I am considering change my university, what happens to the scholarship? Do I have to pay back what I earned? I am in the second year now!

Are you in the UK?

Who pays your scholarship? Research Council or university?

My guess is you wouldn't have to pay it back.

I left a UK research council funded PhD halfway through. I only had to pay back a small amount of money and that was because we used to get paid in advance so I had to return the money relating to the remainder of that period that I would no longer be working. I was not asked to pay back any money from the time I was working on it though.

Hi PoorStudent,


Your post resonates with me strongly. I'm currently on "temporary withdrawal" from a fully-funded ESRC (DTC) scholarship I obtained at a prestigious institution. In the meantime, I have got myself a position working within HE whilst I chew over my options concerning the PhD. The duration of temporary withdrawal is around 1 year for myself; with this in mind, is this an option for you?


With regards to funding, from the date I went on temporary withdrawal my income from the scholarship ceased (I was paid on the 1st of every month). I haven't had to pay anything back, and if I did decide to "permanently withdraw" then I would owe nothing to the University or the ESRC. CAUTION: Whilst this is the case for myself, I HIGHLY recommend you evaluate the terms and conditions of your scholarship in order to determine whether or not you will be punished, for want of better words. In addition, if you're unsure I would also recommend contacting the administrative people responsible for the scholarships to seek advice.


Good luck my friend.


MoC