I have been very concerned about a friend who is considering studying PhD here in the UK. He wants to study music composition in RCM / Trinity Laban / guildhall music school.

I have been thinking about the financial issues he will be facing as a EU student (coming from EU).

I know that the government is offering up to £25000 Doctoral loan, but that is definitely not be enough to cover the living cost + fee, and also if he is applying for Doctoral loan, he won't be able to apply for any scholarships / other funding.

I am desperate to look for an answer for him, I would love to know what are the options? and what type of funding is available? or 'stipend?' or teaching/working for the Uni during his PhD?




(I honestly don't know much about PhD but I want to help him, and I have been digging through the web for every piece of info i could find.)

Any thoughts / inputs are much appreciated. :)

Thank you.

No, a postgraduate doctoral loan of 8.3K a year over 3 years would not cover tuition fees and living costs, and that was not the intention of the loan. It's there to help, not to cover all costs.

Although the loan is not available to anyone receiving any form of RC funding, it does not prevent loanees applying for other forms of funding (university scholarships, charitable trusts etc).

The main funding for UK PhD students comes from the UKRC either in the form of funded projects (more in the 'hard' sciences'), or through the various different RCs with studentships. I think in your friend's case, it'd be the AHRC. Look up their website. There are also university scholarships and charities. Take a look at find a findaphd.com, or check on the websites of individual universities for more detail.

Paid teaching duties are only usually available to second year PhD students, although there is nothing to stop your friend doing other forms of paid part-time work to get by.

Hope this helps.

I am a EU citizen and have been fully funded by the AHRC for my PhD which I have recently completed successfully - but I have been living in the UK for many years and paid taxes here. I think to get funding you must be resident here for 3 years.

I would suggest your friends gives a good look around, though, because I know of studentships and grants open also for EU citizens, like the Marie Curie bursaries.

On the other hand - and this is a huge issue - do not know what is going to happen with the Brexit uncertainty. The UK is not a great place in which to be a EU citizen at the moment.

I have sent you a pm. I just have a few more questions.

Thank you very much for all of your replies, any more help / advice about this would be greatly appreciated ! Thank you very much.

There isn't much to add to the (very helpful) replies here already, but one thing that may be encouraging is that the UK has recently extended fee and funding guarantees to EU students starting a degree (including a PhD) in 2019-20.

What this means, in a nutshell, is that access to domestic fees and public funding (including loans, RC studentships, etc) won't change during a student's course, regardless of Brexit.

I can also confirm that Chaotic1328 is completely correct: the new doctoral loan only affects eligibility for other public funding (RCUK, NHS, etc). It won't stop you applying for funding that's provided directly by your university, or awards from other organisations (charities, trusts, etc).

We've recently updated our PhD loan guide and FAQ (if that's useful):

https://www.findaphd.com/funding/guides/uk-phd-loans-scheme.aspx