Hi,
I have just been awarded a studentship to start in October. I am being funded by the University directly and the stipend is for approx 13k. I have done some sums based on £350 p/m for accommodation, £150 for food and £80 for bills. I know that the rent is realistic but with regards to other outgoings am I being realistic. My sums suggest I should be able to live comfortably? I have come straight from my undergraduate degree in London so moving away from London to do my PhD things seem much less expensive (esp. accommodation!). Can anyone help?

i dont know if you can live comfortably on a stipend!?

When I say comfortably, i think I mean compared to being an undergraduate in London?

if you're single and/or "cohabiting" (ugh, had that phrase!) then to be honest, i don't understand how you couldn't get by on 13k. it's the equivalent to about jobs which are advertised at 16.5 salary (when you consider tax etc...) and the majority of my graduate friends started on that or below. some of the grad jobs in my area are advertised at 13k which means 10k take home. what a joke!

I have a lot of debt and I manage to cope just fine on my stipend. My friend manages a mortgage etc with hers. It is great! It is like a 15 grand wage in real life - and you can top it up with tax free earnings if you work under 6 hours a week.

No probs.

Thanks. That is good to hear. I thought it would be ok, just didn't want to ignore any nasty hidden costs I hadn't thought about!

Hi! £150 for food for one person is a bit high so you should have some left over (thats if you shop at markets rather than the horribly over priced supermarket), and I think £80 for bills is fine but could vary a lot over the coming months. Some companies offer inclusive bills. For example I pay one company a set rate for my gas, elec, and water, then get any money I dont spend back at the end of the year. The company if called glide if you want to look it up.

Other costs associated with phd life:
Photocopying and printing- always much more than you expect
Books - you know the library wont have that essential text
Things to keep you sane - eg drinks with friend, cinema
Shmoozing- lunch/drinks/coffee with supervisor, visiting academics etc.
Conferences

Thanks for that, Maybe £150 is too high for food, I assumed Cardiff would be similarly priced to London, doesn't appear to be the case. The apartment I have found includes water rates and there is no gas, all electric under floor heating? My supervisor has said that any conferences that I will need to go or that would be useful will be covered by "his funds"? I'm correct in thinking that I am exempt from Council Tax aren't I?

Thats right, no council tax. Electicity can be high over winter so be wary of that. If you don't have things like sky, bt line that you should be fine for bills. Things like car insurance (if you have a car) and tv license are always annoying when they suddenly appear.

Hey! I'm in central London at the mo, and have experience of other places - you will find EVERYTHING cheaper in Cardiff!! Food, drinks when out, cinema the cost of living in London is ridiculous, and I think if you've managed 3 years there as an UG, you'll find being funded in Cardiff like winning the lottery!! Enjoy!

B.xx

I don't know about your uni but at mine I also get £750 worth of 'research training grant' which I can tap into every year and get conferences reimbursed, travel and accomm for them, books, photocopying, even a laptop... Anything to do with my course basically. Maybe this is what your sup means by 'his funds'? Is very jammy... (am ESRC funded btw - I assumed you were too as we have the same stipend for next year...)

If you look on google LSE have a comprehensive list of other entitlements for ESRC funded peeps.

Thanks Bobby. I'm glad to hear that. I was offered another PhD position in London where I did my UG degree, not only wanted to move away but the PhD wasn't exactly what I wanted... Smart move i think.

Jayney... I am being funded by a Studenship that is coming directly from the Uni, The money has been given to my Sup to then fund several PhD's over the next few years. I think my stipend just follows that of the minimum that the research councils can offer. Do I need to push harder to access graduate training stuff if i'm not being funded by a research council?

No, I think it is unique to each research council and uni how much they offer for training etc. You said that your sup has monies he is happy to use to cover conferences and stuff so go with that - you don't want to seem too greedy! I just assumed you were ESRC.

I don't mean necessarily from a financial point of view. I was under the impression that research councils maybe keen for you to attend/get involved in graduate training stuff that maybe the Uni itself can't/doesn't offer even if you need to fund it yourself? I think what I am saying is, will there be more training opportunities for a research council funded student over someone in my position?