University of Otago radiation therapy students are preparing to feel the pinch as a stipend for clinical placements is removed from 2016.
Students in the three-year course at the university's Wellington campus had received a health sector-funded stipend for compulsory placements until this year.
However, the programme's clinical providers had found it increasingly difficult to fund the full cohort of students, university communications manager Megan McPherson said.
''Therefore, the number of clinical places being offered was likely to decline. In order to ensure that the full cohort of students could continue to be trained equitably in a clinical setting, the decision was made to remove the stipend from 2016.''
Students enrolling in the radiation therapy course were required to complete semester-long clinical placements at various oncology departments across New Zealand in their second and third years of study, a department spokesman said.
That included the entire first semester in the second year and the entire second semester in the third year.
Students also had to complete full-time placements in summer breaks.
Mrs McPherson said students who began study this year knew funding was likely to be cut.
''The 2015 commencement students accepted their places in the programme with the knowledge that the stipend was under review and may no longer be offered. This information was sent with their offer notification.''
Stipend funding had been provided by nine oncology departments in New Zealand, two each in Auckland and Christchurch, and one each in Dunedin, Wellington, Palmerston North, Tauranga and Waikato.
No other health professional students received a stipend, other than sixth-year medical interns completing clinical training, she said.
It was unlikely the stipend would be reintroduced unless dedicated funding was provided to clinical providers.
First-year student Siobhan Barnes (22) said she was concerned ''insurmountable education costs'' would deter people from enrolling in radiation therapy and make it an elitist programme.
''Radiation therapy plays a vital role in cancer treatment and this is not about to change any time soon.
''The only thing that may change, if student financial support is not negotiated, is the calibre of new radiation therapists, who have spent more time as students worrying about money than about learning how to treat cancer.''
Miss Barnes said it seemed harsh to cut the stipend from about $400 a week to nothing.
She was a member of the stage one radiation therapy student representatives who wrote to the department calling for it to consider alternative funding options.
The letter cited concerns about students potentially being forced to live in three different cities in their last two years of study. Weekly StudyLink payments in that case were not enough to cover flights, rent, electricity, internet, public transport and food. Preferred placement locations were bid for but not guaranteed, she said.
Maintaining part-time work was impractical and would ''hugely compromise'' students' ability to succeed, the students said.damian.george@odt.co.nz
