University tuition fee

Your best bet would be contacting your medical school/universties finance team asking them about international student scholarships. Scholarships in the UK aren't are widespread as they are in the USA and they are usually about coming from a poor background over any actual academic merit. By all means look for them, but you may need to find a backup. Hardship funds are also a thing but they won't be enough to pay for your tuition fees. Maybe your government could help? I dunno how these things work.

Thank you so much for your reply, it feels much better to see that someone cares about my problem.

I have actually contacted my university, they told me that non of the scholarships are for international students doing medicine. I have also looked into hardship funds although it used to cover international students last year, it only covers national students this year. Regarding our government I wish there was some sort of funds for studying abroad, unfortunately there is absolutely nothing to help students abroad or those studying back in my own country.

I’m second year medical student and I need to pay £40000 for my tuition fees as I’m international student. Due to the Corona and other political reasons my Country, Iran, has been experiencing economic crisis. Our currency has lost 2/3 of its value since Corona started. It means that my father needs to pay three times the amount that he used to pay in Iranian Currency. Therefore, the university fees are not affordable for me anymore, soon the university sanctions will be applied and I will be dropped out of the medical school.

As I’m international there isn’t any kind of fund or scholarship for international medical students. I have always been passionate in my studies and I have been first decile (Top 10%) during all the examinations in first year, my A-level grades are A* in 4 science subjects and I’m always looking for opportunities for funds and scholarships to apply for, however, apparently there aren’t any for us.

Can anyone give advise on what I can do?

Thanks

I don't know what to say then. I typed your problem into Google and found this page:
https://aljawaz.com/en/scholarships-to-study-medicine-in-uk/

But otherwise I'm not sure there's much you else you can do unless you can find some way to make the money. Could you take out a loan?

Thanks for your reply I will look into the website,
regarding the loan, I’m not eligible for loan in the UK as I’m international. My country does not offer student loans either.

thanks

This is a tricky situation.
I think I would have bitten the bullet, informed the uni and then suspended studies.
I would then go back home and survive.
The currency will recover, when CV19 normalises and a vaccine is in place next year.

Talk to your tutor and course organiser who may provide some guidance.
It may be you arent the only one who has suffered such a currency fluctuation, so maybe start a support group.

Am looking at the exchange rates v £ and am not seeing a 300% fluctuation.

Thanks for your reply,

Support group seems like a good idea, I will look into it further.
The exchange system in my country is multiple exchange system. This is a system where a country will have both fixed and floating foreign exchange rates at the same time.
The exchange rates on the google only shows the fixed rate which can only be used by the Government and people never have access to that. While, the floating exchange rate can be used by people. The floating rate is 360000IRR while the fixed is 54000IRR.
The other thing is that COVID-19 is not the only thing affecting our currency and there is no hope that it will get better after Corona. It is mostly, due to the sanctions that US has put on our country in order to put pressure on our government, but it has also put a lot of pressure on people.


Thanks a lot.

I don't mean a student loan. I mean an actual loan as in a professional loan from the bank.

I doubt sanctions will be changing any time soon plus relations between Iran and the UK are at an all time low. People get caught in the middle. If your family cant afford it then just suspend as its just a degree. Maybe things will have changed a few years in the future. Surely you knew the situation before you came back for year 2? I would not have returned if it had gone up by 3x.

Suspending medical school as international student has serious implications on my visa and I wouldn’t be able to apply for visa to continue my studies later on.
So far dropping out seems to be the only option for me. The only thing is that I have been trying really hard to get to the stage that I am right now, I had to study so hard as english was my second language and internationals are in disadvantage when applying to medical schools. I have also spent a lot of money during these years for my studies.
Going back to my country means that my dreams of being a doctor will be shattered and I would need to attend high school again.

I dont think its insurmountable for the visa, just more difficult.

From what you say then your parents ability to pay doesnt exist and the Uni will not pay for you. The decision makes itself. You need to find out from the uni what will happen re fees for this year and whether you will be liable for the whole years fees anyway. See what your tutor says or the course organiser and that will give you a better idea. On a tripling of real term fees, then I would just not have returned for Y2, which would have avoided liability.
. This is where UK students are very lucky.

Maybe Mr @ecolier has some input?

Suspending medical school as international student has serious implications on my visa and I wouldn’t be able to apply for visa to continue my studies later on.
So far dropping out seems to be the only option for me. The only thing is that I have been trying really hard to get to the stage that I am right now, I had to study so hard as english was my second language and internationals are in disadvantage when applying to medical schools. I have also spent a lot of money during these years for my studies.
Going back to my country means that my dreams of being a doctor will be shattered and I would need to attend high school again.

that is a shame, but obviously, you are good enough to become a doctor if you got into university. Would there be any options to study medicine at home? or in another European university, some of them are free, or study in America if you can successfully apply for a scholarship

Thanks for your reply,
I’m gonna look into European universities to see if they accept A-levels. My home country is not really an option as it needs me to study Arabic, theology on top of all science subjects and literature for three years before getting into medical school. The problem with America is that I’m Iranian and it is very unlikely that I would be able to get the visa.

Thank you so much

I truly wish you the best of luck. It's an awful situation that you're in and I hope that something works out for you in the end