#helpmeimamedic

The National Union of Students (NUS) commissioned a project called Pound in your pocket, looking at the hidden face of student finance in 2013. The project surveyed 14.000 students across all subjects and found that medical students and other healthcare students were worse off compared with peers studying other subjects.

The project also found that 4 out of 10 students in receipt of the NHS bursary for healthcare students were not receiving the student loan and were relying on the financial aid of friends or family for loans or resorting to credit card debt and pay day loans companies.

This is an appalling state of affairs and yet, it has been the case for many years now.

We wanted to help students by offering a financial health check, so in our first of two blog posts we focussed on detailing the financial pressures facing medical students so that aspiring medical students can see a realistic view of what they will need to budget for.

In the last of our two blog posts on this subject we want to help signpost medical students to useful websites and organisations.

  1. Get on top of exactly what you are eligible for from the government by looking at their website (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance)

They offer tuition fee loans and maintenance loans, both of which are repayable. Additionally they offer the maintenance grant (non-repayable) for those who are eligible.

  It is not unheard of for students to be underpaid, if this happens, you need to contact them asap to get this rectified as it can sometimes take a while to sort out.

On the other side, there have been cases of students being overpaid, although this sounds like it would be ideal, once the error is noticed the overpayment is deducted from the next payment, which can hit people very hard. So if you notice overpayment be wary about spending the money!

  Use the helpful student calculator tool (https://www.gov.uk/student-finance-calculator) to check if you are being underpaid.

  2. University Hardship grants or scholarships. Check with student services at your university to see what financial help is available. They may have a small amount of grants available for students each term, so it is essential you check for any application deadlines. Be aware that if you are applying for help from your university it may require filling out long forms and providing evidence of all of your income and expenditure.

  3. The tried and tested source of income that has helped most Doctors get through medical school is having a part-time job or a summer job.  Having a job does not necessarily mean that it has to affect your social life whilst at university, many people choose to work at the local student pub/bar/shop. Also if you had a job prior to coming to university, keeping in touch with your old boss may mean that over Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays you have a guaranteed job to go back to.

  4. There are many prizes for essays, posters and presentations open to students, along with extra C.V. points there is also usually a cash prize. It is worth having a look through the various Royal college websites for descriptions of what they are looking for and to find out the deadlines.

The Royal Society of Medicine Student awards can be found here:  https://www.rsm.ac.uk/academ/awards/awardsstudents.php

  5. As medics we are obviously at university for a lot longer than your normal student, however if you feel that student life is just perfect for you, why not take a sabbatical and join the students union as a full-time staff member? For more details go to your university students union page.

  6. Become a research participant, thankfully ethics boards now mean that we have moved far away from testing research participants with dangerous substances! So you should be safe. Although I'm sure that many parents would be concerned by this option, it is there if you are so inclined. Research participants can be asked to things like keep a food diary, regular blood tests or have invasive investigations. The amounts that researchers can offer participants is not usually that much, but as medical students we are often the first to be asked to participate.

  7. Student credit cards, be very careful! The banks will tempt you with lots of lovely presents to get you to sign up to a card at Freshers Fayres and when you are struggling with money it can seem like you couldn't live without your overdraft. Many students now leave university owing thousands of pounds on numerous credit cards as well as having their student loans, it is not a nice position to be in, so avoid getting further into debt at all costs!

  8. The bank of Mum and Dad. Yes, we are grown-ups, we have moved away from home and have made some great friends, but the majority of us still need to ask for help from family. I'm sure that if they have the money family would rather you asked them than get yourself into a pickle with credit cards, so bite the bullet and tell them if you are struggling. Even if they can't help financially, they may be able to help you to budget more effectively.

  9. The Royal Medical Benevolent Fund have a great website full of tips and tricks for financial issues related to studying medicine. It is well worth having this website saved to your favourites: http://www.money4medstudents.org/

  10. And finally, the BMA have released a comprehensive guide to student finance for medical students. You can access it here: http://bma.org.uk/developing-your-career/medical-student/guide-to-medical-student-finance

  I hope this helps!

  If you have any tips or comments  you would like to share, please leave them below.  

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In recognition of the festive time of year the HMIAM team have got together to write the short poem below. Needless to say we will stick to being Doctors ;)                                                                                                               

Who decided we cannot have fun?

It's cold outside, no sign of the sun

No problem though, our heads are in books

The exam setters are seasonal crooks

Other students woe over ebay buys

While we're stuck in the library trying to revise

I should be excited, I'm going to be home

But instead I cry over the planes of long bones

I could try and be festive by wearing a jumper

But I'll be the target of every medic with a grumper.

If you are better at poetry than we are- send us your rhymes via facebook.

P.S. Our website redesign is complete- take a look: www.helpmeimamedic.co.uk

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