Royal Medical Benevolent Fund - Medical Benevolent Fund

RMBF medical student grant

You will receive a grant towards your essential living costs whilst you are completing your medical degree. The amount is not fixed. It is based on your individual needs, and you do not have to repay it. The grant covers only your living costs, but not your tuition fees. It is provided by the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund (RMBF), a British charity that has been supporting doctors, medical students and their families since 1836. It is funded by donations, not by government funds.

Who can apply

• Course: You are studying medicine at a British university on a degree programme that entitles you to registration with the GMC (the licence you need to practise as a doctor in the UK).
• Study phase: You are in the final two years of your training. This means that you can expect to be provisionally registered with the GMC within two years.
• Financial need: You find yourself suddenly facing serious financial hardship due to illness, disability or the death of a loved one.
• Risk to your degree: This financial pressure carries a serious risk that you will not be granted a licence to practise as a doctor.
• After you qualify: You would like to work in the UK.
• Not covered: The fund cannot help if the only problem is that your parents are no longer supporting you financially, and it does not cover tuition fees.

How to apply

First, please use the eligibility check tool on the RMBF website to check whether you meet the requirements. If you do, please submit an application that includes a recommendation from your medical school. There is no fixed deadline. Applications are assessed in the order in which they are received.

How realistic are your chances?

This grant is subject to very strict criteria. You must be in the final two years of your medical degree, be at a genuine risk of failing to complete your degree, and be facing a hardship caused specifically by illness, disability or the death of a family member. Very few students meet all the requirements. If your situation clearly meets the criteria and your medical school can confirm this, your chances are good, as the fund was set up precisely for cases such as yours. It is not a general scholarship for anyone who finds their studies too expensive.