Medical student funding in Northern Ireland is hard to navigate and inadequately supports many students, especially graduate medical students and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
At a time of serious medical workforce shortages across all specialties in the Northern Ireland health service, medical students should not be faced with such enormous financial barriers to studying medicine.
Background – the situation in Northern Ireland
Undergraduate medical students in Northern Ireland may have the lowest tuition fees in the UK, if they choose to stay and study here. However, this advantage is cancelled out by the by the overall financial package they receive. For example: the maximum available maintenance loan available for the 2025/26 academic year is between 21-34% lower for Northern Ireland-domiciled students than their counterparts in the other UK nations.
Table - Tuition fees and maintenance loans available to Northern Ireland-domiciled undergraduate med students in comparison to the rest of the UK for the 25/26 academic year.
| Home region | Northern Ireland | England | Wales | Scotland |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuition fees | Up to £4,855 | Up to £9,535 | Up to £9,535 | Up to £9,535 |
| Maintenance loans | Maximum living with parent/guardian - £6,300 | Maximum living with parent/guardian - £8,877 | Maximum living with parent/guardian - £10,480 | Maximum living with parent/guardian - £9,400 |
| Maximum living away from parent/guardian - £8,132, | Maximum living away from parent/guardian - £10,544 | Maximum living away from parent/guardian - £12,345 | Maximum living away from parent/guardian - £10,400 |
The Department for Health (DoH) bursary for undergraduate students in their fifth and later years of study is income-assessed and – if awarded – reduces the student maintenance loan.
Graduate medical students
Students studying medicine as a second degree receive reduced financial support in comparison to graduates studying elsewhere in the UK.
- As of the 2024/25 academic year, they do not receive the maintenance grant, special support grant, or payment of 5th year tuition fees.
- They are also not entitled to the DoH bursary in their fifth or final year.
BMA Student Finance Survey – Northern Ireland results
Northern Ireland respondents to the 2025 BMA UK-wide student finance survey tell us that the financial situation for medical students here is getting worse.
- 92% of Northern Ireland respondents say their funding doesn’t cover basic living costs.
- More than 60% spend less on essentials.
- Over 50% use overdraft to pay for basic purchases.
- 85% feel their financial situation is detrimental to their education.
- 89.7% say that their financial situation has been detrimental to their mental wellbeing.
- 43% have considered leaving medicine due to financial pressures (slightly higher than UK average).
Northern Ireland medical students career intentions survey 2025
The large amounts of debt that Northern Ireland medical students can graduate with is also causing many of them to consider careers in health systems outside of Northern Ireland where there are higher salaries.
In May 2025, BMA’s Northern Ireland medical students committee (NIMSC) published the findings of its career intentions survey of penultimate and final year med students at both medical schools here. The responses were stark:
- over 50% of respondents plan to leave the country after their foundation training
- of those who said they were planning to leave either Northern Ireland or medicine entirely after foundation training, over 81% of respondents said their decision was because of pay and conditions.
What we are calling for
- The DoH bursary should be paid to all final-year medical students, regardless of whether they are graduate or undergraduate.
- The maintenance loan should not be reduced upon receipt of the bursary and students should have access to full student finance maintenance for the entirety of their course.
- The tuition fee loan should be extended to graduate students at Queen’s University.
- The pilot travel contribution scheme should be made permanent and regularly reviewed so that the daily contribution (which will be £6.25-a-day from the 2025/26 academic year) is sufficient enough to cover the full cost of travel. Failing that, reforms should be made to the Student Finance NI travel grant scheme, including: Make it non-means tested; removing the requirement to pay the first £309; application process to be made more user-friendly.
What we are doing to address this
NIMSC continues to proactively lobby DoH, Department for the Economy and the country’s elected representatives to remove any financial barriers to studying medicine.
- Since March 2025 we have been meeting with the economy spokespeople for the main political parties in Northern Ireland as part of a targeted lobbying campaign to highlight the financial burdens on medical students studying here and what needs to change.
- In June 2025, we will be hosting a special roundtable event at Stormont on medical student finance with these spokespeople and other interested MLAs as part of the next stage in our lobbying.
- We have welcomed a recent announcement from the Department for the Economy that will increase maintenance loans for full-time undergraduate students for the 2025/2026 academic year.
- Student finance is inequitable between the Northern Ireland’s only two medical schools. From the 2025/26 academic year, medical students at Ulster University’s graduate entry medical school will be able to access tuition fee loans, but this has not been extended to graduate medical students at Queen’s University, Belfast. NIMSC will continue to work alongside QUB to lobby for tuition fee loans to be extended to graduate students studying there.
- We successfully lobbied for the introduction of a travel contribution scheme to assist students with the cost involved in travelling to placements in some health trusts. Under this scheme, medical students can choose between using trust accommodation while on placement or opt for a £6.25 per-day contribution towards their own travel expenses. NIMSC continues to lobby for this rate to be increased.
What you can do - get involved
Strengthen our numbers
Urge fellow medical students to join the BMA.
Your NIMSC
Learn about the Northern Ireland medical students committee, who we are and how we work.
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