Hi everyone,
I've been offered a studentship at £13,000 but would need to pay almost 4k per year in fees to do it. I really want to accept but feel as though I need to make sure I can survive for 3-4 years!
Have you managed in this way? I've emailed to ask if I can have a job on the side of this so hope they say if it doesn't interrupt the uni work it'll be ok. Its a bit scary to commit for so long!

Firstly, living off just 9k a year after you've paid the fees sounds pretty tight to me... I lived comfortably off a 12k studentship for one year (no fees to pay) but I think anything less than 10k would be really tough. Obviously this depends on what part of the country you are in, for example in London it would be impossible but in the North it might be manageable.

Additionally, there are usually conditions attached to a studentship stating how many hours a week you can work. In fact, there was a thread about it not so long ago - if I can find it I'll come back and post the link!! I did some teaching part-time during my phd. I only did the odd day here and there, some weeks 2-3 days, most weeks none at all, and to be honest any more than that and I feel it would have detracted from my studies. I earned roughly £1000 per year extra from this work.

Found it!!

http://www.postgraduateforum.com/threadViewer.aspx?TID=22114

Answers seems to range from 6 - 18 hours per week paid work allowed by the university, although for me personally if I'd have been working 18hrs alongside a full-time PhD I'm not sure I would have managed! Seems a huge workload to me. I guess a couple of nights a week and a bit at the weekend working in a bar or somewhere might be doable, but at certain times, when deadlines are approaching etc, you might need to cut back the hours. Thinking about it, I was running a car throughout my 12k studentship and my PhD, so maybe without a car I would have had a lot more spare cash!!

I agree with Mackem_Beefy, it seems like you have a typical studentship. Fees are covered and guess what? Sometimes a few extra money for a conference and a laptop/ equipment/expenses are included too! Hooray!

Hi,
Thanks for all the help! I am hoping when I get all the details it'll be ok.

Mackem_Beefy - It was said on the advert that you are responsible to pay fees and do a certain number of teaching hours. Feels like too much of a stretch financially the more I think about it. I was expecting it to be tight but it'd be less that I'd anticipated.