'Studying as a doctor could cost £25k - but I can't get student loans to help'

David McCleary always wanted to be a doctor, since growing up as a child in a sporty household where people were regularly picking up knocks and injuries.

But he didn't think he'd have to pay up to £25,000 in order to study medicine, unlike others taking up the undergraduate degree.

"It's just really disheartening," the fourth-year medical student said. "There's no need for this discrepancy and this discrimination between us and the other students."

For him, and some others studying for degrees in medicine at Queen's University Belfast (QUB), the reason they're forking out more than the average student is because they already studied another undergraduate degree.

This means they're ineligible for a tuition fee loan from the Department for the Economy (DfE), unlike similar postgraduate medical students at Ulster University (UU).

And, unlike graduate medical students elsewhere in the UK, they also cannot access an NHS bursary of about £5,000 to help with living costs in the final year of study.

QUB has urged the DfE and the Department of Health to change the policy on fees, but a spokesperson for the DoH said that the current fees policy "reflects the resources available.".

Mr McCleary first completed a university degree in biomedical science at QUB before turning to medicine in order to become a doctor.

It was those childhood bumps and breaks that inspired his decision, watching the doctors "magically put us back together and send us on our way and it was just inspiring to see them care for people".

For him, his passion lies in "caring for the people of my community".

Like many other students in his position, he divides his spare time between studying and working to pay for his degree.

"We study during the week and at evenings and weekends we spend as much time as we can working, whether as healthcare assistants in hospitals, in care homes or in shops," he said.

Georgia Ross' story is similar. She's also studying a five-year medical degree with dreams of becoming a paediatrician, but her initial degree was in physiotherapy.

"Seeing aspects of medicine through physio, I always knew it was something I had wanted to do," the 24-year-old said.

But coming up with the money to fund her degree came at a price – saving money from summer jobs and taking on lengthy shifts.

"At the moment I'm working as a healthcare assistant in hospital," she said.

"This weekend I have to do a 12-hour night shift just to try and gather as much money as possible, but then that impedes your revision time as well.

"It's all a bit of a horrible cycle."

A spokesperson for the university said QUB was "deeply concerned about the significant funding disparity" affecting postgraduate students.

"We have consistently lobbied the Department for the Economy and the Department of Health to address this inequity," they continued.

"A change in policy is urgently needed to ensure fairness and equal access for all medical students, regardless of where they study."

In a statement to BBC News NI, the DoH said that health and student finance were "devolved matters and the support arrangements vary markedly across the UK, depending upon where the individual is ordinarily resident".

"Policy reflects the resources available to each administration and their assessment of workforce supply priorities," the department said, adding that students who already hold a primary degree are "in general" ineligible for funding for a second.

They said this decision is based on the "limited financial resources abilable" and allows a "greater number of students to experience third-level study".

But the spokesperson also said that work was under way on a consultation to examine reform of student support which they hope to launch in 2026.

"While it could impact on the support arrangements for postgraduate medical students, the scope of any potential change has not yet been determined."

A spokesperson for the DfE said that the five-year medicine degree course at Queen's University is an undergraduate course.

"Eligible full-time undergraduate students studying a first medical degree are eligible for full student support funding, including a tuition fee loan, for the first four years of study.

"After year four, the Department of Health pays the tuition fee directly to the university.

"The department is aware that some students undertake medicine at Queen's University as a second undergraduate degree.

"Tuition fee loans are not generally available to students from here studying a second undergraduate degree."