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Postgrads - how did you fund your course?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
I really want to do a MSc this year but obviously it's not as simple as getting all your loans from student loans company any more. I was just wondering how anyone here that has done postgrad who self funded went about it? And how was repaying it afterwards? I am aware of the career development loan you can get from the bank but if I remember rightly you have to start repaying it 3 months after you graduate, which worries me if I don't manage to get a decent job that quickly.
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My grandfather left me some money. It was enough to cover my fees after my returning alumni discount.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Work funded thankfully.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    This is making me nervous, I have neither of these luxuries :( My uni don't even offer a returning alumni discount for my area, but there is a £1000 scholarship available which I'm going to try for. Can't get my hopes up though
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    People on my course had scholarships, or were apparently loaded. I know someone who worked two jobs to pay for hers. Do career development loans still exist?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I thought that a master's degree was only one year full-time and that you could stick it on the student debt mountain? As for rent and food I suspect I'd have to learn how to shake my booty provocatively while not crying. Or crying profusely, if the money was right.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote: »
    People on my course had scholarships, or were apparently loaded. I know someone who worked two jobs to pay for hers. Do career development loans still exist?

    They do, but the problem is they're usually only up to £10k, so with most fees now being at least £5k that only leaves another £5k for rent and living for a year. Also you have to start paying them back straight away, which is worrying in the current job climate. So I'll probably have no choice but to go back to my local uni and commute, even though the course I prefer is in Manchester. I did want to go to Plymouth, but they put the fees up by over £4k in a year, so with rent and living on top of that it's completely out of the question :( My bank don't even do them any more so I don't know if the others are going to follow suit.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I wouldn't rule out your favourite course. If you can get student loan, career development loan and some bar work/cleaning work/part time super-market, you'll be fine. Have a really really good rummage before giving up.

    Also, is there a way you can get a company/government sector thingy to sponsor your further education?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Most of the people I know who did an MSc either tacked it onto their student loan as a 4-year, or got their parents to pay for it.

    I do know of a couple of people who worked and did it that way though, so its possible, just probably not as easy.

    When you hit PhD level there are a lot more funding options depending on your area of interest.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ShyBoy wrote: »
    Most of the people I know who did an MSc either tacked it onto their student loan as a 4-year, or got their parents to pay for it.

    I do know of a couple of people who worked and did it that way though, so its possible, just probably not as easy.

    When you hit PhD level there are a lot more funding options depending on your area of interest.

    I didn't know it was possible to stick it on the end of your student loan. I'll be getting my trust fund next year but not until March, which is split between me and my brother. However I have NO idea how much it is but I was hoping it would be enough to use to pay off at least a chunk of my loan as soon as I finish.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Fiend_85 wrote: »
    I wouldn't rule out your favourite course. If you can get student loan, career development loan and some bar work/cleaning work/part time super-market, you'll be fine. Have a really really good rummage before giving up.

    Also, is there a way you can get a company/government sector thingy to sponsor your further education?

    Nope, it's endangered species reintroduction/conservation - no one is willing to sponsor anything to do with animals unless it's production animals (that's where all the money/research goes into). And I don't work for any kind of conservation organisation :(
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    You could try going to the bank with proof of your trust fund and have that as collateral against a loan to support yourself
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Ballerina wrote: »
    I didn't know it was possible to stick it on the end of your student loan. I'll be getting my trust fund next year but not until March, which is split between me and my brother. However I have NO idea how much it is but I was hoping it would be enough to use to pay off at least a chunk of my loan as soon as I finish.

    Normally you have to apply for funding at the same time as you apply for your undergrad course. So a lot of people will do a 4 year undergrad and end up with an MSc, but because it's one 'course' they get funding to cover the whole thing. If you finish your first course completely though, you can't get extra after that. It doesn't seem completely fair to me...

    Maybe this could help:
    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/ChoicesAfterYouGraduate/DG_10012463
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ShyBoy wrote: »
    Normally you have to apply for funding at the same time as you apply for your undergrad course. So a lot of people will do a 4 year undergrad and end up with an MSc, but because it's one 'course' they get funding to cover the whole thing. If you finish your first course completely though, you can't get extra after that. It doesn't seem completely fair to me...

    Maybe this could help:
    http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/UniversityAndHigherEducation/ChoicesAfterYouGraduate/DG_10012463

    I see what you mean. I do think it's unfair that they basically get a sneaky MSc funded while the rest of us have to either scrounge around or get a loan. Well it looks like I might have to go down the loan route - I just hope the trust fund that I'm getting in March (it matures when my brother turns 21 and then we're splitting it - apparently it worked out that we'd get more that way) so I think I'll put that to one side and use it to pay off a chunk when I've finished, or just use it for repayments and hope it lasts until I can get a job to start paying back myself. I've got £2k saved up too but I'd rather not have to touch that.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Yea, when I started on MMath (I couldnt hack it so switched to accounting) I did it explicitly because I was told if I *wanted* to do 4 years then I would already have funding, but going from 3->4 years is a pain in the balls, so by default you should pick the masters option and choose later on in your uni career.
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