Working class students fear debt

Fear of debt is preventing students from working class backgrounds from applying to medical school, doctors leaders warned.

The British Medical Association said that university top-up fees are hitting the numbers wanting to study medicine, particularly those from poor and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Now the BMA's Medical Students Committee has launched a campaign to raise awareness of the potential impact of fees on the medical profession.

It is encouraging students to contact their MPs to raise the issue with them.

Medical students are particularly hard hit by debt due to the length and intensity of the course which prevents them from taking part-time work to fund their studies.

They also have to find cash to buy essential equipment for the course.

Committee representatives have met with Higher Education Minister Alan Johnson to express concerns about the continued domination of medicine by the middle classes.

They said that seven in 10 medical students were from professional or managerial backgrounds.

Fewer than a fifth came from families where the main source of income was manual or routine work with the situation getting worse.

Between 1996 and 2001 applications to medical schools from students from the two lowest socio-economic groups halved.

Most watched News videos