to put together a strong enough application for 2011 entry before all of these changes were rushed through. I didn't start my work experience until August last year as it ment I had to leave a well paid job to take a Nursing Auxially job (net loss of £400pm) as I needed the money for the financial issue that were only just resolved late last year with my house, though this was out of my control and due to the housing market crash. On the note of being supported by the SLC for our previous degree, we all made a conscience decision that we'd need to support ourselves with tuition fees while they were around £3290pa. I accepted this as I'm sure every other graduate did that wanted to pursue Medicine. We made this judgement on tutition fees totalling £3290 for a Graduate course and £13'160 for a standard 5 year course, all of which we'd need to cover ourselves. Now, in the space of 6-8 months, we're now being told that not only are fees tripling but also that ALL financial aid (PDL loans included) is gone. |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 22/4/2011 3:31 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 18
First: 18/4/2011 Last: 19/5/2011 |
Personally my main problem with this issue is that we are being asked to pay fees up front and are not able to access a loan from anywhere (a bank or the SLC). We will be very disappointed if the NHS bursaries are removed, but at least if we could access a loan we'd still be in with a chance of studying. Many graduates have paid back their loans and some didn't even take one out in the first place, yet now they have to pay their fees up front, just because they aspired to get a qualification when they were younger. |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 22/4/2011 7:57 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 23
First: 21/10/2010 Last: 6/12/2012 |
I feel gutted for the people on this board who may/will not be able to follow their dream into medicine for financial reasons. I feel even more lucky now to have my place (and an earning husband and parents to support me financially). I don't know if it helps but I received this link in a recent alumni e-mail from Bristol University - http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2011/7601.html. Other universities may be doing the same thing for those on low income so it may be worth contacting your university to confirm their plans before completely giving up. Good luck everyone! Cheers Vicky
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 22/4/2011 8:15 PM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 18
First: 18/4/2011 Last: 19/5/2011 |
In Response to Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!: I feel gutted for the people on this board who may/will not be able to follow their dream into medicine for financial reasons. I feel even more lucky now to have my place (and an earning husband and parents to support me financially). I don't know if it helps but I received this link in a recent alumni e-mail from Bristol University - http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2011/7601.html . Other universities may be doing the same thing for those on low income so it may be worth contacting your university to confirm their plans before completely giving up. Good luck everyone! Cheers Vicky Posted by dotvicky Thank you Vicky, a ray of sunshine on our gloomy forum :) |
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Re: ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
posted at 23/4/2011 8:26 AM BST
on bmj.com
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Posts: 3
First: 19/4/2011 Last: 23/4/2011 |
My wife earns just over £25'000, therefore we'd still need to stump up the entire £9'000 a year, awesome logic there! I was hoping for some sort of sliding scale. |
Forums » BMJ » Careers » ATTENTION! Graduates are being priced out of studying medicine! Your View/Help Needed!!
