Yup- I had the same issue- read my previous posts. My top advice is to talk to them about it or maybe even think about changing supervisor. Mine took four months of my write up period to read my final draft, assured me he had proof read it and that it would be very minor corrections if anything. At the end of the viva the examiners asked who proofread my work because I'd clearly wasted a lot of money if they had been paid to do so as they hadn't done their job!! I had my viva a month ago and landed with a rewrite and resubmit, 12 months to do it and a £1600 fee from the uni!! Admittedly the viva itself was a bit of a joke- we don't have chairs here and I didn't even get the chance to defend my position- it was 95% external (my supervisor was sat in with me and agrees), but still...

Just to give you all an update. I have a meeting with the student union on Wednesday to discuss the situation. The university are totally taking the whole continuation thing too far in my opinion... I got my 'official' notification on Friday (letter, report and theses) along with a bill for £533.33 add to my student account (with no description). The letter informed me that the uni will start charging tuition fees from the date of my Viva (!!!), so three weeks with no report and I am still paying... I don't have a problem paying a fee, but this I think is really taking it byond a joke?

Yup... ditto. I got my R + R a couple of weeks ago. Uni are charging me 1600 quid for the privilege, so I'm trying to finish in a few months so that I can have at least some of that refunded. My examiners report just came through and its all a little woolly. I almost feel like I'm handing them over my research, like its not mine anymore. From what my supervisor said they can only assess what is on the report. They can't add anything more after that. My examiners are however requesting samples of the rewrite to check i am on the right lines this time.

Chickpea, this is me talking to my supervisor who is head of the graduate school. He doesn't want me to leave because a withdrawal will look terrible for him, and he needs my completion, and he thinks its as simple as me taking on more hours. He was surprised when I pointed out that for my full time role which averages out at 37 hours a week, I'd only have to work 39 hours a month in part-time lecturing (which I won't be able to get until September, if they grant me any) in order to get the same pay. His offer was to help me draw up a budget, which I said was pointless when I had drawn up a budget in order to see whether or not I can afford to pay. So I haven't played any official cards with the uni yet, as wanted to give my supervisor a chance.

Further update... fee reduced to £133 a month. Is it just me or is this just a money grabbing exercise? I'm about half-way through my uni list with resubmission/ continuation fees, and the £1600 a year fee for this is huge compared to the 150-600 that the other uni's seem to charge. Would this be worth going to NUS about? Or should I just pay up? I will have to take on so much overtime to pay this :(

That could be a good idea. Its just sad that students are purely numbers at this stage.

Quick update. I kicked up a bit of a stink this morning, with the grad school quoting me £246 a month. Presuming I take 12 months, and I can get a refund for what I don't use! So my withdrawal form went to my supervisor. Suddenly I have 2 months fee free as I didn't use all my write up. So now pushing to get the monthly fee reduced substantially to be more in line with other unis. So some light relief.

Wouldn't surprise me if it was. It is the Part-time tuition fee that they charge for continuation here. I know I shouldn't complain given that I was fully funded, but I couldn't have done a PhD without that, and t do think the difference in cost between my institution and many others in the UK is a bit of a joke, and probably a money making thing given how many people seemingly get this outcome. The other slightly awkward thing is that my supervisor is the head of the grad school. I wouldn't even mind sooooo much if it was a top 20 uni or something, but its not. As far as I can see, its also pretty elitist expecting anyone to be able to afford this fee on a monthly basis.

Thanks guys. I'm currently trying to compile a list of UK Uni's and their policies. Then I will take that to the student union and the grad school office and kick up a real stink. The uni changed minors from 6 months to 3 months a year ago– apparently to increase people completing on time. Supervisor also said my result is very common here. If thats the case something is wrong with the system.

Hi guys,
Had my viva a couple of days ago, and despite my dept thinking very minor corrections, I walked out with revise and resubmit in 12 months- but no viva. I accept this sometimes happens, but what is preventing me from doing the corrections is the fact that I simply can not afford it. The university want to charge me £175 per MONTH. From looking at other uni's in the uk, the vast majority do not require a monthly fee, but rather a re-examination fee of between £300-600. I work full-time in a nightshift job at the moment, and do 12 hour shifts. In order to afford this monthly fee on top of the usual living costs, I will have no choice but to take on more overtime, and this will take my hours to 50+ a week. At the moment, I feel that will lead to a vicious cycle of working in order to pay a fee, whilst being really too tired to do the necessary corrections well. So, thinking of quitting. I don't think that this is worth dragging on any further. Supervisor is trying to force my hand not to withdraw as to quote 'he needs the completion'.

Mine was 37500, plus an hour of music portfolio. I know someone who just submitted with 50000 words, 25 mins video and 25000 words in appendixes.

Hi all,
Following on from my posts in September last year, I finally managed to submit a few weeks back. And, unbelievably, I did so with my supervisors blessing. He has been incredibly supportive recently and i have a viva date of 10 March. This forum has been really useful as i begin to prepare for the viva, but I wonder if anyone has any experience of a practice based phd viva in music?
Sup has arranged a mock the week before, but I'm getting pretty anxious as is. I'm pretty humbled that the external accepted the offer to examine as he is really in demand, but I feel comfortable having met at a few conferences etc throughout my journey from undergrad to now.
I'm fairly happy with how my thesis has turned out, yet still cry every time I realize that I might have a phd this time next month. If anyone has any tips for not getting all emotional too, that would be great!
M

Can you talk to a head of dept or someone similar about this? Had a very similar situation in my dept, where we don't have offices but a big open research space. 'Office mate' was causing a lot of issues including blocking out any other users from facilities arguing with everyone, and in the end- no one but her worked in the dept. We took it to the head of the research group who had a severe chat with her. Morale is still very low, but at least people are now working there again as we know we won't be shouted or moaned at for doing so.In this case it was pointless going to supervisor first as we have the same one.

Hi Guys,
Thought I would update. I eventually got a supervision middle of September and to no surprise my 35000 was wrong, so I've had to rewrite it all. Feedback was good and we agreed a proper timescale and meeting schedule too. However, I think my applying to any and all jobs (including non-academic) also had something to do with this as sup went into a bit of a blind panic. We also had a bit of a chat and he told me to send me my thesis compiled thus far and he'd take the strain off and review it quickly whilst I composed- and that we would meet up again the following week. Surprise surprise, he cancelled by text, highly unprofessionally the night before the meeting. Being honest, I lost the plot and sent a really blunt email detailing exactly whats happened over the past 12 months. Since then, he has been amazingly supportive- we have revised my timescale for submission until Christmas, and he's organised my external examiners- so hopefully I'll have a viva in February. I feel a bit more confident now- ok redrafting a chapter a week and then having a weekly meeting is hectic, but its getting done!
Additionally, whilst I have since got a non-academic job at the university, and whilst he isn't exactly happy about that, he has supported my decision as best as he can- giving me references and also finding me a little bit of teaching work etc. So- whilst I expect something to go wrong again, my advice to all those in the same situation is to find the strength to be honest and frank and tell the supervisor how you feel. It might just help.

Mx

Thanks clairaN. Yeah I agree. I've heard nothing productive (even a date for supervision) for six weeks now, and I'm 6 weeks til submission. I had a pretty significant achievement in a competition with my work over the weekend, which has given me a massive boost. The dept yet again has been amazing about it, but he is nowhere to be seen (not an acknowledgement even). What amazes me is that these people are heads of grad school- their job is to keep grad students happy and submit on time and to a high quality... Bleh.