The sun., 1896-10-08
The Cost of Medical Education in
Great Britain.

The Cost of Medical Education in
Great Britain.
In the month of September in every year
the London Lancet publishes a number
specially prepared for medical students and
containing great deal of useful informa-
tion. This years "student's number" pre-
sents the results of n careful investigation
of the cost of a medical education in the
United Kingdom. The facts embodied in
the article are likely to prove Of interest to
those who are studying medicine in the
United States because the social and eco
nomical conditions of the two countries are
in many respects similar. We shall COM
pare the figures with those given for the
Harvard Medical School.
Among the answers received by the Ian
Get to its schedule of questions was one
from medical student in the provinces,
who had been able to live so frugallv as to
support himself during the ten months of
| the medical school with the small sum of
S3o5, paying herewith for rent and food,
| clothes, washing recreation, and fees and
meeting all other expenses. 1t would be
| impossible for student to do this in Lon
| don, unless he starved himself; but it would
| be barely possible it seems to reduce eN-
| penditures to the figure named, or even be
| low it, in Aberdeen, where an exceptional
| young man managed to get food and lodg-
| ing for 81 cents n week in summer and
| $l.12 in cold weather, the extra shilling be-
| ing required for the fuel needed to cope with
a Scottish winter. In London, rooms in
desirable quarters cost from $40 to SIS
week, but it is obvious that, il a young
| I, 81
$3.50 year, not more than S5 week
ought to be expended for rent. Many
medical students in Great Britain re-
| ceive much smaller allowance, but in
London it is difficult to lodge near a hos
pital for less than s5 week, so that if
young man can only expect to receive $40
| n week from his parents, he is compelled to
| lay out an imprudent proportion of his in
| come for lodging alone With regard to
| this item the Ldncets conclusion is that
careful person can live in London rs med
ical student, provided he does not spend more
| than 81. 80 weekly for rent but it will not
| be easy to obtain lodging ut that price, and if
one additional shilling be paid out for that
| purpose, it will be hard to make both ends
meet. Touching the question OF food. we
note that the Lancet considers $3.50 the
minimum sum that will meet the necessary
expenditure for nourshment in London.
The cost of lodging is about the same in
Dublin as in London, but it is considerably
less in Edinburgh, where there is also Il sort
of residential club known as University
Hall, which affords facilities of social inter
course and mental aid, besides Offering lodg-
ings Mt a very moderate monthly rent.
In Glasgow lodgings are equally cheap,
and in Birmingham cheaper still. The
cheapest place is Aberdeen, to which
we have already referred In towns
like Cork and Leeds rents on an average
are higher, but seldom rise above S3. rs
week. In Irish provincial towns rent is
very low, 81 .o5 and 81 so week not being
above the average. The accommodation af-
forded in many residential colleges, hos
pitfalls, and like institutions should be men,
toned, though the cost is not less than that
OF private lodgings thriftily selected. With
regard, lastly, to the cost of fees, these
properly speaking, refer only to the sums
paid to the professors; they do not include
the charges for matriculation, eXamina-
tions, and degrees, nor the amounts paid to
tutors for private instruction. which is
usually deemed needful for those who
include the outlay for books, instru-
ments, bones, and parts for dissection. To
sum up, the Lancet finds that the minimum
sum which a medical student must be pre-
pared to spend in London on board and
lodging is $500 year, though $3.50 will
cover his expenditure for those purposes in
other educational centres. and even less if
he is very careful. At least $50 more must
the student will be almost an exception if
he does not incur some extra liabilities for
private tuition during his course. He will
need $50 year for pocket money, to which
is added 500 for his fees and clothes. 1t
| follows that in London no young man should
be asked to support himself and defray all
| the cost of medical education for less than
$500 year.
Let us compare these data with those re-
lating to some typical American medical
school, as, for instance that connected with
Harvard University This is located, as
| is we'll known, in Boston, and there is 10
doubt that in the vicinity of the school
building, board and lodging can be obtained
at least as cheaply as in London, or, say
for $3.50 for the academical year. 1t should
also be borne in mind that at Harvard a
four years course qualities for medical
degree, whereas in Great Britain the medi-
cal student life now extends over period
OF five years, and, owing to the rigor of the
examinations, is not unlikely, unless dill
gence be used, to extend over six or seven.
| AS regards the whole cost of medical edu-
+, cation, this difference in the length of
| course Is in favor of the American institu-
| ton, whatever may be said Of it from