The motion put forward to the National Union of Students by YUSU President, Kallum Taylor, to have a fourth maintenance loan for medical, midwifery, and nursing students was yesterday passed by the NUS conference.

Motion 602a means that the NUS will now work to achieve four loan payments for students who need support over summer studies and work.

This could now affect the availability of funding including maintenance loans for Medical, Midwifery and Nursing students.

Taylor commented on the decision: "It's a decent win for the campaign (which is still in early days) and a step in the right direction to get the NUS to back it.

"We'll make sure that this is acted upon over the next few months now, and much more than just a peice of paper.

"Like YUSU, the NUS and every other relevant SU in the UK have a collective responsibility to represent this very sore need faced by Health Sciences students, and others whose studies and work placements go throughout the summer."

He added that this was something that he believed would really help students affected: "A fourth loan to supplement income over this is a genuine need, not a pie in the sky, irrational and bog standard student political campaign.

"Next stop will be getting the backing of more MPs, Trade Unions and other professional bodies. We'll keep going, hopefully the NUS will keep up."

Earlier in the year Taylor had put forward the case for increased funding arguing that "much more needs to be done for those students whose academic and course-work placements run right through the summer holiday period."

He said commitments and very long hours made it difficult for those students to find a job and to earn money during the holidays in order to afford the living, travel and hidden course costs they have to pay.

Taylor had also used this campaign to highlight that YUSU were there for all students no matter where their funding came from: "Just because their course commitments are different, and the funding comes from the NHS, doesn't mean that we shouldn't fight their corner."