BMA Survey of Medical Student Finances

Of the 1,737 medical students, responding to the 2006/07 Student BMJ survey:

• About a quarter said they had worked in term time, for an average of 9 hours per week, earning an average of £1,840 each.
  
• Just over half said they had worked in the previous summer vacation, with average earnings of £1,248.
  
• Just over 64% said they received financial support from their parents – averaging a little over £3,000 per student for the academic year.
  
• Average monthly expenditure on accommodation was £320 – ranging from £442 in London to £261 in Wales.
  
• Other average costs nationally ranged from £117 per month for food and £85 per month for entertainment to £46 per month for personal items. Household items/running costs of £58 per month were very similar to normal place of study travel costs, at £58.70 per month.
  
• Nationally half ran a car or motor bike – but this varied from 36% in London to 73% in Wales.
  
• Only a minority said they received financial assistance towards clinical placement travel costs.
  
• 59% of students replying had at least one credit card and owed an average of £969, whilst 55% of students replying had a bank overdraft, averaging £1,426 each.
  
• Excluding mortgage debt, overall average debt by year of study, primarily made up of student loan debt, was:

  £7,776 for First Years
  £9,953 for Second Years
  £13,820 for Third Years
  £17,439 for Fourth Years
  £18,524 for Fifth Years
  £21,057 for Sixth Years

• The good news is that average reported debt for fourth, fifth and sixth years was a bit down compared with the year before (albeit from a high baseline) - and reported first year debt was higher!

Our thanks to the BMA Medical Students Committee and all those medical students taking part in the survey, for this helpful snapshot of medical student finance across the UK.