No debt for medical students in Greece

Abstract

Background Medical education in Greece is government-funded by constitution. Tuition fees are therefore not payable by students. This investigation aims to identify the sources of income of medical students in Greece. Methods This is a questionnaire-based analysis of a sample of 488 students who were asked to state their sources of income. Results Mean contributions to total student income are parental financial support (93.2%), part-time employment (2.4%), scholarships (2.5%) and other sources including loans (1.9%). Conclusion The income of medical students in Greece is mostly dependent on parental contributions. Other sources do not represent popular options. This situation differs to that in other countries, where loans make significant contributions to the total income of medical students.