Otago medical students are pleased the cap for student loans has finally been extended - and relieved they won't have to take gap years or apply for bank loans to pay for the final years of their degree.
The Government announced this morning the loan cap had been pushed out to 10 years, for medical students and others doing long courses like dentistry, optometry or veterinary science.
Otago University Medical Students' Association president Chris Wang said it was not uncommon at Otago for medical students to have studied other subjects first, then be caught by the seven-year borrowing limit introduced in 2011.
There are three main routes into medicine at Otago - via the health sciences programme, as a graduate, or through an ``alternative pathway'' programme available for allied health professionals and mature graduates.
Around the country, about 100 students and their families would benefit next year alone from the fact the loan cap had been pushed out, Mr Wang said.
``It can be quite stressful.
`` Students have to defer their courses for a while, or work with their studies. It is a burden on their physical and mental well-being,'' he said.
Third-year University of Otago medicine student Munya Marowa, who has also already completed a four-year pharmacy degree and two years of postgraduate study, was relieved the change had been brought in.
He was already funding some of his studies without a loan, so he was in his seventh year of studying with a student loan this year.
``I wasn't sure how I was going to [raise money to finish medical school].''
Tuition fees for the medical school cost more than $15,000 a year, and while studying and working was an option he would have had to find a very high-paying part-time job.
``It is quite hard to work while studying and raise that much money,'' he said.
He had been considering taking out a loan from the bank.
Mr Marowa acknowledged he would still be leaving university with a lot of debt, but he said he was in a better position with an interest-free student loan.
A lot of study was required and thinking about money ``just adds to stress'', he said.
The new loan cap will take effect from January 2019.
