STUDENT nurses face a “toxic tuition fee system” and job shortages, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) said as ministers announced advance payments for healthcare students will receive to cover their clinical placement costs.

Those with full access to the NHS Learning Support Fund will no longer have to pay travel and accommodation expenses themselves before claiming the money back from the start of the 2026/27 academic year, the Department of Health and Social Care said.

Health minister Alison McGovern said: “No student training to care for patients should be held back because they cannot afford the upfront cost of getting to a placement.”

Chief nursing officer for England Duncan Burton said that “we are removing a significant barrier to learning.”

RCN England executive director Patricia Marquis warned that while nursing students have been waiting for months to get anything back at all under the current system, ministers shouldn’t stop there.

“Even after today, poverty will remain a daily reality thanks to inadequate financial support, while a toxic tuition fee system leaves graduates in eye-watering debt and with some unable to secure a job at all,” she added.

“A comprehensive new package of financial support is needed for student nurses, as is bold reform to a broken tuition fee model and measures to ensure all nursing graduates can secure employment.”

Royal College of Midwives’ chief executive Gill Walton said: “We’re delighted that the government has listened to the RCM and our hard-working student midwives and acted on this.

“This is a genuinely welcome step, but it must go hand in hand with guaranteeing these newly qualified midwives a job at the end of their course.”

British Dietetic Association chair Susan Price said: “The changes will be especially beneficial for students from less advantaged backgrounds, and those travelling longer distances to more rural and remote placements.

“By making placements more accessible, this development strengthens the pipeline of future dietitians and supports continued growth of the profession.”

Students will continue to submit claims as normal, with approved claims automatically deducted from their advance payment balance.

If the balance falls below £50, they will be able to request a top-up, with outstanding float balance deducted from a student’s final training grant instalment.