postgraduate funding
 

Can anyone shed any light on postgraduate funding?

I am looking to do a Msc in Play therapy or Counselling that is accredited by the relevant respective body either BACP for Counselling or BAPT for play therapy.

I think I want to do it part time so that I can work alongside it part time but I don't know what to do for the best.

If I work part time I don't think I'll afford the fees and the living expenses.

If I get a career development loan - What if I can't get a job fairly quickly afterwards as the bank will want their money back after two months - or at least they want me to start repayments. I have no idea how much they are going to be so would need to ask. It might be worked out based on earnings.

If I take time out, most likely other things will get in the way and I won't be able to afford to go back. The student loans company will want some money from me if I earn more than 15K a year and it'll be really hard to save what I need.

I think I need about 25k to do my post graduate study including living costs.

Tuition fees will be about £3600 per year over 3 years and then will need about £400 to live on including accommodation as I live with someone which would be £400 per month x 3 years.

Has anyone been through post graduate? How did you fund it? Is it possible to go straight from undergraduate to postgraduate?

thanks

Sarah x

Why is your postgraduate three years? A Masters degree is usually only one year full-time, especially if it is a taught or a vocational one. A PhD will take three years.

As for funding, there really isn't much, I'm afraid. You may get lucky and be eligible for some scholarships or something, or the department/university may have some going. You might also try some charities to see if they'll help you out. There is even less funding for those who decide to do the degree part-time, since they are expected to work full-time or near that alongside. Career Development Loans are good if you know you can get a job straight after, but if not I wouldn't recommend them.

As for saving up, that's what most people need to do. Your student loan will only be repaid on anything over £15,000. So if you earn, say, £20,000 you will only pay 9% of £5,000. So if you can, a job for a year or two (especially if it can be vaguely relevant!) can be incredibly useful.

You should talk to whoever is the funding body where you live and see what there terms are.

I went straight from BSc to MSc. My MSc was funded by the university though. I also still got student loan. Is student loan not an option still? You can still get it even part time. The other option is to get a job and wait a few years to save money to do it or if you get a job in a relevant area they may fund your MSc part time.

I would say your best to bite the bullet and do it full time if you can.

Why not speak to student services at the university or the tutors who run the course. they'd be able to shed more light on your options.

oh and claire i'd presumed the part time was 3 years as your right full time would be 1 year.

I thought that at first, but then the fees would be extremely high. £7,200 for a full-time? I don't know much about counselling/therapy degrees, but for my interests that's high. Anything over £5,500 is considered a lot.

thank you for clearing that up about the over 15,000.

most counselling things post grad tend to be 2 years full time and 3 years part time.

If I find a course that's only 1 year I can get my final year of student finance as they over 4 years

Counselling may have a practical aspect to it thus extending the length, like I say, this isn't my area.

Postgraduate courses are usually not eligible for student loan funding, unless they are in certain courses like NHS, teaching, stuff like that.

Oh right Sam, I just assumed I could get SLC loan funding for a 1 year masters but now I'm not sure as they say on the website etc they don't fund postgraduate study.

You can get a student loan, but nothing to cover tuition fees as far as im aware

well i'm doing my PGCE and i get it funded and i have a BSc and MSc. Mine doesnt cover fees because i get a grant for that.

I did a MSc (nothing related to what you want to do) and funded it with a career development loan and wish I hadn't. I had to really fight to get one - they are not easy things to obtain for some courses. The repayments are set by them, you have 5 years and it isn't worked out based on earnings.

The rules are very strict.

Others on my course had them and found the helpful - we all had partial ones having saved some from our training contracts. Others either got professional posts lined up before doing the masters (during their training) or had family that could help them out. I didn't have either option and was on benefit. The repayments are only waived if you are not in work and claiming benefits for a short amount of time so you really need to know you can pay them back.

The SLC (at least when I did my masters) gave loans for not much aside from PGCE.

I'm doing an MA and the SLC aren't covering it, so I am applying for every grant and loan going! They don't cover PG study (or second degrees) but they DO cover PGCEs/teacher training. It's worth looking at the place you want to study at and applying for every financial programme they have, as well as maybe looking for a clincal association or organisation (where you could maybe work when you finish?) to sponsor you? I asked the TDA as I plan to be a teacher; asking couldn't hurt! Good luck love xxx

Could I manage by working part time and studying part time?

thank you for the advice

Quite a lot of people do that, so if you think you can then it should be fine. Most Masters degrees are 'blocked', so that you have all classes on, say, two days, so that you don't have to be in for one hour every day. They know that a lot of people work alongside it.

There were people on my masters who managed. You need to check with where you are studying to find out what days you would need to attend etc so you don't end up with clashes.

Tuition fee payments would need to be quite spread out ie: monthly though to manage that and living costs whilst working part - time if no grant or anything available.

I know that mine offers the chance to either pay all upfront or in installments. I think the installments are in three blocks though but that's from full-time. I assume part-time would be similar. It'd be something to check.

I can pay mine in two installments I think.
Definitely stay away from the career development loan - you have to know that you're guaranteed a job after a month of graduating.

At the minute I'm saving all of my loan from this year and using it for part of the cost of my masters.