On the forum I have only seen passing references to the new Doctoral Student Loans, which started this September, and thought that others might be interested to hear of my experience in applying for one.

I have applied for and, official acceptance of my Proposal permitting, will be commencing a PhD in First World War Studies at the University of Wolverhampton on 1 January 2019. I am aged 54, have a full-time job as a self-employed horticulturist (which provides a modest but sufficient income), and will be studying part-time over six years.

As a self-funder I applied online for a Doctoral Student Loan of £25,000 (which would nicely cover my tuition fees and some extra expenses, given that I will continue to work almost full-time), which was easy. I received the message that it would be four to six weeks before I would receive a decision.

In fact after just ten days, last week, I heard by post that I had been successful: the money will come into my bank account three times a year for six years starting in Jan 2019.

So the system is working OK (there are conditions - you have to be starting studying PhD on Sept 2018 or later, and you can't have certain other funding such as Research Council). For for those who are interested the details are here: https://www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan

William

Thanks for sharing your story here William. It's great to see that the application and approval process is working well.

We've covered the PhD loans in detail over at FindAPhD, producing what we hope is one of the most comprehensive FAQs around.

https://www.findaphd.com/funding/guides/uk-phd-loans-scheme.aspx



Student stories and experiences are also something we're always keen to share on our blog. I'd be up for chatting if you're at all interested in that - you can reach me at editor[at]findaphd.com

Cheers - and enjoy the PhD!

Mark