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'.

Hi, sorry to hear this. But comparing with my experience, you are treated much better. I received major amendments and has been charged 1250pounds/month to do the amendment.

How could anyone afford £1250 a month? That's a huge amount of money for the year.
I'm sorry to hear your uni is also charging you a monthly fee muspectrum. Do you think it will take you the full 12 months to complete the corrections?

This does seem very steep. As far as I know at most universities, it's an annual continuation fee of a few hundred pounds at most - I haven't come across one that wants a monthly continuation fee before. Can you speak to someone at the uni and explain that this will cause you real hardship at the end of your PhD? It would be such a shame to give up, especially as you don't need another viva.

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.

What a dreadful situation to be in, please do fight it! I hope it is not a way for the uni to make more money :(

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.

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.

Sounds like a good start! Clearly it's in their interests to have a finished PhD rather than an unfinished one, so I hope you'll be successful in negotiating the payments from now on. I wonder if this is something the UCU would be interested in? (I know they're not strictly a student union, but there is such a big overlap between doing a PhD and being a university employee in some capacity, and they have plenty of PhD student members).

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

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 :(

I would be tempted to raise it with the NUS, the UCU or both as I think it's an issue they should be concerned with. However, in practical terms I imagine you will have to start paying. Was the reduction in response to you saying the fees would cause you hardship, or is there still an option to try to go down this road?

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.

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?

This does seem ridiculous, especially as you'd already been told you had two months fee-free. Good luck with your union meeting, I hope they will support you.