Funding your degree - Kent and Medway Medical School

Kent and Medway Medical School

Toddler in GP practice

Funding your degree

My finances

Learning how to manage your money at university is part and parcel of the experience. At KMMS, we are happy to offer help and advice on how to pay your fees, access financial support and even work out your budget.  Please contact the Student Life and Wellbeing team with any questions.

If you would like to get an idea of the cost of studying medicine with KMMS, you can visit our budgeting for student life page.

Fees

The full-time tuition fee for new and returning UK undergraduate courses for 2024/25 is £9,250. Fees for this course can also be found on the University of Kent Tuition Fees pages. Where permitted by law or Government policy in the second or subsequent years of your course we reserve the right to increase tuition fees to the maximum permitted level. Please see the UK Course Fee Increases page to find more information.

EU Students

Due to the UK leaving the European Union, EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals starting a course with a UK university will no longer be eligible for the same fees as UK students. The fees charged will be charged the international student rate below.

Students who have status under the EU Settlement Scheme may be eligible for ‘Home’ fee status. For details on eligibility visit the UK Council for International Student Affairs (UKCISA) website.

The annual tuition fees for EU students starting the Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery degree in 2024 are  £47,900.

International students

Fees for international students are £47,900. Where permitted by law or government policy, we reserve the right to increase tuition fees to the maximum permitted level. For continuing students fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.*

Fees and the financial support available differs for international students.

Kent and Medway Medical School Financial Support Package

KMMS has a generous financial support package for eligible students who start their studies in September 2024. Students who meet specific eligibility criteria will be entitled to receive the Kent and Medway Medical School Financial Support Package (KMMS FSP) 24/25. Eligible students will receive £1,000 for their first year of study. Funding for years 2-5 will be at £1,000 per year.

You are not eligible for the KMMS FSP if you already hold an undergraduate degree.

To be eligible, you must fulfil the following criteria:

  • you must come from a household where the annual income is less than £30,000 per year assessed by Student Finance England (SFE) and be eligible for SFE funding
  • you must be ordinarily resident in England (as determined by SFE)
  • you made an application to KMMS by the UCAS deadline of 31 January 2024.  Should sufficient funds be available, the University reserves the right to consider those who applied after this date

You must meet one of the following criteria:

  • your household is located in an area that traditionally has low levels of participation in higher education as defined by the Office for Students. A list of postcodes and their classifications by participation (TUNDRA) can be found on the Office for Students website.
  • your household is located in an area that traditionally has had high proportion of children aged 0 to 15 living in income deprived areas across England (IDACI Q1). A list of postcodes and their classification can be found on the Government Website.
  • your household is located in an area of high deprivation in England as defined by the Government (IMD Q1 or Q2). A list of postcodes and their Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) can be found on the Government Website.
  • you are in receipt of the Disabled Students’ Allowance.
  • you are 21 or over on the 30th September 2024.

You are exempt from the household income criteria and additional postcode criteria if any of the following apply:

  • you are a Care Leaver under 25. You will need to apply to, and be approved for, the care leavers package before you will be considered for the KMMS FSP
  • you are a young independent student under 20. You will need to apply to, and be approved for, the young independent student package before you will be considered for the KMMS FSP.
  • you are a carer. You will need to apply to, and be approved for, the young adult carers package before you will be considered for the KMMS FSP
  • you are estranged from your parents. You will need to apply to, and be approved for, the estranged student package before you will be considered for the KMMS FSP.
  • you were in a Foyer or ‘homeless’ before starting your course. You will need to apply provide evidence of this before you will be considered for the KMMS FSP*.

Evidence of these criteria will be collected from the candidate’s UCAS application and their student finance application to Student Finance England. Evidence should be maintained by the applicant to meet University audit requirements which may include in year spot checks.

You and your sponsor(s) will need to provide consent for Student Finance England to share data with the University in order for us to determine whether you are eligible for the Kent and Medway Medical School Financial Support Package 24/25.

Successful applicants will be informed from September 2024 that they have met the University’s criteria for the financial support package once the University is in receipt of all relevant information.

Candidates must demonstrate continued eligibility on the basis of household income as assessed by Student Finance England in order to receive the financial support package in subsequent years.

Students who need to repeat a year of their studies will be eligible for a maximum of one additional year of KMMS FSP.

* Students who meet the care leaver, young independent, carer, estranged, Foyer or ‘homeless’ criteria do not need to meet the household income criteria to be eligible for the KFSP 2024, however, they do need to meet all of the main criteria and must be income assessed by Student Finance England.

 

Other financial support

Student finance

If you live in England and meet the eligibility criteria, you can apply to Student Finance England (SFE) for maintenance loan and tuition fee loan. Students who normally live in Scotland receive funding from Student Awards Agency Scotland, students who live in Wales can apply for funding from Student Finance Wales, and for students from Northern Ireland, you will receive financial support from Student Finance Northern Ireland.

Maintenance Loan

A Maintenance Loan is funding to help with day-to-day costs, such as rent, bills and food while you are studying. You will receive your Maintenance Loan in three instalments during the academic year.

Maximum maintenance loan amounts for 2024/25 .

Please note, that due to the longer academic year length you will be entitled to additional Maintenance Loan to cover your living expenses for the extra weeks.

Tuition fee loans

The tuition fee loan covers the full cost of your tuition fees and is paid directly to the university.

If you have a degree level qualification, or above, you will not be entitled to a Tuition Fee Loan, but you will still be eligible for a Maintenance Loan.

Repaying loans

You will not need to start repaying your student loans until after you have left your course and earning over the repayment threshold. 

Student’s starting their course in 2024/25 repayments will be calculated as 9% over the repayment threshold of £25,000 (threshold frozen until 2026/27). Repayments are usually taken from your salary if you are employed or pay tax in the UK. If you live or are employed overseas you have to make alternative arrangements with the student loan company to repay. The length of time it will take you to repay the loan will depend on how much you borrowed. Loans will be cancelled after 40 years after they become eligible to be repaid.

Gov.uk repaying your student loan

Additional support

If you are a parent or carer, other financial support is also available, including a Parent’s Learning Allowance and a Childcare Grant.

Applying for Student Finance – locating KMMS:

The course has been set up under the University of Kent and not under KMMS as this is the school, not the institution.  The Student Loan Company course code is 869289 and the course is listed as
Bachelor of Medicine Bachelor of Surgery. The university course code is MEDICINE:BMBS

Only stage 1 is available for students to apply against.

NHS Bursary

From the fifth year of study, you may receive an NHS Bursary, in place of government funding‡. This may include:

  • Support with tuition fees
  • Grants towards living costs
  • Additional help, depending on your circumstances (e.g. Dependants’ Allowance).

Information on NHS bursaries

‡ Subject to successful progress through the General Medical Council’s quality assurance programme.

Disabled Students Allowance (DSA)

The DSA is a UK government support fund for eligible students with physical, mental, and learning disabilities, including dyslexia and dyspraxia. You may be entitled to apply to this fund to help you with your studies if you are a home student.

The funding provided by the DSA can help pay for extra essential costs you may incur as a direct result of your disability. These could range from British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters and dyslexia tutorial sessions, to computer equipment and assistive software.

Please contact the KMMS Student Life and Wellbeing team or the University of Kent Student Support and Wellbeing team to discuss this further.

Access to Learning Fund

The Access to Learning Fund (ALF) can provide support to you if you are struggling to meet your everyday living costs. An award from the fund does not have to be repaid. ALF cannot be used to meet the costs of tuition fees.

Support for students with specific circumstances

This includes support packages for the following:

Care Leavers

Young Independent Students

Estranged Students

Homeless Students

Student Carers

Scholarships

We have successfully fund-raised for a number of scholarships open to KMMS students. Applications are open to all offer holders who have firmly accepted unconditional or conditional offers from KMMS.

Find out more about KMMS scholarships.

Westheimer Scholarship

The Schwab and Westheimer Trust was established to assist young refugees and asylum seekers in accessing education, especially where there are no adequate alternative sources of funding.

Each year up to three people will be supported with a Westheimer Scholarship to study for a first degree or professional qualification in social care, medicine, nursing, or related health or social care professions.

The scholarship will pay home tuition fees †, and associated study costs. The specific amount awarded will be dependent on the candidate’s individual circumstances and university location.

†The trust will help candidates who are successful at interview to request home fees from their chosen university. The final award of a Westheimer Scholarship will be dependent on successfully getting a ‘home’ tuition fee offer.

More information about the Westheimer Scholarship

Foulkes Foundation Fellowship: Post-Doctoral Funding for Medical Training

The Foulkes Foundation Fellowship scheme provides financial support for recently qualified PhD science graduates with research experience who want additionally to take a medical degree. Please visit the Foulkes Foundation website for further information and to apply.

Student Finance England
Telephone: 0300 100 0607
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm
Saturday – Sunday, 9am – 4pm
SFE’s Twitter
SFE’s Facebook

Information on how to register or apply for SFE

Student finance calculator

Address for paper applications and evidence:
Student Finance England
PO Box 210
Darlington
County Durham
DL1 9HJ
United Kingdom

EU Student Finance Services
Telephone: 0141 243 3570
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm

Address for paper applications and evidence:
Student Finance Services
Student Loans Company
PO Box 89
Darlington
County Durham
DL1 9AZ
United Kingdom

EEA citizens working in the UK
Telephone: 0300 100 0607
Monday – Friday, 8am – 8pm
Saturday – Sunday, 9am – 4pm

Address for EEA migrant worker paper applications and evidence:
European Economic Area (EEA) Migrant Worker Applications
Student Finance England
PO Box 89
Darlington
County Durham
DL1 9AZ
United Kingdom

Student Awards Agency for Scotland

Student Finance Wales

Student Finance Northern Ireland

NHS Bursary

If you have any questions, please contact the Kent Union Advice Centre.

 

*Where fees are regulated (such as by the Department for Education or Research Council UK) permitted increases are normally inflationary and the University therefore reserves the right to increase tuition fees by inflation (RPI excluding mortgage interest payments) as permitted by law or Government policy in the second and subsequent years of your course. If we intend to exercise this right to increase tuition fees, we will let you know by the end of June in the academic year before the one in which we intend to exercise that right.

Disclaimer. This information is for indicative guidance only.