Hej!

Du kommer från Sverige? Jag är lära sig svensk och ska resa till Sverige igen snart!

Stockholm är fantastiskt och vackert! When I finish my PhD I'm going to try and spend some time there....I have three years to go so with hope I'll be much better at Swedish by then.

Hej då

Further to this for anyone else who is registered part time writing up, very skint and hoped you maybe able to get some assistance whilst completing your thesis in readiness for a full-time job.

You are not entitled to a sausage from the government for gaining an education, not even allowed to claim for your contributions to be paid due to the shortfall in national insurance contributions.

It is daft that PhDs don't get paid for the writing up period. I suppose the assumption is that you'll move "back" home with family for that period, but not many postgrads here are that young - many have been living alone for some years and have to support themselves and often families too.

What's daft is that supervisors are still pushing the idea that a PhD is three years 'doing research' then a year 'writing up'. A PhD should be do-able (i.e. to submission) in three years - this is what the research councils want (that's why they fund for three years), it's what universities want, but still most PhDs take longer. Great for the supervisors of course, they get more research done on the cheap.

I was always led to believe [from on here] that supervisors/Depts get a bit testy with students when the 3 years are up [eg. most are keen to get students off the books after this point]. I certainly didn't think the [directly] above post was the norm.

I have heard that departments start asking students to pay monthly fees after the 3 years are up, but I don't know how common that is. This department seems quite mixed: some students finish exactly on 3 years, some (quite a few, it seems) ask their funding bodies for 6 month or 1 year extensions, and quuite often get them.

old thread I know.

but has anyone any further luck in qualifying for JSA since 2006.

I have a few months funding left then about 6 months for write up, and was wondering how all funded this write-up period. Getting a PT job would be fine, but I know that if i did this i would never submit. I teach undergrads when I can, but the summer term is all about exams and dissertations etc, adn then the summer no teaching to be had, but come October I will not be elligible to teach as I will "not be
registered with the uni" (part of the problem of council tax exemption also - not registered therefore cant get exemption).

all opinions welcomed

I loathed the JSA - I spent 6 months trying to find a job in science (all they were convinced I wanted was "public toilet maintenance person" or cleaner, which is all they ever offered - no joke), spent six months feeling humiliated and useless because I couldn't get one and angry as a swarm of bees whose hive has been run over by an 18-wheeler because the dosspots in there also happily discussed using their benefits to fund overseas holidays while I couldn't pay all my bills.
Here endeth todays rant, thank you all, you've been a wonderful audience. Tune in tomorrow when I'll be ranting about women (not ladies) who have yet to learn to say "Thank you" when you hold open a door for them; thank you and goodnight

It's not just ladies; lots of people ignore you. I always say "You're welcome", very LOUDLY, whenever that happens to me.

so you managed to get JSA? did you have to go to an interview for crap jobs?

My plan to avoid that is to make out that I am an interlectual genious with the personality and social skills of a newt. That way my CV will look academically great what with degrees up the ying-yang (compared to their regulars) but not able to make a cup of tea or hold civil conversation. I should manage it fine seeing that I am a theoretical biologist who works with numbers and not organisms.

The nly prob is if they read this as he must be good at data entry if he can use computers, but I will just talk about C++ and S as opposed to excel and access.

This time around I will be depending on hubby's salary while finishing writing up. May have to start ironing a few shirts.

But in the past - when I 'dropped out' (was kicked out?) of my first PhD attempt I did indeed sign on. And grim it was too. After a while I was sent on a word processing and typing course. Then a job placement (unpaid of course) in an estate agents office. Then at long last, thank merciful spirits, I actually got a real job.

You could do private tuitions - A level stuff maybe. But really you just need to write up and get it done (that's how I feel anyway).

I was on 3 years funding but took 4 years to finish + 5 months to get to viva.
I wasn't entitled to JA either as hadn't earned enough on previous NI contributions and live with a partner. That meant that my partner HAD to support me when writing up which seemed unfair on him. I was prepared to work although only had minimal work before I started a temporary job in October.
I also discovered that at the end of my 4th year council tax rose as I was no longer a full-time student even though it took another 5 months to do my viva.

5 months to viva - EEEK!

From my enquiries, you aren't entitled to JSA as a PhD student, either full or part time. Also, as others have mentioned, if you're living with a partner, you're stuffed, even if your partner is on a low salary.

They told me that if my partner was working part time on the minimum wage I would not qualify :-0
Sometimes even unpaid work experience was counted!
How could someone even support themselves on that, let alone 2 people!