Money Matters
What an elective costs, and how to make it affordable
This page covers what elective costs to plan for, how you might mitigate these, and fundraising for your host. First though, we want to be clear upfront about our fees.
Enquiries and applications are free, including an online call to discuss your needs if required.
To confirm your placement an FTE Booking Fee of £300 must be paid, but Early Booking Discounts of up to £100 may be available.
This covers our costs on a not-for-profit basis. (See below for full details or T&Cs for our refund policy.)
The FTE Booking Fee is in addition to your host's charges and personal costs.
01 — General guidance
Elective costs to budget for
You should consider these areas as you budget however you arrange your elective.
Fees
- Application or booking fee
- Placement or host fees (hospital / university or commercial)
- Visas (host country and any travel)
- Registration in host country if required
Personal costs
- Medical supplies, first aid
- Immunisations add up! Rabies +/-£200, Yellow fever +/-£70
- Emergency fund
- Insurance
- Flights
On the ground
- Accommodation and subsistence (if not in placement fee)
- Other transport (including any meet and greet arrangement)
- Communications – SIM/data
- Leisure and activities
02 — FTE costs
Why we charge, and what for
FTE is an NFP company and SCIO. We must charge for our services unless and until medical schools are willing to underpin these costs on your behalf (some schools have internal arrangements you can apply to cover our fee). We seek to minimise our cost, to locate other sources of support for these and offer the best value placements compatible with our ethos of creating a 'fair trade' with your hosts. We support NHS Bursary reclaim processes where relevant and you will find other sponsors typically favour allocating grants to students choosing FTE placements. In addition, we facilitate fundraising for hosts in order to optimise your elective experience, but if you wish you can use up to 50% of funds you generate to offset your host costs, so you both benefit.
Promotional
- Site recruitment and partnership maintenance
- University liaison including student presentations, online calls and events
Academic
- Pre-departure training modules
- Quality assurance
Administration
- Staff costs
- Banking – we collect and transfer host fees to optimise cost efficiency and safety
- IT and website
03 — Early Booking Discounts
Plan early and pay less
FTE encourages medical schools to engage and students to plan well in advance through an Early Booking Discount system. This helps minimise our costs, assists hosts and offers time for fundraising. See our University Collaborations page or contact your elective lead to find out if your school is working with us, as this is to your benefit.
| Level of medical school engagement | Booking window | Early Bird Discount (EBD) | Maximum discount |
|---|---|---|---|
| None. Open to any UK based clinical student | 3–6 months in advance of elective starting | None | None |
| FTE Network School | 3–9 months in advance | £50 EBD if booked more than 6 months in advance | £50 |
| FTE Collaborating School | Anytime up to 3 months in advance | £50 EBD more than 6–9 months in advance, £100 EBD over 9 months | £100 |
04
Suggestions for mitigating the costs
- Plan well in advance and shop around for deals for flights, insurance, immunisations etc.
- If you are eligible for an NHS bursary, check out the details. Elective costs such as accommodation, local travel and health costs may be reclaimable, and FTE will provide receipts you can use for this.
- Explore national grant making bodies and others local to you — perhaps in your med school or your home area. Rotary clubs, local newspapers etc. will often offer support.
- If you are from a widening access background check if your med school or university has funds you can apply for. Most do.
05
Fundraising
FTE is strongly in favour of students raising additional funds for their hosts as an integral part of your elective experience. Not only does this directly support your host to help them invest in care delivery and sometimes even infrastructure, years of experience at Dundee medical school shows that it enhances your engagement and improves the quality of the elective experience overall. If you wish, you can reduce your costs by offsetting your host's fees with up to 50% of the funds you raised.
- We offer support with a fundraising guide, online platform and gift aid scheme.
- We host funds raised ringfenced for each partner site.
- You notify us if you want to use any to offset your costs, which is discounted from your final invoice.
- Hosts decide what they want to do with their funds and request these from us.
- We report on the use of funds to ensure governance.
- You get a better elective and can reduce your costs whilst hosts gain financially in a flexible and respectful way.