[lelouchan]

Originally Posted by Librium

Just as a matter of interest are your family actually English or do you come from a long line of economic migrants who take their newly adopted country for all they can get?

You are being really really rude. And I doubt any of us doesn't know one person in ireland who has emigrated for a better place, so how dare you?
As an aside Shaz has been fantastically helpful giving us an account of his experiences with the bank, so there is no need to descend to that level.
As someone said, everyone got their places on MERIT and fair play to them all.

I'm not sure why you are so bitter, but don't take it out on people you don't even know.

[sam34]

Originally Posted by Librium

You are actually incorrect on a number of points, for example Irish students are not entitled to the same education grants Scottish students studying in Scotland are. Just as a matter of interest are your family actually English or do you come from a long line of economic migrants who take their newly adopted country for all they can get?

banned for one week.

there's a standard expected here and your post is way off the mark.

when your ban is up, please post constructively in a civil manner or you will be banned again.

[GB_88]

Originally Posted by Librium

i'd also prefer if uk people didn't steal irish people's medschool opportunities, the uk students should be charged the same as the americans in my opinion.

Hi all, my first post here but I have been following the thread thus far. I find it incredulous that you say this considering the mass exodus of people Ireland has seen toward cities such as london where they are fortunate enough to find employment.

I am British and currently holding a place in limerick but due to the difficulty in obtaining a loan as a result of residency I have decided to postpone medicine for a year in favor of working as hard as I can and earning that much needed cash. Perhaps the Euro will continue to depreciate against the Pound, who knows?? Or even the possibility that lending conditions will improve in the next 12 months. I feel that I could not give my all to medicine if I was constantly in fear of my finances. By all accounts first year medicine is one of the toughest and so I would like to be comfortable enough with regard to money.

How are other GB applicants feeling? Would you consider postponing med for a year? Would be nice to hear your thoughts.

[shaz84]

Originally Posted by shaz84

Thanks CramCycle. I have indentified the relationship owner and left them a voicemail. its a lady called Ruth Harrison in the Fees office.

Hi All,

Quick update on the Career Development Loans situation.

I have contacted Ruth Harrison at the UCD fees office and there is good news... the University is going to register the course DN401 - Medicine (Graudate Entry) with the Skills Funding Agency, so that UK citizens have an opportunity to apply for financial aid up to £10,000 GBP, 80% of which must be used for tutition.

The loan will be repayment free for 36 months. Interest and Capital repayments start after that.

It will take 4-6 weeks to register the course, and then another 4-6 weeks for the application process, so not very helpful if you are looking to use this money to fund tutition for the first semester of this year.

If anyone wants to utilise this facility, contact details are below:

Barclays Bank Career Development Loan Team: 0845 60 900 60

You will need a Barclays or Co-Op bank account (dont have details for Co-op sorry).

Skills Funding Agency: The contact who is aware of UCD registering this course is called Roselyn. Phone number: 0800 100 900.

Hope this helps those still looking to start this year.

[shaz84]

Originally Posted by Librium

You are actually incorrect on a number of points, for example Irish students are not entitled to the same education grants Scottish students studying in Scotland are

I was not aware that Irish citizens were not entitled to Scottish educational grants. If this is the case, it is the same for you as it is for us English, as the Scottish grant based system doesnt apply for English students either.

[First Aid Ireland]

Originally Posted by shaz84

You are entitled to you own opinion. I could also say that I would prefer if my hard earned taxed income wasnt used to bail out the Irish economy via the European Central Bank and that you should be responsible for your own financial management of yoir economy as well as the consequences of overspending.

It's a massive loan! It' not money for nothing!

Anyway, there's stacks of Irish students doing medical/pharmacy/physio/vet training in the UK, taking places away from their students. UK unis are packed with Irish students.

[Palo Alto]

I think we should move on and focus on keeping up with details on the loans if they are available, no point in feeding the troll further!

I think next week will be D-Day for me with Cork and I hope someone in Bank of Ireland and Ulsterbank can finally give me concrete answers regarding the loan.

If they impose the residency criterion stringently I'm screwed but I'm still relatively hopeful as I am an Irish citizen, have a guarantor and worst case scenario can always go back to earning some money (although not much at the moment!) in Northern Ireland as a solicitor if things go very wrong.

It just really galls me to have to deal with all of this as I am sure it does for everyone after putting all the effort into GAMSAT and thinking that that was the hard part!

I still think it's particularly insane that the Ulster Bank loan is thus far only available at UL, it literally makes no sense whatsoever!

[Reality_Check1]

Im not sure if that person was trolling but a fact I find interesting is that if Irish students were banned from applying in the UK and vise versa the points here would shoot up across the board so we should be grateful in a way

[shaz84]

Originally Posted by shaz84

Hi All,

Quick update on the Career Development Loans situation.

I have contacted Ruth Harrison at the UCD fees office and there is good news... the University is going to register the course DN401 - Medicine (Graudate Entry) with the Skills Funding Agency, so that UK citizens have an opportunity to apply for financial aid up to £10,000 GBP, 80% of which must be used for tutition.

The loan will be repayment free for 36 months. Interest and Capital repayments start after that.

It will take 4-6 weeks to register the course, and then another 4-6 weeks for the application process, so not very helpful if you are looking to use this money to fund tutition for the first semester of this year.

If anyone wants to utilise this facility, contact details are below:

Barclays Bank Career Development Loan Team: 0845 60 900 60

You will need a Barclays or Co-Op bank account (dont have details for Co-op sorry).

Skills Funding Agency: The contact who is aware of UCD registering this course is called Roselyn. Phone number: 0800 100 900.

Hope this helps those still looking to start this year.

Have the application pack through. Basically, they pay the loan in installments, twice a year. If you take out the full £10,000 then you get £2,500 in month 1, 6, 12, and 18. So it want necessarily help pay off one semesters tuition. And, looking through the application pack from Co-Op and Barclays, the Co-Op loan looks like a better option as the overall interest rate is better (4.9% vs 5.7% APR overall).

Also, SUSI (student-finance.ie) confirmed that there is no restriction for fee grants for EU students. So, it looks like we can get up to EUR 6,250 per annum from SUSI to help fund our studies. It's means tested based on previous years salary though, so if you're earning a decent wage already you wont be entitledd to much (or anything) for the first year. More info below:

http://ym.adnet.ie/downloads/1339418...cheme_2012.pdf

Regards
Shaz

[ciara84]

Originally Posted by shaz84

Also, SUSI (student-finance.ie) confirmed that there is no restriction for fee grants for EU students. So, it looks like we can get up to EUR 6,250 per annum from SUSI to help fund our studies. It's means tested based on previous years salary though, so if you're earning a decent wage already you wont be entitledd to much (or anything) for the first year. More info below:

http://ym.adnet.ie/downloads/1339418...cheme_2012.pdf

Regards
Shaz

AFAIK you can only get grants for your first degree.

[shaz84]

Originally Posted by ciara84

AFAIK you can only get grants for your first degree.

Ciara, you may be right as I have not read the entire document, but I did specifically ask if I would be entitled to a grant if I had completed a previous degree. I was told that you cant get a grant if the 2nd degree is at the same level, but you are apparently eligible if studying to a higher level. I asked what level a Bachelors was and they said 7. As my CAO offer states Graduate Entry Medicine is a Level 8 course I assume that I would be eligible?

Confused....

[Biologic]

Originally Posted by shaz84

Ciara, you may be right as I have not read the entire document, but I did specifically ask if I would be entitled to a grant if I had completed a previous degree. I was told that you cant get a grant if the 2nd degree is at the same level, but you are apparently eligible if studying to a higher level. I asked what level a Bachelors was and they said 7. As my CAO offer states Graduate Entry Medicine is a Level 8 course I assume that I would be eligible?

Confused....

An ordinary level degree is level 7, an honours is level 8. To apply for GEM you need a level 8 so I assume that's what you have.
http://www.nfq.ie/nfq/en/images/FanDec2006.jpg

[ciara84]

Originally Posted by shaz84

Ciara, you may be right as I have not read the entire document, but I did specifically ask if I would be entitled to a grant if I had completed a previous degree. I was told that you cant get a grant if the 2nd degree is at the same level, but you are apparently eligible if studying to a higher level. I asked what level a Bachelors was and they said 7. As my CAO offer states Graduate Entry Medicine is a Level 8 course I assume that I would be eligible?

Confused....

depends on how many credits you earned in your first degree... if you have an arts degree with 180 credits, or BEng, BSc, BComm etc with 240 credits then you're not eligible (pretty sure, this is the main requirement for a degree to be level 8, and the degree to be eligible for studying GEM)

[shaz84]

Ahh ok. Thanks for the clarification. Another dead end!

[shaz84]

Really helpful response from Ulster Bank. How does this even make sense?

Can anybody who has an offer from Limerick advise if there is a specific deal in place with the University and the Bank?

I have spoken to Mike in the Limerick branch in which he has advised me that the only branch doing medical loans at the moment is the University of Limerick branch. In order to apply for this loan you would need to be attending University of Limerick. Unfortunately there is no other branch doing medical loans within Ulster Bank. My apologies for this.