Masters Degree

David_Brent

Hi, I am graduating this year, and am thinking of taking up a masters degree, I was wondering if you can get any support financially like a student loan etc. To help get through it like a degree course? Also do you have to have a certain degree classification? in order to progress onto a masters course, or does it vary on which university to enroll to? At what age is it best to do the course I have read that usually people over 25 go onto these courses as im 21 - does it really matter? Is there anyone here that is studyng or thinking of studying a masters that could offer any advice? Thanks.

Allexie

David_Brent wrote:

Hi, I am graduating this year, and am thinking of taking up a masters degree, I was wondering if you can get any support financially like a student loan etc. To help get through it like a degree course? Also do you have to have a certain degree classification? in order to progress onto a masters course, or does it vary on which university to enroll to? At what age is it best to do the course I have read that usually people over 25 go onto these courses as im 21 - does it really matter? Is there anyone here that is studyng or thinking of studying a masters that could offer any advice? Thanks.

Hi

I did this a few years ago at Leeds Uni. I found it practically impossible to get support for a psychology MA apart from bursaries or sponsorship (v v hard to get also), but I guess it could depend on the subject you're interested in. I did mine part time in the evenings which obviously took longer but was less pressure that way and I could support myself. They usually ask for a good first degree but there were people on my course (admittedly in 40's-50's) who did not have a first degree at all. Also there were people of around your age....that's what makes it such an interesting experience....the diversity of ages, backgrounds and experience.

Hope you go for it ..........

David_Brent

Hi thanks for the reply, Can you remember roughly including tuition fee's, how much the whole thing cost you? As I will finish university this year with about £8,500 owing to my student loan from the 3 years of studying, Do you think its worth while doing a masters degree as an investment? How hard is it to balance the course with a job? It doesn't seem easy to find any support financially, so it looks as though ill have to either rely on a loan of some sort and a little support from my parents and study full time, or balance the course with a full time job to help finance the year. Seems rather unfair that once you have your degree and want to further yourself in your field that you are left to finance the whole thing yourself without any support.

svmitche

I agree with Allexie - it's difficult to get funding for these things. You may be able to apply for some sort of career development loan though, or apply for a bursary or scholarship.

I am currently looking at doing an MSc, and am negotiating with my employer (a Uni) to pay for it, as the course is based at the Uni so in actuality will not cost them anything.

I have a first degree in an unrelated subject, but as I have been working for five years I have the relevant industrial experience to go ahead with it.

Although you want to go ahead with a Masters now, you might be better to wait until you have been working for a while and see what sort of experience you have gained.

If you would prefer to go ahead now, visit http://www.lifelonglearning.co.uk/cdl/ to see about the career development loan.

Good luck!

Allexie

David_Brent wrote:

Hi thanks for the reply, Can you remember roughly including tuition fee's, how much the whole thing cost you? As I will finish university this year with about £8,500 owing to my student loan from the 3 years of studying, Do you think its worth while doing a masters degree as an investment? How hard is it to balance the course with a job? It doesn't seem easy to find any support financially, so it looks as though ill have to either rely on a loan of some sort and a little support from my parents and study full time, or balance the course with a full time job to help finance the year. Seems rather unfair that once you have your degree and want to further yourself in your field that you are left to finance the whole thing yourself without any support.

I'm afraid the fees have changed a great deal since I did my MA so my experience really wouldn't be much help to you. Just a thought, it is possible to do some courses on a modular basis so you can take as long as you want over them - thus lessening the pressure if you are holding down a full time job. Not sure about the looking at a masters as an investment thing...I just did it as a challenge and found I thoroughly enjoyed it...but these days MA's seem to be 10 a penny even though you have to work damned hard to get one!!!

I can sympathise with how you feel re funding as I want to do a PhD and can't get any help!!!

Best of luck with whatever you decide to do

Clareo

The price depends on the Uni, lesser Uni's do them for as low as £3,000 but others can cost up to £20,000. Most Uni's offer a couple of scholarships per department, some are advertised on the websites or you could contact them directly. Otherwise it's the career development loan.

Is it worth it? Well I was thinking of one until one of my lecturer's stated that majority of Master's schemes accept far too many people and are basically money making schemes in order to make up for the loss they make on undergraduates!

Some suggestions regarding ways of funding can be found on the following page:
http://www.cardiff.ac.uk/schoolsanddivisions/divisions/stude/carsv/further_study/study_funding.html

Allexie

Have a look HERE to see what awards, bursaries etc might be available....

Midas

You can get funding, but it's very competitive for a lot of subjects. It really depends on what subject you want to do. The Research Councils http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/ distribute post graduate funding, but you often have to apply with the intention of staying on for a PhD (but there's not a great deal they can do if you leave after a year!)

Natzdance

Its just a thought but something taht you may wish to look into. As you have not yet graduated, in some universities it is possible to "transfere" so to speak you degree to a Masters and therefor avoid the very expensive fee's. This is what I have done with my MEng and means that I only have to pay "normal" fees to do the MEng.

DJ1UK

Hi

I'm currently enrolled in a masters degree. The basic fees are £4500 (Home/EU) rising to £10,000 for international students. Per year. So if you do it part time it'll cost you double (on this course anyway). Other masters in the same department start at £6000 - so think carefully before you start.

The uni usually lets you pay it off in 4 installments - though these are close together - I've paid all my fees already (by installments) and the course doesn't finish to October!

Good luck!

DJ

David_Brent

Thanks for all the feedback much appreciated.