Cost of Med

ronron · Regular Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne

Hey guys,

Wondering if any of you guys currently doing a post grad Med course have a ballpark figure for the cost of Med with HECS/HELP/CSP or whatever you call it. Just wondering how much its gonna be either per year or at the end of the 4/4.5 years.

Thanks dudes

macca_sti · Grizzled Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 148 Location: Bris

I read in the uq or griffith site that you hecs contribution is a bit over 8000 per year (i think) thats obviously for a csp. As far as FFP goes I dunno and won't ask that question until I win lotto tomorrow night

ronron · Regular Joined: 16 Mar 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Melbourne

hey macca, thanks for the reply. 8k per year, wow... thats a fair bit. anyone else got any ball park figures???

Lovebite · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 5:07 pm Post subject:

You honestly think 8k PA is a 'fair bit'....... dude...

I think FFP at ND Freo is somewhere arund 28k per year?

To be honest, I don't even think thats really that unreasonable.

macca_sti · Grizzled Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 148 Location: Bris

yea I agree thats cheap and actually comparible to most health degress. Paramedics at QUT is 7500 per year. Whats a 40000 hecs debt when you are being paid as a doctor. Think of all the teachers out there!

Adrian · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:53 pm Post subject:

$8K is peanuts, especially if you consider that none of us (at Griffith, at least) is required to pay a cent of it until after graduation. However, you need to consider the costs associated with medicine as they will ultimately be what impacts on your bank account the most:

Textbooks - there are many hundreds, and they will reccommend many of them. Whether you chose to buy them before uni starts or not, well that's up to you. You will end up using them anyway. And they cost a lot. Beg, borrow and potentially steal (no don't really) the books you need.

Drinking - there's a lot of it, and some of you may want to participate. The med community is pretty tight-knit, and we do socialise a lot in our small groups but also a lot as a large group. The small outings add up, too.

Loss of Wages - some people come from a professional background, and are used to a certain lifestyle. This is hard to change, especially if you have to reduce the amount of hours you work from full-time to part-time.

Lovebite · Posted: Sun Apr 13, 2008 9:12 pm Post subject:

I agree. I think that the total cost for me to study Med will end up somewhere around 600 - 700K, across the next 10 or so years.

Once I factor in:

4 years without my current salary
4 or 5 years min. to get back to where I am now,
Uni fees, textbooks, prac time away, conferences e.t.c.

Imagine if I were to chase surgery? now.... thats even more money. I've heard the AST testing is up around 40k? surely that can't be right? lol

I'll also be doing everything I can to clear my hecs as I go..... Doctors aren't paid all that well to start with, and HECS is a hell of an albatross to have hanging around your neck.

I think you get a 20% discount for paying HECS upfront too?

J

macca_sti · Grizzled Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Posts: 148 Location: Bris

Yes you get a 20% discount if you pay more than a 500 lump sum at any stage.

Adrian is right about the text books. One I know if is Tintanali (i think) which is an adult emergency textbook. $400!!!! although apparently if you take the time on the net you might be able to find it significantly cheaper

Jono Stock · Regular Joined: 23 Oct 2008 Posts: 13 Location: Sydney

Full fee paying is 100K for the 4 years at UND Sydney. CSP postion is about 5000 a year. Sooo much better to have a CSP. ut you can not leave the paying for later by aquiring a HECS debt.

tyc · Regular Joined: 10 Jun 2008 Posts: 15

From what I gather, it's $8500 a year for a CSP isn't it? Or is UND different from every other uni? I thought CSP places are standard all throughout Australia.

Lovebite · Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 8:27 pm Post subject:

That should be a relatively indicative cost.....

there may be some minor variation, but i suspect that 8500 is about right.

Given that there is no longer facility for domestic FFP, and everyone is either on CSP, BMP or MRBS... then that is the only real out of pocket figure you can expect to pay as a domestic student.

GAMSATtutor · Veteran Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Posts: 51

this year $8,666

also costs of immunization, TB, field trips, books

there are some scolarships (rural bonded) - that isn't worth it in the long run because you get paid less in the country and have fewer opportunities for further development, as well as teh fact that you have to work for 6 years straight (no work allowed in the city) regardless of the length of your degree (ie even when your degree is only 4 years long !!!!)

and if you accept the rural bonded scholarship then you can't get the HECS refund scholarship (after you qualify, work in the country and get the HECS back - time equivalent)

the HECS refund scholarship (i can't remember the exact name) gives you a refund for a minimum 3 month stint in the country, so effectively you can make your med degree free

Lovebite · Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 4:55 pm Post subject: Re: cost

GAMSATtutor · Veteran Joined: 24 Jan 2009 Posts: 51

hi correct

sorry i was typing on a time restricted computer.

i did some research

i actually would like to go rural, and travel around Australia etc

but if you are boneded you can't even work in the city for 3 months ! I mean that is a bit unfair, 6 years straight.
I also want to do more volunteer work overseas.

I have done some work in a hospital too. The experience that you get depends on the level of the hospital. I gather that in the country, most of the severe cases are rushed to the city, these are the interesting cases. All of the specialists that you can learn from are also in the city. The experience that I have had working with specialists has been awesome. But when noone knows what to do, you have noone to learn from, and you don't want to do anything wrong.

From my experience as a patient in a public hospital in Australia, the registras don't get much experience. You would be absolutely shocked if I told you about it. I think they need a lot more experience. Maybe there are too many students, and not enough specialists. Of course there will be exceptions, but I wasn't seen by them.

.......Also if you want to go rural after you graduate (from your specialty and probably before), you can actually get grants from the government, which you can't get if you are bonded. I would worry that the unbonded people get the more AWESOME pay packages. I am more worried about missing out on the action myself. I know that a specialist in the city can get $350,000. In the country it may be $150,000. There is actually a site that you can look up (but it only covers the eastern states)

Of course if you get offered a bonded place to a good uni and you have no chance of getting an unbonded place, take it. The rural bonded scholarship is the one that seems a bit unfair.

if you want to go rural and you don't get into a specialty you will actually be offered a rural fellowship place as to be a GP

From what I have heard it is extremely hard to get into a specialty other than GP in Australia. I have met people who are just resigned to being a GP, and others who love the people aspect of it and want to be a GP.

I don't have any financial help, and soon I will be homeless, so I know how ad it is for lots of students. It is hard, rent is so expensive now, but if the course is 4 years and you have to pay it back with 6 years work... that is a bit unfair. I have a dog so I am virtually stuffed. I am hoping that someone I work for will have a granny flat or saomething similar. One of the guys wants to do up his seriously large cellar area, which would be excellent, except for my dog. I know that in the Eastern States (Melbourne) the Wesley church has a companion thing. It looked awesome on their website. The elderly people wanted to stay at home. They posted their likes and dislikes. They were very nice people. They offered a free room and sometimes food in return for companionship, and sometimes odd jobs.

sorry for writing so much

thanks for your contribution/addition

Lovebite · Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2009 10:06 pm Post subject:

There are some awesome enducements for non bonded doctors to go rural/regional.

I've always planned to leave the city, and when I got a CSP I considered being generous and asking for a BMP instead (so someone with city aspirations could stay).... but you're right about the financial assistance being unfairly distributed.

I think that as an unencumbered Doctor, that regional Australia has a lot to offer.

Regarding getting into other specialties (keep in mind that GP is a genuine specialty in its own right), they are all competitive, and that if you know what you want to do, you have to work towards it from day one.

Some specialties are so competitive that you just about need a PhD in a related field to gain a training position! Crazy!