Medical students campaign for fairer loan system

British Medical Journal, Feb 12, 2000 by Linda Beecham

The BMA's medical students committee is organising a petition, which it will present to parliament, against what it calls an "injustice" for those students in England and Wales who started their course before 1998 and are illegible for the full student loan in their final year.

When new tuition fees were introduced in 1998 these students were given access to a means tested NHS bursary which allowed them to borrow up to 500 [pounds sterling] more than the students who started their courses before 1998. The committee has pointed out that medical students incur greater expenditure than students in other disciplines, their courses can be up to 50 weeks a year, and they are unable to take on extra paid work.

Fees deal is a missed opportunity

Scottish medical students have described the Scottish Executive's proposals on student financing as a "missed opportunity." Under the new agreement Scottish students will not pay tuition fees but after they graduate they will be billed for 2050 [pounds sterling] as soon as their earnings exceed 10 000 [pounds sterling].

The students say that the repayment threshold will increase the debt burden. The chairwoman of the Scottish medical students committee, Janet Kerr, said, "We already face a situation where medical student debt has jumped by 20% over the past year and one in six students now finish their course with more than 10 000 [pounds sterling] of debt."