Students should take responsibility for their finances

Editor - I read the article by Ellis about the financial difficulties faced by graduates on the fast track course at Leicester-Warwick University with interest.¹ One anonymous student said that her parents supported her through her course, and then she claimed that she effectively left home at 18.

I disagree: if she received financial support from her parents, then she cannot be considered independent. If a student is under 25, and if they have been self supporting for three years, they are considered independent, as in my case.

This is my first degree, but I came to medical school as a single parent; my debts are as great as those of some of the students Ellis mentions. My parents are both retired working class people: I have no extra financial help from them, not that I would accept it.

As an adult you make choices, and you accept the consequences. It is not the universitys responsibility to give you full details of financial support—it is up to you to find this out. This is as true at 21 as it is at 18.

Several of my friends, who are mature students, did medicine as a second degree and accepted that large debt was the price they had to pay for taking a second degree.

When we graduate, we have to take responsibility for sorting out our contracts and other arrangements which will have an impact on our finances. Hopefully, this will be a wake-up call for the students Ellis mentions who arent nearly as independent as they think.

1. Ellis A. University mix up increases financial difficulties for graduate students. studentBMJ 2002;10:176. (June.)