Graduate medicine Loans

Jammyc

Well, I guess I have to try and consider a new career.

shaz84

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news guys. My heart sunk when I was told.

mystery1

This is awful news I don't know many people who have a spare 100,000 euro lying around to do this course, I wouldn't have been able to to do medicine without the loan that's for sure. Hopefully BOI and UB will keep it going....

Roger_that

mystery1 wrote: »

This is awful news :'( I don't know many people who have a spare 100,000 euro lying around to do this course, I wouldn't have been able to to do medicine without the loan that's for sure. Hopefully BOI and UB will keep it going....

This is crushing news. I've emailed the gem office in UCD to see what they have to say. I would also ring AIB but im in Asia at the mo so thanks everyone for the updates. I think this will have serious repercussions for the GEM course viability because they mentioned that a lot of people took up the loan at one of the open days. I've got a good gamsat score but without the finance it's useless to me.

If anyone gets any more info please post. It would be interesting to see if westmoreland st is taking the same policy because a poster here noted 3 weeks ago that the terms were the same after having spoken to them.

Joe2011

Roger_that wrote: »

This is crushing news. I've emailed the gem office in UCD to see what they have to say. I would also ring AIB but im in Asia at the mo so thanks everyone for the updates. I think this will have serious repercussions for the GEM course viability because they mentioned that a lot of people took up the loan at one of the open days. I've got a good gamsat score but without the finance it's useless to me.

If anyone gets any more info please post. It would be interesting to see if westmoreland st is taking the same policy because a poster here noted 3 weeks ago that the terms were the same after having spoken to them.

Thats what I was thinking, but I can only presume that they were unaware that the product was going to be ceased at that stage. maybe DeadEight can let us know if he heard anything further from that branch more recently

shaz84

Guys - I haven't spoken to Westmoreland st branch directly since earlier this month. in my previous post the member of staff at Westmoreland st didn't say anything about them withdrawing product as it wasn't a subject I brought up. However, from my conversations with other branches it seems that this is a top down decision, nonetheless it would be a good idea if someone can take the baton and give Westmorland st a call to confirm.

It may also be a good idea to start thinking if we can lobby AIB corporate directly, elect a prospective grad medicine student delegate and have a face to face discussion with them to understand why this has happened, detail the interest of re-introducing the loan facility from potential students by way of a petition, the impacts of no funding, and see what options they are willing to entertain. I live in London, but as a UK citizen, I have a specific interest in this because my only option was AIB. If someone is interested in taking this project on with me as the EU/UK delegate, let me know, so we can start to put a plan of action together.

Additionally, can someone get in touch with admissions departments and discuss the implications of the withdrawal of funding with someone senior enough so that we have their side of the story too? It may make a stronger argument to the bank if a uni says they may pull out or something.

Cynthia from the UCD AIB branch told me yesterday that AIB almost made the same decision last year but decided not to int the end, so we may be able to convince them to change their mind.  I don't think we should give up so easily.

Shahram

Poppo4

I've just been speaking to both the AIB & BOI UCD campus branches. AIB confirmed that they had cancelled the service for new applicants.

BOI are offering GEM Loans, but only enough to cover fees. €54K
The woman got a bit of a fright when I mentioned how busy she'll be now that AIB won't be giving out the loans and that they'll more or less be getting the whole UCD class in their door!

Jammyc

Poppo4 wrote: »

I've just been speaking to both the AIB & BOI UCD campus branches. AIB confirmed that they had cancelled the service for new applicants.

BOI are offering GEM Loans, but only enough to cover fees. €54K
The woman got a bit of a fright when I mentioned how busy she'll be now that AIB won't be giving out the loans and that they'll more or less be getting the whole UCD class in their door!

Hi Poppo4, did BOI mention anything about having to have a guarantor for the fees only loan? I know they were a little more insistent on it than AIB before.

shaz84

Poppo4 wrote: »

I've just been speaking to both the AIB & BOI UCD campus branches. AIB confirmed that they had cancelled the service for new applicants.

BOI are offering GEM Loans, but only enough to cover fees. €54K
The woman got a bit of a fright when I mentioned how busy she'll be now that AIB won't be giving out the loans and that they'll more or less be getting the whole UCD class in their door!

Poppo

Did you manage to find out if their terms have changed as well as the max capital they will provide? I say this because upto last year, BOI only offered the loan to Irish citizens and EU citizens who have lived in Ireland for 10 or more years. I'd like to find out if this could now be extended to EU citizens irrespective of length of stay in Ireland. Could you give me the contact details for the person you spoke to sp I can check this out if it wasn't covered in your conversation please.

Thanks
Shahram

Poppo4

Jammyc wrote: »

Hi Poppo4, did BOI mention anything about having to have a guarantor for the fees only loan? I know they were a little more insistent on it than AIB before.

The woman couldn't confirm whether a guarantor or life assurance is required, she took my number and when the terms have been agreed she's going to ring me. Could be a few weeks.

Can't seem to get any info out of Ulster bank.

Jammyc

Poppo4 wrote: »

The woman couldn't confirm whether a guarantor or life assurance is required, she took my number and when the terms have been agreed she's going to ring me. Could be a few weeks.

Can't seem to get any info out of Ulster bank.

Thanks Poppo4. Can I ask you to post up any info you get when you can?

Joe2011

How will this effect people then in terms of feasibility then? I had only ever considered aib, as the terms offered by BOI were very unattractive. Will people still be happy to go with BOI even if they offer it, or are the terms very uncompetitive? I will have to look into their package in much more detail now

Poppo4

shaz84 wrote: »

Poppo

Did you manage to find out if their terms have changed as well as the max capital they will provide? I say this because upto last year, BOI only offered the loan to Irish citizens and EU citizens who have lived in Ireland for 10 or more years. I'd like to find out if this could now be extended to EU citizens irrespective of length of stay in Ireland. Could you give me the contact details for the person you spoke to sp I can check this out if it wasn't covered in your conversation please.

Thanks
Shahram

Hi Shahram, if you call this number you'll get through to the UCD BOI branch and just ask for the student loans officer. 01-2696677.

cliona88

This is devastating news. If loans are stopped completely then I think the programme will totally fall apart. I can't imagine the government would be happy considering the money they've invested in the new ul school. Even the fact that full loans may not be still available will turn a lot of people off, unless you've got big savings or generous parents there wouldn't be too much hope on surviving on nothing dor four years

Roger_that

cliona88 wrote: »

This is devastating news. If loans are stopped completely then I think the programme will totally fall apart. I can't imagine the government would be happy considering the money they've invested in the new ul school. Even the fact that full loans may not be still available will turn a lot of people off, unless you've got big savings or generous parents there wouldn't be too much hope on surviving on nothing dor four years

Yeah I would say that the viability of the whole GEM system is compromised with this decision. Im still waiting for an official response from the UCD gem office. So as of now many of our respective dreams are up in smoke... I actually feel sick. C'est la vie I suppose. It was never meant to be easy

shaz84

Thanks Poppo.

All - I'm trying to put together an initial list of the number of people who are affected by the AIB loan withdrawal. Can you post the following if this affects you.

Affected by AIB loan withdrawal: yes/no
Amount of Funding sought: full €100k / €99k - 80k / €79k - 60k / less
Personal funding to fall back on: yes / no
Nationality: Irish Citizen / Uk citizen / Other EU
Do you have any other options or will you now need to look at a career change: yes/no (if yes , provide details)
Are you on GAMSAT Study Group - New Media Medicine Facebook forum: Yes/no

Last one just to avoid duplication of information.

Many thanks.

Mine below:


Affected by AIB loan withdrawal: yes
Amount of Funding sought: probably would be able to get away with €99k - 80k
Personal funding to fall back on: no (only 4k savings)
Nationality: Uk citizen
Do you have any other options or will you now need to look at a career change: no other options, will need to look for new career if no funding is in place for UK citizens.
Are you on GAMSAT Study Group - New Media Medicine Facebook forum: Yes

Roger_that

Affected by AIB loan withdrawal: yes
Amount of Funding sought: probably would be able to get away with €99k - 80k
Personal funding to fall back on: no (less than 2k savings)
Nationality: Irish citizen
Do you have any other options or will you now need to look at a career change: no other options. Will have to spend years saving, resit gamsat etc.
Are you on GAMSAT Study Group - New Media Medicine Facebook forum: no

Thanks v much Shaz. I'm in Asia so can't do any phone calls but if I can do anything else let me know.

GradMed

That's terrible news. Best of luck to all those affected.What is the new loan package they're offering to Irish nationals?

I'm planning on heading into AIB in UCD next week to talk about my graduate loan repayments. I'm more than happy to ask some questions about this if you like.

cliona88

Affected by AIB loan withdrawal: yes
Amount of Funding sought: €99k - 80k
Personal funding to fall back on:no, I'm 21!
Nationality: Irish Citizen
Do you have any other options or will you now need to look at a career change: yes.
Are you on GAMSAT Study Group - New Media Medicine Facebook forum: no

cliona88

One of my answers was unclear there, i don't have any other financing options and will need to look for a new career

shaz84

thanks guys for filling this out, my plan is once we get enough data, to put it in a document and use it as some sort of lobbying instrument. Obviously all details wl be anonymised.

GradMed wrote: »

That's terrible news. Best of luck to all those affected.What is the new loan package they're offering to Irish nationals?

I'm planning on heading into AIB in UCD next week to talk about my graduate loan repayments. I'm more than happy to ask some questions about this if you like.

Aib is no longer offering a loan package, this includes Irish nationals, unfortunately.

Thanks for the offer GradMed, that would be helpful once we get a better idea of what we want to ask I suppose.

cliona88

This is incredibly short notice for people who wish to start med in September. Personally, like most others I've spent over two thousand euro preparing for this, I wouldn't have if I had this info before I started. In an ideal world they could have given a years notice so that we wouldn't have spent so much time and money

Joe2011

I presume that this situation with AIB applies to RCSI as well? As far as I know, they are the only bank that RCSI deal with, in comparison to UCD who also have BOI and UB. It would be worth contacting whichever branch RCSI deal with to see their situation. However, it's unlikely that they would see RCSI as any better bet, if they have decided to pull the plug on UCD

Roger_that

UCD GEM office got back to me and confirmed AIB are withdrawing the loan facility. They just advised to talk to BOI and UB, no comment on the situation. I'd imagine they're pretty pissed. It's going to cause a lot of headaches for them when eligible candidates who've accepted offers start dropping out due to no finance.

Im bitterly disappointed at this turn of events like im sure many are due to the effort that the gamsat was and the passion associated with that kind of hard work. I think it'll be weeks before it all plays out in terms of any backlash/change in the situation so unfortunately I think we'll have no closure for a while.

At this moment my only alternative is to work for another 2+ years to save four years worth of living expenses and then maybe take the fees only loan. That's if the whole thing hasn't capitulated by then.

zaihast

Affected by AIB loan withdrawal: Yes
Amount of Funding sought: €70-80k
Personal funding to fall back on: None (maybe a grand at best)
Nationality: UK citizen
Do you have any other options or will you now need to look at a career change: None
Are you on GAMSAT Study Group - New Media Medicine Facebook forum: No

Flange/Flanders

Affected by AIB loan withdrawal: Yes
Amount of Funding sought: Full €99 - 80k
Personal funding to fall back on: None
Nationality: Irish citizen
Do you have any other options or will you now need to look at a career change: Finance career but I really want to get into medicine. Even now I get a feeling of dread about going back to an office job 9 - 5.
Are you on GAMSAT Study Group - New Media Medicine Facebook forum: No


Hi guys,

As a man who had plans to wait a year before I started med school (finishing accounting exams in early september and wouldnt mind saving for a year), this is deeply worrying. Actually, its worrying for anyone who had hoped to improve their Gamsat score in September 2012 or March 2013. Now it opens up the possibility that funding will be withdrawn in both other institutions in the near future. I believe the viability of these courses will be seriously compromised as the number of applicants will drop.

As such, I would be willing to join any lobby group that is put together here or elsewhere. I seriously dont want my dream of medicine falling apart over something as fickle as money and will fight to hold onto it.

shaz84

Thanks for all the super support guys, I'll get an draft document put together by tomorrow with all the above info in it, in a form we can use to present to AIB. Does anyone know if you can attach a file to a post?

Also, Ive been speaking with a current first year at UCD and she has advised that their should be a government agreement in place that to ensure the banks continue providing funding to students. Does anyone know about this agreement or how we can find out about it?

shaz84

Joe2011 wrote: »

I presume that this situation with AIB applies to RCSI as well? As far as I know, they are the only bank that RCSI deal with, in comparison to UCD who also have BOI and UB. It would be worth contacting whichever branch RCSI deal with to see their situation. However, it's unlikely that they would see RCSI as any better bet, if they have decided to pull the plug on UCD

Just to clarify, they [AIB] have also pulled the plug on UCC and UL [GEM loans]. Apparently, UCC college road were told over one month ago.

Wings2010

Oh no, this is awful news!


Affected by AIB loan withdrawal: Yes
Amount of Funding sought: Full €100k
Personal funding to fall back on: No
Nationality: Irish Citizen
Do you have any other options or will you now need to look at a career change: No other options, really have heart set on medicine.
Are you on GAMSAT Study Group - New Media Medicine Facebook forum: No

Joe2011

shaz84 wrote: »

Just to confirm, they have also pulled the plug on UCC and UL. Apparently, UCC college road were told over one month ago.

Thanks for finding this out. What I was thinking more about was the fact that RCSI only had a deal with AIB as far as I know, whereas Cork had BOI and Im not sure about UL, which would mean that there are no funding options for RCSI if AIB is withdrawn. I presume they have pulled the plug on RCSI as well then?