Medical students are worse off than other subjects. But while my own exposure to student nurses, doctors and dentists has been limited, new research commissioned by the NUS Pound in Your Pocket project shows a hidden face of student finance. Our survey of the financial situation of 14,000 students included at its heart exploration of the financial situation facing healthcare students. They are subject to a quite different, and frequently more challenging, finance system from other students. Why is this? Students undertaking courses to qualify as healthcare professionals, from radiography and physiotherapy to medicine and dentistry, have faced a separate system of student funding since the late 1960s. This has evolved as the face of healthcare has changed, and with no single body providing oversight, student support has often been complicated, confused, and disjointed. NHS bursaries are available to healthcare students, but not all are able to receive loans as well. Only around six in 10 NHS-funded students is in receipt of a student loan at all. And as NHS funding is lower than for other courses, our research looked at other financial support these students received. It turned out they were more likely to request support from their own universities and also far more likely to depend on financial or other support from their families. These students are also more likely to take loans from family and friends, or to resort to credit card debt, doorstep finance and other forms of payday loans to pay their way. And so what awaits them at the end of their studies? Unsurprisingly more than two-thirds of students studying medicine and dentistry indicated they were worried about their future levels of debt. But that group of students were also more optimistic about their future employment prospects, with three-quarters confident that they would find a good job. The picture was quite different for other healthcare students. This is an area where the assumption of a private benefit actually isn't really tested at all - many healthcare students in fact turn out to be very low paid, and choose their path because they want to help people. Although there was similar concern about future levels of debt among "other healthcare" students, little over half were confident that their years of toil studying would pay off in the labour market. It seems to me that the least we can do is ensure they have the financial support to be successful. As we can see, future doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, role models in their often tireless commitment, are struggling to make ends meet just to get qualified and many are acutely worried about the future they face. I don't know about you, but if there were any students that I'd rather see able to concentrate on their studies rather than financial stresses - it's them. You don't want to be on the operation table or dentist's chair only find out they had to work part-time when they might have been mastering the procedure they're about to subject you to. Our research shows that the thousands of well-qualified and committed doctors and nurses of tomorrow - the future Aunties Lynns - need a new compact which recognises their financial needs when studying, and properly supports them in getting qualified. Liam Burns is President of the National Union of Students. Also by this author: Forget stacking shelves - students are wading through sewage