Choosing the Right Student Loan for NHS and Social Work
Those who wish to training for social work, medicine or certain areas of healthcare in the UK, they may be able to get a bursary through the NHS. This article outlines the help available to students ordinarily resident in England. If you are doing a course to prepare you for a career in social work, medicine, dentistry, or certain areas of healthcare, the financial help you can get may be different from the standard student finance package available to other students. In some cases this help is paid on top of the standard finance package available to other higher education students, and in other cases instead of it.
If you are studying for a career in social work, you may be able to get a non-repayable bursary through the NHS Business Service Authority’s Prescription Pricing Division. These bursaries are available to eligible students who don’t get funding from their employer and are studying an approved undergraduate or postgraduate course in social work. Your university or college will tell you if your course qualifies. Undergraduate students can also apply for the standard student finance package – but you don’t need to qualify for the standard package to get the social work bursary.
Though you would not usually be entitled to support through the standard student finance package if you’ve already done a government-funded higher education course, you can apply for the Student Loan for Maintenance if you’re a graduate student doing an undergraduate course in social work.
If you are doing a standard five or six-year medical or dental course, you can apply for extra financial help through an NHS bursary. To qualify, you must have started your course in September 1998 or later, normally live in England, and be studying in the UK
The first four years of your course will be funded in the same way as other eligible full-time higher education courses. However, in your fifth and further years of study, you’ll be entitled to different financial help. The main entitlement consists of an NHS bursary based on your income, the full amount of your tuition fees paid by the NHS, and a reduced rate (approximately 50 per cent) Student Loan for Maintenance, not based on your income.
NHS Bursary support is also available during years two, three and four for students on a four-year graduate-entry medical program. In year one you may be eligible for some support from the same sources as other higher education students – see the section below on ‘Applying for help through the standard student finance package’. In years two, three, and four, the main entitlement to NHS Bursary Support consists of an NHS bursary based on your income, the full amount of your tuition fees paid by the NHS, and a reduced rate (approximately 50 per cent) Student Loan for Maintenance, not based on your income.
The NHS Bursary in England also provides financial help to fund a limited number of places on courses in certain healthcare professions. The main entitlement consists of a degree-course bursary based on your income, or a diploma bursary which is not income assessed, full payment of your tuition fees, or if you are studying for a degree, a reduced rate (approximately 50 per cent) Student Loan for Maintenance, not based on your income.
To get the social work bursary, you have to meet certain eligibility criteria – set out in full in the bursary application form and guidance notes. You can find out more about the social work bursary and download the application form and notes. You should check that the form and guidance notes are relevant to the start date of your course.