2 Dec 2015

Student loan backdown 'step in right direction'

8:40 am on 2 December 2015

A government backdown on loans for medical students will still leave some without enough help, a students' association president says.

Education Minister Steven Joyce yesterday announced undergraduate students of medicine, optometry, dentistry and veterinary science would have access to student loans for eight years instead of seven.

A medical degree can take up to nine years.

Medical Students' Association president Mike Fleete said the change was a step in the right direction but still left some students without enough help.

Those who took longer degrees, engaged in prior research or completed bridging courses were still short of government assistance for the last part of their medical study, he said.