Student finance urgent help

Are you talking about the Postgraduate Masters Loan? There is no maintenance loan for that, it's just a straight payment of £12,000 split across your course which is supposed to cover both fees and maintenance. Unless you're eligible for a means-tested bursary, you can't get any additional maintenance money.

Are you planning to do medicine as a graduate entry accelerated course, or just as a straight 5-year undergrad degree? You ordinarily can't get a student loan for a second undergrad degree (maybe medicine is an exception). If you do postgrad medicine though, then the NHS pays your fees in the second, third and fourth years, and you can claim a small maintenance grant. But you have to pay the first year yourself.

I am applying for deferred entry Undergraduate Medicine for 2025. I know they don’t give you a tuition loan debt but they give you a maintainence loan. Before starting that I will do a 2 year masters starting in September and that master course is a Pre reg course which gives me a tuition fee Loan, NHS bursary and a maintance loan. So my question is if I drop out of that 2 years masters course in year 1 and I join medical school in 2025, will I be eligible for the maintance loan

I don't see why you wouldn't be eligible for it; they're two separate loans. The maintenance loan on your masters course will stop if you drop out, and you'll reapply separately for a new maintenance loan connected to your undergrad medicine degree. There doesn't seem to be any caveat on it about previous maintenance loans.

It's none of my business, but why are you going down the undergrad medicine route rather than Graduate Entry Medicine? With an undergrad degree in biomed, you'd be eligible for all the GEM schemes. You'd have to take the UCAT for it (or for some of them, at least, because some programmes require the GAMSAT instead), but you're preparing to do that anyway. The funding is much better and you'd qualify in four years rather than five.

Hi guys

I have completed a 3 year degree in biomed and I plan on starting a masters in September. I am also doing the ucat in September and deferring entry to medicine to 2025. If I do that 2 years master course and claim maintainance loans, and then start a 3rd degree in undergraduate medicine will student finance give me maintenance loans.

So essentially can I get maintainance loans if I start a 3rd degree in medicine, or if I drop out of my 2 year masters to pursue to medicine.

Hey @Jameson1732

congratulations on completing your biomedical science degree! 🎓 Are you going on to do an integrated masters or a separate MSc degree?

Check out these links if you haven't already for a bit of info on finance for secondary degrees and medicine:

https://www.gov.uk/student-finance/who-qualifies

https://rmbf.org/get-help/help-for-medical-students/medical-student-advice-hub/medicine-as-a-second-degree-in-england/

It looks as though funding gets harder to qualify for after the initial 4 years you qualify for for your 3 year biomed degree. Are you sure you want to do a 2 year masters to then go into a 5+ year medical degree?
Have you got a contact for your uni's careers department or a decent senior lecturer that can help you with some advice on your next steps?

You may get more help on the SFE forum https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=910
They're online Monday-Friday and are usually pretty quick in responding

Good luck with your choices, have a great graduation!

Essex Student Rep - Hayley

Hi guys

I have completed a 3 year degree in biomed and I plan on starting a masters in September. I am also doing the ucat in September and deferring entry to medicine to 2025. If I do that 2 years master course and claim maintainance loans, and then start a 3rd degree in undergraduate medicine will student finance give me maintenance loans.

So essentially can I get maintainance loans if I start a 3rd degree in medicine, or if I drop out of my 2 year masters to pursue to medicine.

Hi there,

Just to confirm, is it definitely an undergraduate Medicine course that you're planning to study, or will it be graduate-entry?

Thanks, Graeme

Undergraduate medicine