Basically, I'm in my AS year at the moment, and would really like to apply for medicine, but am concerned about finances. I wouldn't be entitled to anything more than the most basic maintenance loan of £3300, but as I am one of 6 children (blended family), my family can't afford to give me any money whilst I am at university.
Given that most of the universities (all outside London) that I'm looking at advise a minimum conservative yearly budget of £6500-7000, I have a shortfall of about £3-4000, and even worse during the 5th/6th year when the NHS bursary kicks in.
What I'm concerned about is how possible it will be to work enough to meet this. It does mean I'll have to give up on the idea of applying to Oxford, as I know they don't allow undergraduates to work, which I am really gutted about.
However, I'm worried about other universities too -
a.) whether I'll be able to achieve well enough academically if I'm working ~12 hours a week in a part time job, and during holidays.
b.) whether I'll be able to earn enough
c.) whether this is even possible at all during clinical years
I'm not work shy, and I'm happy to support myself, but I also want to be realistic about what I'm looking at.
The other option is a Professional Training Loan, but those cannot be applied for until second year, effective third year. They're currently only offered by one bank, and difficult to get hold of; I'm not entirely sure I'd want to risk being able to continue with my degree on obtaining one post-commencing.
Just really wanted to know what other people's thoughts are on how much it's possible to work during the degree, and their own plans for financing living costs?