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
PostgraduateForum Is a trading name of FindAUniversity Ltd
FindAUniversity Ltd, 77 Sidney St, Sheffield, S1 4RG, UK. Tel +44 (0) 114 268 4940 Fax: +44 (0) 114 268 5766
An active and supportive community.
Support and advice from your peers.
Your postgraduate questions answered.
Use your experience to help others.
Enter your email address below to get started with your forum account
Enter your username below to login to your account
An email has been sent to your email account along with instructions on how to reset your password. If you do not recieve your email, or have any futher problems accessing your account, then please contact our customer support.
or continue as guest
To ensure all features on our website work properly, your computer, tablet or mobile needs to accept cookies. Our cookies don’t store your personal information, but provide us with anonymous information about use of the website and help us recognise you so we can offer you services more relevant to you. For more information please read our privacy policy
Agree Agree