In your first four years of study you will receive support under the same arrangements as for other undergraduate students. In year five the support arrangements will be different.
The following links take you to the relevant section of this page.
- Year five and onwards support
- Placement expenses
- Intercalated year
- NHS Dental Bursary Scheme
- Joint programme (St Andrews/Manchester/Keele)
- Degree holders who want to do a degree in Medicine
- Degree holders who want to do a degree in Dentistry
- The British Medical Association (BMA) student finance guide for Scottish domiciled medical students studying in Scotland
Scottish Government Health Directorate Bursary
In the fifth and later years of your Medicine/Dentistry degree, the support you receive will be similar to those doing an Allied Health Profession degree. This will be an income assessed Scottish Government Health Directorate Bursary, supplementary grants and free tuition, regardless of where you study in the UK. You will also have access to a non income assessed student loan that you will repay on an income contingent basis. You will receive support under the same arrangements as for other undergraduate students for your first four years of study. This will be help towards living cost support in the form of a student loan, access to the young students' bursary, the students' outside scotland bursary or the independent students' bursary, supplementary grants and tuition fees. All Scottish domiciled students should apply to SAAS in the normal way for the fifth and later years of your degree.
Medicine and Dentistry placement expenses
As a Medicine/Dentistry student, you are required to do an 'elective' which normally takes place in year four or five of your course and can last between six and eight weeks. If you incur extra travel costs because of your elective, we can help you with these.
If you choose to do your elective abroad, you can ask for the higher rate of loan for students living out with the parental home and for the cost of your journey to the point of your UK departure but we will not pay any airfares.
To claim for your placement expenses you should contact us in January and we can email you a form or post one out to you. To claim for your normal daily travel to and from your institution, you can apply online from the middle of December.
Travel expenses are income assessed and the amount you are entitled to will depend on the level of your household income.
Intercalated year
If you are studying Medicine or Dentistry as a first degree, you may be allowed to do one year of a BSc degree in between your course. Most students do this after year two or three and normal funding is available for this year.
After your intercalated year we will pick up the funding of your original degree where you left of.
NHS Dental Bursary Scheme
If you are studying a Dentistry (BDS) degree at Aberdeen (from 2008-2009), Dundee or Glasgow University, you may also be eligible to apply for a non income assessed bursary under the NHS dental bursary scheme .
Joint programme (St Andrews/Manchester/Keele)
If you started your medicine degree at St Andrew's University before 2006-2007 and transferred to Manchester or Keele University without a break in study to do your clinical years, we will income assess your tuition fees in your first year at Manchester or Keele. This means, depending on the level of your family's income, we may pay all, some or none of your tuition fees, up to £1,285.
If you started your medicine degree at St Andrews in 2006-2007 or later and transfer to Manchester or Keele to do your clinical years, you will be liable to pay fees of up to £3,290 in your first year at Manchester or Keele. You can ask us for a student loan for tuition fees to pay all or some of your fees.
Degree holders who want to do a degree in Medicine
If you hold a degree for which you received support from public funds, we will not normally pay your tuition fees for a second degree. However, if you are studying medicine as a second degree in Scotland, in your first four years of study, if your university are charging you more than the standard fee you can apply to us to pay the difference between the normal standard tuition fee of £1,285 and the higher tuition fee of £2,895 for medicine, the student loan for living costs and supplementary grants only. If you are studying outside Scotland, in your first four years of study you are eligible to apply for the student loan for living costs and supplementary grants only. You are not entitled to apply to us for any help towards your tuition fees, including a fee loan.
In your fifth year of study onwards, (this is year 5 of the MBCHB for most students, but if you have done an intercalated year, it will be year 4 and 5 of the MBCHB) as long as your first degree does not qualify you with a profession, you are eligible to have your fees paid (even if you are studying outside Scotland), an income assessed Scottish Government Health Directorate Bursary, a non income assessed loan for living costs and supplementary grants. If you are not sure if your first degree qualifies you with a profession, please contact us.
Degree holders who want to do a degree in Dentistry in Scotland
If you are a degree holder undertaking a Dentistry degree at one of the Dental Schools in Scotland (Aberdeen, Glasgow or Dundee) you may be eligible for a bursary and to have your fees paid for your entire dentistry degree under the NHS dental bursary scheme. To apply, you will have to fill in a Dental Bursary application form, which is different to your normal student support application. You will get a form from your dental school.
In your first four years of study you are eligible to apply through your normal student support for the student loan for living costs and supplementary grants only.
In your fifth year of study onwards, (this is year 5 of the BDS for most students, but if you have done an intercalated year, it will be year 4 and 5 of the BDS) you are eligible to apply for an income assessed Scottish Government Health Directorate Bursary, a non income assessed loan for living costs and supplementary grants.
Degree holders who want to do a degree in Dentistry elsewhere in the UK
If you are studying outside Scotland, in your first four years of study you are eligible to apply for the student loan for living costs and supplementary grants only. You are not entitled to apply to us for any help towards your tuition fees, including a fee loan.
In your fifth year of study onwards, (this is year 5 of the BDS for most students, but if you have done an intercalated year, it will be year 4 and 5 of the BDS) as long as your first degree does not qualify you with a profession, you are eligible to have your fees paid, an income assessed Scottish Government Health Directorate Bursary, a non income assessed loan for living costs and supplementary grants. If you are not sure if your first degree qualifies you with a profession, please contact us.
List of Professional Qualifications
- Accountancy
- Architecture
- Community Education
- Law
- Management (first degree and PG Diploma in Management Studies)
- Ministry
- Nursing and Midwifery
- Health Care Professions
- Personnel Management
- Pharmacy
- Priesthood
- Social Work
- Teaching
- Town Planning
- Building/Construction/Surveying (courses giving full exemption from Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Exams)
- Computing (courses which allow registration as a Chartered Engineer)
- Dentistry
- Engineering
- Medicine
- Surveying
- Veterinary Studies (BVMS)