The average debt of a final-year medical student is now more than £21,000, according to figures released today - £1,000 more than the basic annual salary of a junior doctor.
In a survey of almost 2,000 medical students conducted earlier this year, the British Medical Association (BMA) said average debt levels had risen from £20,963 last year to £21,755. Newly qualified doctors can expect to earn £20,741 in their first year.
The BMA found that 13% of respondents had debts in excess of £25,000, while more than 100 owed more than £30,000. One student was reported to owe £53,000.
Medical students, who generally study for two or three years longer than those on most other degree courses, are often faced with additional expenses, such as travel to and from hospitals and purchasing specialist equipment like stethoscopes. The survey found that alongside student loans, which were taken out by 92% of those asked, around 60% also had an overdraft and 17% had a bank loan. More than 60% also owed around £1,000 on their credit cards.
The BMA is now calling for means-tested NHS bursaries, currently received by some final-year students, to be made more widely available and for improved access to hardship funds and other financial support.
The association added that it expected debt levels to rise significantly now universities can charge up to £3,000 a year in fees.
Although first-time undergraduates can defer payment until after graduation, students who study medicine as a second degree still have to pay their fees upfront at the beginning of each year, something the BMA wants changed.
The BMA claims the rising debt levels have contributed to a social imbalance among medical students, as those from poorer backgrounds are put off training for the profession.
The chairwoman of the BMA's medical students committee, Emily Rigby, observed that the level of debt was "deeply worrying" for current students, and the future of the medical profession as a whole.
"The government has said it wants to increase the number of UK doctors and to widen participation in medicine. It will fail in both of these aims unless it takes action to tackle the significant financial pressures facing medical students. Becoming a doctor should be about your commitment to medicine and patient care, not the amount of money you are prepared to borrow."
The president of the National Union of Students, Gemma Tumulty, added: "Medical students are the key to our country's future health, and it is imperative that all those who have the ability and aspiration to become a doctor are able to do so."
The government maintains that its financial support package will mean students are not deterred from going to university. Poorer students are now entitled to maintenance grants, which the government reintroduced to help offset the impact of the fees increase. Students from families with a household income of £17,500 or less are entitled to an annual non-repayable maintenance grant of £2,700, partial grants are available to higher earning families. There is also a commitment from universities that charge the maximum £3,000 fees to provide at least £300 in bursaries to students receiving the full maintenance grant, although most are currently offering more.
