The NHS bursaries for health studies are a great way to help pay college tuition for students interested in a medical career. The National Health Services (NHS) offers bursaries for students entering the health field, making available financial aid to those who are entering certain training programs in the United Kingdom.
If you are looking to take on a career as a doctor, dental hygienist or nurse, you may find that the student NHS bursary will have available to you financial aid to assist in funding your college education. Students interested in pursuing a career in social work may also be able to apply for a separate but equally useful bursary program through the NHS as well. Different levels of awarded money will be available based on income and marital status, and further funding will be determined by academic results. The NHS bursary is a great place to start when looking for college funding for health care workers, and should definitely be considered by anybody with an interest in the health field. As it is always important to find additional funding options for school, this should certainly not be your last stop, but serves as a decent starting place.
Eligibility for NHS bursaries depends on a number of factors. Residency or “settlement status” is the first important requirement for financial aid through this program, though those students who are European Union nationals will still be able to apply under specific circumstances. After residency has been established, only specific course types will be funded by the NHS bursaries. These include Nursing, Midwifery and Operating Department practitioner courses.
Students who are entering the medical or dental field to become doctors may apply for funding through an NHS student bursary but must pass a financial needs test, which will look at your dependent status and take into account the income of your parents while also considering overall family size. NHS bursary money is also available to students seeking a post-graduate education in the medical field, and larger awards are given to those who fall into this category. Income from your time as an undergraduate as well as dependant/family income may also be used to determine award amounts.
NHS bursaries are also available to students interested in social work. This program varies from the one focused on medical students largely because it is not income based, but depends largely on whether eligible students are studying full or part time. Full time students can receive an award for 862.50 pounds while part timers can get 575 pounds. Residency requirements for this type of NHS bursary program are similar to the above mentioned one, but may vary for students from EU. You must also be enrolling or have already enrolled in a social work program, and not be receiving any assistance from an employer in the social work field for your education. As with the medical specific bursary above, this funding opportunity is a great place to start, and its lack of income-eligibility may be extra helpful to those who do not quite fit into a lower economic bracket but are still struggling to pay for schooling.
The due date for the 2011/12 NHS bursaries academic year is March 31, 2011 and the 2010/11 year awards have already been given out. The program has historically given all awards by September 1 of a given year, and follows the United Kingdom academic calendar, so it is likely to operate the same for this academic year.
If you are considering going to school for a career in medicine or social work, and need access to additional funds, you should certainly stop in and start gathering the necessary material to fill out the NHS bursary application form and apply to the NHS bursaries program. Read over their material very carefully and make sure you have correctly identified your status as a dependent or independent. The more information you have available at the time of application the more quick and painless the overall process will be.
Finding online bursaries.
How to get a Sasol bursary.