The Student Room Group

Medicine - New Fees?

Hi,

I got rejected this year and want to reapply next year. However the increase in fees is really putting me off. My family cannot support the cost of this, and if I take a loan I'm not sure how much I'll actually end up repaying... So I was just wondering whether anyone had done some calculations to find out how long it would take a student to pay off their loan, and how much they would end up paying in the end?

This is assuming the worst case scenario of £9000 for 5 years. I think my parents will be able to pay for the rest (acommodation etc) so basically how long will it take a newly graduated doctor to pay off a loan of £45000, and what will they end up paying on top of it?

Thanks

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Original post by hookguy
Hi,

I got rejected this year and want to reapply next year. However the increase in fees is really putting me off. My family cannot support the cost of this, and if I take a loan I'm not sure how much I'll actually end up repaying... So I was just wondering whether anyone had done some calculations to find out how long it would take a student to pay off their loan, and how much they would end up paying in the end?

This is assuming the worst case scenario of £9000 for 5 years. I think my parents will be able to pay for the rest (acommodation etc) so basically how long will it take a newly graduated doctor to pay off a loan of £45000, and what will they end up paying on top of it?

Thanks


I believe you start paying over £21,000, so if a basic FY1 salary is £22,000 then you only pay 9% of £1000 for that first year... It comes straight out of your wages like tax and NI does anyway, so I'm personally not thinking of my student debt as anything more than a slightly increased tax once I graduate. I wouldn't be put off by the new fees - I've seen figures somewhere that suggest that even if you add in maintenance loans, etc, that your student debt is only 1% of your total earnings as a doctor over your entire career.
Reply 2
Just think of it as a graduate tax, rather than a debt. It's just that for 2012 entry you'll be taxed more than for 2011 entry. :p:
Pretty sure 1 or 2 years are paid for by an NHS grant, so that might be a relief to hear :smile:

I know the amount of debt seems scary, but a student loan is one of the best investments you can ever make. You pay back in conjunction to what you earn, so if you leave and never get a job, you never pay back the loan (I think... Someone else will have to confirm).

Also, job security is very high in the medical profession (though this might change under the current government, it probably won't). There is also a clear career trajectory and an ascending payscale. Unless you massively **** up, you will always be earning and earning increasing amounts each year.

My best advice would be to phone up the student loans company and ask them about the details of the loan. They will give you proper advice and may quell any worries you have about paying the debt back :smile:

On a side note, I find it incredibly disturbing that you have been put off a career in medicine because of the cost of a degree. I am guessing there are probably lots of people out there like you, and therefore lots of people who would probably make great doctors who are being denied the chance due to financial circumstances. "We're all in this together" eh? :frown: It actually sickens me to my stomach... Degrees should be offered on the ability to learn not the ability to pay.

I wish you all the best. Don't let this get you down. x
Original post by Beska
Just think of it as a graduate tax, rather than a debt. It's just that for 2012 entry you'll be taxed more than for 2011 entry. :p:


A lot more :mad:
Reply 5
Original post by thegodofgod
A lot more :mad:


I really am very sorry for people who have to pay the increased fees, at least in the first few years. It was mentioned at a med student BMJ conference yesterday (saw via Twitter) that it's unfair that medical students from 2012 will be paying £9000/yr for a degree and getting no more 'value' than somebody paying only £3000/yr. Charging loads more for exactly the same teaching/resources/etc.. Not sure what anybody can really do about it - it's the only real way to deal with the education cuts - but it sucks nonetheless.
Original post by Beska
I really am very sorry for people who have to pay the increased fees, at least in the first few years. It was mentioned at a med student BMJ conference yesterday (saw via Twitter) that it's unfair that medical students from 2012 will be paying £9000/yr for a degree and getting no more 'value' than somebody paying only £3000/yr. Charging loads more for exactly the same teaching/resources/etc.. Not sure what anybody can really do about it - it's the only real way to deal with the education cuts - but it sucks nonetheless.


Yeah :sad: - have the BMA protested for increased pay for junior doctors? I'm guessing they'll be doing that some time soon if they haven't already :yy:
Original post by Harbour Seal
Pretty sure 1 or 2 years are paid for by an NHS grant, so that might be a relief to hear :smile:

I know the amount of debt seems scary, but a student loan is one of the best investments you can ever make. You pay back in conjunction to what you earn, so if you leave and never get a job, you never pay back the loan (I think... Someone else will have to confirm).

Also, job security is very high in the medical profession (though this might change under the current government, it probably won't). There is also a clear career trajectory and an ascending payscale. Unless you massively **** up, you will always be earning and earning increasing amounts each year.

My best advice would be to phone up the student loans company and ask them about the details of the loan. They will give you proper advice and may quell any worries you have about paying the debt back :smile:

On a side note, I find it incredibly disturbing that you have been put off a career in medicine because of the cost of a degree. I am guessing there are probably lots of people out there like you, and therefore lots of people who would probably make great doctors who are being denied the chance due to financial circumstances. "We're all in this together" eh? :frown: It actually sickens me to my stomach... Degrees should be offered on the ability to learn not the ability to pay.

I wish you all the best. Don't let this get you down. x


Scotland has the right idea regarding that, but I doubt it can be implemented in england. I do not care anyway, as I live in Scotland.
Original post by firestar101
Scotland has the right idea regarding that, but I doubt it can be implemented in england. I do not care anyway, as I live in Scotland.


That's a little bit negative :smile: I'm an optimist (and a socialist to boot :wink: ) and I always believe in campaigning for what I believe is right, even if it's unlikely to happen.

Perhaps you don't care but I do... :tongue:
Original post by Beska
I really am very sorry for people who have to pay the increased fees, at least in the first few years. It was mentioned at a med student BMJ conference yesterday (saw via Twitter) that it's unfair that medical students from 2012 will be paying £9000/yr for a degree and getting no more 'value' than somebody paying only £3000/yr. Charging loads more for exactly the same teaching/resources/etc.. Not sure what anybody can really do about it - it's the only real way to deal with the education cuts - but it sucks nonetheless.


Agreed, but you could still argue that £3000 or 9000/yr is paying way under it's true value - at the end of the day we're discussing a degree that costs approximately a quarter of a million pounds per student, and whether that student is paying £15,000 or £45,000 (ignoring the NHS bursary/fee payments for now) it's still great value for money, in simplistic terms. I would rather pay increased fees than see the standard of medical education decrease due to lesser university funding.
Why exactly has this changed your family circumstance?

<2011, you paid £3400 ish a year (it gained about 2% inflation per year since it was initiated) through a loan provided through the SFC, which you then paid back on a staggered basis once you were a graduate and earning over £15,000.

>2011, you pay £9000 a year (down to £6000 at some universities depending on your family finance), through a loan provided through the SFC, which you then pay back on a staggered basis once you are a graduate and earning over £21,000.

Accommodation, etc, should all stay the same. So, until you've graduated, nothing has actually changed.

As a Doctor, you're probably one of the people who's going to be least concerned about the effects of student debt, since you're practically guaranteed a job when you graduate, so that shouldn't be a concern. Yes, it's bad that it's going to be more than people who got in in 2011, but that wouldn't put me off.
Reply 11
Original post by Becca-Sarah
Agreed, but you could still argue that £3000 or 9000/yr is paying way under it's true value - at the end of the day we're discussing a degree that costs approximately a quarter of a million pounds per student, and whether that student is paying £15,000 or £45,000 (ignoring the NHS bursary/fee payments for now) it's still great value for money, in simplistic terms. I would rather pay increased fees than see the standard of medical education decrease due to lesser university funding.


Very good (very divergent!) point and I tend to agree. Nevertheless, I'd still be bitter if I was paying the increased fees for the same degree. In fact, intercalating medics on the lower fees may drop down into the same year as those paying the higher fees: they'd be in the same year, getting exactly the same teaching etc. as those paying the higher fees, but paying less. Just the human condition I guess, but I do feel mighty sorry for those chaps who will end up paying the higher fees.

e: Just to be clear - on a tangent - I am a stark advocate of the philosophy that the increased fees shouldn't/won't put people off medicine because it's a graduate tax, not a traditional debt and I would pay the higher fees if that was the only way to study medicine. My point here is just that it's a kick in the teeth studying alongside those paying less. The increased fees won't bankrupt you/your parents/your family/etc. at all.
(edited 12 years ago)
I wonder when all English medical schools will actually decide on their fees for next year. At least one of my choices will be English and I guess I'm hoping and praying that I'll be able to get by without some sort of monstrous career loan from HSBC or something to that effect.

Summer will truly be made for working! 100 hour weeks at £25 an hour and an absolutely horrendous amount of tax here I come :frown:
Original post by Beska
Very good (very divergent!) point and I tend to agree. Nevertheless, I'd still be bitter if I was paying the increased fees for the same degree. In fact, intercalating medics on the lower fees may drop down into the same year as those paying the higher fees: they'd be in the same year, getting exactly the same teaching etc. as those paying the higher fees, but paying less. Just the human condition I guess, but I do feel mighty sorry for those chaps who will end up paying the higher fees.

e: Just to be clear - on a tangent - I am a stark advocate of the philosophy that the increased fees shouldn't/won't put people off medicine because it's a graduate tax, not a traditional debt and I would pay the higher fees if that was the only way to study medicine. My point here is just that it's a kick in the teeth studying alongside those paying less. The increased fees won't bankrupt you/your parents/your family/etc. at all.


Please don't mention the increased fees after intercalation thing - I'm very much sticking my fingers in my ears and ignoring it until someone official definitely tells me that I don't have to pay higher fees on my return to medicine. It's not been confirmed yet (something to do with SFE saying it's a change of degree hence maybe new fees).

EDIT: Also, the whole higher/lower fees within the same year group has been done before, when top-up fees were introduced. And I currently pay £2900/yr whilst many of my classmates pay zero. It's not an issue.
(edited 12 years ago)
Reply 14
Original post by Becca-Sarah
Please don't mention the increased fees after intercalation thing - I'm very much sticking my fingers in my ears and ignoring it until someone official definitely tells me that I don't have to pay higher fees on my return to medicine. It's not been confirmed yet (something to do with SFE saying it's a change of degree hence maybe new fees).


Wait - what?! I did some (admittedly, superficial) research on this a couple of months ago and a few threads on here/NMM/elsewhere seemed to conclude from whatever sources of information that the fees would remain the same. Uhh. Would this not play havoc with 6-year courses?
If nothing else, £9000 is worth it for a medicine degree. You won't even notice the loan repayments.
Original post by Beska
Wait - what?! I did some (admittedly, superficial) research on this a couple of months ago and a few threads on here/NMM/elsewhere seemed to conclude from whatever sources of information that the fees would remain the same. Uhh. Would this not play havoc with 6-year courses?


There was a discussion on this in the Current Medics subforum a while back, and there seemed to be some disparity between those who have to intercalate, and those who choose to intercalate, since the 6 year courses are compulsory, whereas my iBSc will certainly not be. I think the tentative conclusion was that we should be ok for now, but that may change in the near future.
Reply 17
Original post by Becca-Sarah
There was a discussion on this in the Current Medics subforum a while back, and there seemed to be some disparity between those who have to intercalate, and those who choose to intercalate, since the 6 year courses are compulsory, whereas my iBSc will certainly not be. I think the tentative conclusion was that we should be ok for now, but that may change in the near future.


Uh, well, ****.
Original post by Beska
Uh, well, ****.


It would be rather hypocritical of me to say that I support the fee raise but then bitch about it if it were applied to me, so I guess I'm reasonably ok with paying £9k/yr for my final 2 years if they deem it necessary, but I'm hoping that the whole "the fees you pay are those that were in place when you started uni" argument will win out.
Reply 19
Original post by Becca-Sarah
but I'm hoping that the whole "the fees you pay are those that were in place when you started uni" argument will win out.


I agree with that sentiment, funnily enough! :p:

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