Hi I am currently coming to the end of my 3rd year of phd. Unfortunately i will not be able to finish on time. I suspect it is going to take me an extra 6-12 months to get it to completion. I am currently funded, but that ends  in 8 months. I'm not sure what is the best way for me to go about trying to complete. A number of people have told me to not get a job and just put 100% into trying to complete . But they had the luxury of no bills ,rent or paying for food. Other people I know have got a full time job, and try to write up in evenings and weekends. alternatively could try get a part time job and work the evenings weekends and the day or so i get off from work.

Im really unsure on what way to go with this decision. Any advice will be much appreciated! If anyone can tell me about there relevant experience of the same decision, good or bad, will also be much appreciated. Or if there are other options im not thinking off? please let me know.

cheers Keith
 

Hi Keith

Can you get an extension? My scholarship was due to run out in 2 months, but I've been successful in getting an extra 6 mths of funding.

I agree with your friends - try and concentrate on just getting finished. Are you sure it will take you another 6-12 months? Have you done a plan - could it take less if you went beserk and threw yourself into it? If I needed just enough to keep me going for another few months and couldn't get the scholarship extended, I think I'd take out a loan from the uni - anything so I could continue to keep studying and be done with it. Failing that, working part-time would be the next best option.

HI Keithjames84, I'm most likely going to find myself in a very similar situation to you. A lot of PhDs can take up to 4 years to finish, and it is unfortunate that funding does not always reflect this. Is there no chance you could get your funding extended? I don't know your living circumstances, but could you move in with friends or family until you have written up. What about doing some paid work for the university, such as teaching (though this may now be difficult given the stupid immense cuts that are going to take place)?
I'm planning in getting a full or part time job when my funding runs out. I should have all my data and just need to write up. If they ask about my past 3 years, I will tell them that I was a teaching assistant at uni (not that I was doing a PhD), so not exactly a lie, just not as accurate as it could be. I'll hopefully get something minimum wage, or maybe a call centre job (they pay about 12.5K in the NW of England). Could you do something similar, or do you have children and family commitments?

I am getting a meeting with my head of department soon, as there are some circumstances that have been out of my control that have set me back with work. I am hoping he will allow an extension of 6 months but i am not holding my breath.

I don't have any dependents, so just me i need to look after. I do not really want to ask to much of my parents, but they will support me. At the moment i think i am leaning towards a part time job combined with some savings i have managed to get over the last year and bit.

If the next 8 months go smoothly with out anymore major set backs i think it will be only case of writing up after funding ends.

Assuming you're on a standard academic year (i.e. you started in October) could you try becoming a subwarden? It cuts your costs significantly and could mean you don't have to get an actual job (it's more a passive role in my experience) but it does kinda tie you into a thing until next June. Other than that, have you tried having a poke around your department?

I'm in the same situation. There are no jobs in my field at the mo and kinda wanted the PhD done in my 4th year rather than it carrying on for years and years. I have no idea what to do. We could just about survive on my husbands salary but not very well. We need at least £500 from me a month to pay for his travel into his work. It would be nice to earn £1000 a month to cover the mortgage, and this his salary can go on everything else. So I have no idea what to do. i think I could get a few days work at uni, but uni is 3 hours away and it would cost me more than its worth to travel. I can do some extra consultancy work, but not much which leaves me with local minimum wage stuff - which is going to look totally rubbish on my CV :-( Actually this whole issue is causing me so much stress at the mo!