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Student Finance

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
As I imagine, everyone is now getting sick of preparing for, or hearing about student finance... but I think this question concerns everybody.

Now I have found out that I'll get a loan which will pay for my fees straight off, and then another loan of around £3,500 which will pay for accommodation. After that I have to rely on my family to provide for living expensives etc. is this right?

It doesn't seem right that I have to still rely on my family income when I'm at univerisity.

The government seems to enjoy giving a load of paper work which frankly, nobody; not even at the LEA office seems to understand... can anyone verify this or tell me where I am wrong?

Thanks in advance:D
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I'm not sure about the new system but it's always been partly based on family income. If your family are well off you get less money in loans/grants as it is expected that your family will contribute.

    You can always get a job. Life as a student doesn't cost that much.

    Do you have to use all the loan for accommodation? Sounds very expensive.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I know, I was wondering about a grant, I'm from a high working class/low middle class family so I think I may have just missed out on grants, or may get a low grant at least. It does seem expensive which is why I'm asking...don't I get any loan for living expenses?

    The problem with getting a part time job is I'm doing medicine - so do not have as much free time as other courses:(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    you might be able to get a grant put don't pin any hopes on it. it's means tested so it's down to what your parents earn.

    well unlike you i have to pay my fees up front. i get the standard £3400 odd loan and out of that pay my £1200 fees and half of my rent. however this year i'm going to apply for the extra £1200 to pay my fees as my rent is going up and my loan will be smaller.

    and you're right, it's not fair that they assume that your parents are in a situation to be able to help you..or even want to. my parents are divorced and it's such idocracy that they go on my step-dads income as opposed to my dads.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    solid_L wrote:
    The problem with getting a part time job is I'm doing medicine - so do not have as much free time as other courses:(
    Where are you going? :)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can't decide, got offers at Liverpool, Hull York, Manchester and St. Andrews...but I think its a toss up between Manchester and St. Andrews at the moment.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Same place anyway in't it.

    I'd avoid Hull York, and be wary of Liverpool's emphasis on teach-yourself-medicine, or problem based learning as it euphemistically calls itself. Manchester's good so I hear but it's a big medical school and they've had some problems with too many graduates for too few jobs this year, leaving some of the newbies as yet jobless for August.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ps Be prepared for five long years of poverty and debt and gradual disillusionment with the state of the health service and the government in general. Especially its treatment, or lack thereof, of students doing proper university courses. ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Kentish wrote:
    disillusionment with the state of the health service

    yeh, I'm not in the medical profession, but I've worked in a hospital before as a locum, so basically I get put where the staff are overworked because of staff cuts :lol:

    but a lot of it is so badly managed, the amount of paper the board of directors goes through per day, and the fact they PRINT EMAILS to give them to people! just arrgh :banghead:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    At St. Andrews you spend 3 years at St. Andrews learning in lecture theatres and "work shops", then go to Manchester for 3 years clinical experience:)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    solid_L wrote:
    At St. Andrews you spend 3 years at St. Andrews learning in lecture theatres and "work shops", then go to Manchester for 3 years clinical experience:)
    Yeah. Do you want to be a student for 6 years?

    ps Don't forget Prince William is no longer at St Andrews so there's no reason to go there now. Unless you're a golfer.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I wouldn't want to go if he was lol, n yeah...I think I'd love to be a student for 6 years...the real world is poo:D
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fairy nuff. I'm only joking about St Andrews - I hear it's a nice little town to spend some time in, and you'll probably get a good old fashioned medical education there too.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A lot of people say the old fashioned teaching produces old fashioned "look down on nurses, hate patients" doctors, and worry it doesn't allow them to develop a decent bed side manner. But seeing as I work as a phlebotomist anyway dealing with patients, explaining what needs to be done and persuading them, comes second nature now - so I'm none too worried about that!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    That's overplayed far too much anyway. It doesn't take a special kind of person to be a doctor or to be able to talk to patients. And it's not something you can learn by popping onto a hospital ward once a month (which is what the "integrated" courses offer, at best). "You'll be on the wards from the first week of the course!" they proclaim in the prospectus, but you won't know fuck all about medicine so it'll be a complete waste of time.

    I'm a bit of a traditionalist in that sense, and you will have seminars on specialist communication skills, such as breaking bad news or asking sensitive questions, which is standard stuff for a medical school.

    And in the third year you'll be laughing with your phlebotomy experience. You may also be able to get a Saturday job whilst at uni doing that as well.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yeah hopefully, that would be good, if I have time:D see how it goes anyway:)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Best of luck, whatever you decide. :thumb:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Thanks a lot mate:D Whatever I decide I'll be poor, I know that at least :lol:
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