Medical School Place Types and Changes to the Bonded Schemes

A point of confusion that frequently pops up is the difference between the various medical school place types. The confusion is understandable – there are various types and each one comes with its own requirements and costs. Australian medical schools are certainly not cheap, so you will want all the financial help you can get, and learning more about the different medical school place types is a great place to start. This blog post will compare the current medical school place types and highlight the more recent changes.

 

Medical School Place Type #1: Free as a Bird

 

Well, not quite. A Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP) means that the Government contributes towards the cost of your degree, and you can defer the rest (the student contribution amount) to tax later on, through the HECS-HELP system. This amount has been increasing in recent years, however, and you will have a fair whack of debt by the end of your medical school studies (especially if you needed to do a degree beforehand!).

Despite the aforementioned caveat, due to this relatively convenient financial arrangement, most people make CSP their top preference. Of course, as a result, they generally have a higher cut-off score. Getting a spot at a medical school through CSP might be more difficult compared to other place types, but making it one of your preferences is still worth it, just in case you’re one of the lucky and capable few who managed to snag a spot. Visit our guide on medical school entry requirements to learn more about each milestone and requirement.

 

Medical School Place Type #2: Rurally Bonded Places

 

This is where things start to get more complex.

There have historically been two types of bonded places—the BMP or Bonded Medical Place and the Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship (MRBS). Both were also Commonwealth supported (meaning the Government contributes towards the cost of your degree and you can defer the rest to tax via HECS-HELP). However, bonded places have additional ‘return of service’ (ROS) conditions.

The BMP or Bonded Medical Program is the new consolidated form of rurally bonded places, and offers some conditions that are slightly different to its predecessor program. It replaces, and consolidates, two previous place-types that have since been closed: the ‘Bonded Medical Places’, which was offered between 2004 and 2019, and the Medical Rural Bonded Scholarship, which required six years of rural/remote service after graduation.

This new place type is similar to the CSP, in terms of HECS-HELP fee deferral, but in return, bonded participants commit to work in an eligible regional, rural and remote area for 3 years after they complete their course. This is called a ‘return of service obligation’. This obligation can be completed any time over an 18-year period, and half before, and half after, attaining your fellowship, which is more flexible than previous forms.

If you don’t mind being bonded to a return of service obligation after your medical school studies, then this is a great option because it tends to have a lower cut-off score than CSP, but you will still get the benefit of financial help from the government. While this financial help might not cover all the costs that going to a medical school might incur, it’s still a significant sum that will help reduce the financial burden on students.

 

Medical School Place Type #3: Show Me the Money

 

Of course, some medical schools do offer Full Fee Places (FFPs); these are not subsidised by the Government, so students will need to pay the full fee of going to the medical school, as the name suggests. Students may use the FEE-HELP scheme to defer payment but there is a limit for how much they can borrow. Additionally, if completing an undergraduate degree (MBBS), there is a 25% loan fee added to your FEE-HELP debt.

The high cost of FFP is a huge drawback for most students and simply impossible for many. It is also speculated that if the interning priority order were to change, FFP students may be the first to get pushed off the list. Simply a case of buyer beware. Although, if you have the funds and going to medical school has always been a lifelong dream of yours, it might still be worth it to pursue an FFP, if you haven’t been successful at securing a different place type at one of the universities.

 

Conclusion

 

No matter which type of place you end up receiving, many students still have to work while studying medicine to cover the costs. Despite the increasing need for medical experts due to the current workforce shortage, it is an unfortunate fact that medical school is gradually becoming more and more expensive. Since 2011, medical schools have moved from the old ‘MBBS’ degree type to the ‘MD’ type, which allowed them to avoid the federal government’s ban on domestic full-fee-paying places for undergraduate programs in Australia. By changing medical degrees to a masters-level qualification (the MD), Australian Universities circumvented this ban, and have been able to charge students more for the MD degree than it ever could for the MBBS.

These changes, and many more, highlight how important it is to be sure of the financial implications of your entry into medical school, which has unfortunately excluded many doctors from working class and poorer backgrounds. We can only hope that things will take a turn for the better in the future—as the world certainly needs more doctors, and education really should be a human right available to everyone who are interested in pursuing this path—but for now, it’s important that you are aware of the different medical school place types so you can make an informed decision.

We hope this blog article has been helpful for you! If you are looking for more information about the different pathways you can take to become a member of the medical circle, check out our comprehensive guide about how to become a doctor.