Budgeting as a post-grad student

jennifernil

The 3 years is usually the "research period", then the writing up is completed afterwards, although you would of course be doing some as you go along. My daughter's was also sponsored, so she had the full funding (less what the Uni kept back for later) for 3 years, then the reuced amount for 6 months. Now she has to exist on her savings.

She actually found it easy to earn over £400 in the months when Uni was in for the full month, although the wages dept usually spread the payments over a longer period so that students did not earn enough in any one month to get NI deducted. I suppose however that it will vary with department and number of post grads wanting the work. She had labs, tutorials, marking and exam invigilating. You have a personal allowance like everyone else, so your earnings will be tax free.

Have you clarified the position regarding the time you will be working for the sponsor? i.e......are you paid in addition? Or could some of the sponsorship be construed as wages? It may be useful to check this out if it has not been specifically discussed already.

Reactive

jennifernil wrote: »

The 3 years is usually the "research period", then the writing up is completed afterwards, although you would of course be doing some as you go along. My daughter's was also sponsored, so she had the full funding (less what the Uni kept back for later) for 3 years, then the reuced amount for 6 months. Now she has to exist on her savings.

She actually found it easy to earn over £400 in the months when Uni was in for the full month, although the wages dept usually spread the payments over a longer period so that students did not earn enough in any one month to get NI deducted. I suppose however that it will vary with department and number of post grads wanting the work. She had labs, tutorials, marking and exam invigilating. You have a personal allowance like everyone else, so your earnings will be tax free.

Have you clarified the position regarding the time you will be working for the sponsor? i.e......are you paid in addition? Or could some of the sponsorship be construed as wages? It may be useful to check this out if it has not been specifically discussed already.

[FONT=&quot]My understanding is that the studentship covers everything. And then additionally, whenever I work outside the university I will have all my expenses paid for (accommodation, travel etc) but no additional salary.

I haven't went into most details with the university yet as I'm having a personal crisis on deciding whether or not I actually want to go through with the project. But given that I've applied to more than a dozen (very carefully chosen) graduate positions in my field and not had any positive feedback it looks like I have no choice.

This makes me very resentful, but mostly disappointed; I had always assumed that getting a good degree in chemical engineering would land in a good graduate position. - I never bothered with all the 'soft' skills at university, and now it's hurting me badly. And I'm not really ashamed to say that money was the main reason of studying chemical engineering in the first place, now I feel like a total fool (especially when I hear about my old school mates who are now earning £25k/year + in office jobs without having gone to university). It's just depressing, I don't even want to think about it.
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ceh209

And I'm not really ashamed to say that money was the main reason of studying chemical engineering in the first place, now I feel like a total fool (especially when I hear about my old school mates who are now earning £25k/year + in office jobs without having gone to university). It's just depressing, I don't even want to think about it.

Don't feel bad because of that! You'd be getting £19k TAX-FREE, which is the equivalent of someone earning £24,500. You have the potential to earn more with tutoring etc.

And you're in the North so salaries are generally lower, are these 'friends' in London? Because no simple office job I know of pays £25k straight off! Your living expenses will be lower up there than they would in the south.

Reactive

ceh209 wrote: »

Don't feel bad because of that! You'd be getting £19k TAX-FREE, which is the equivalent of someone earning £24,500. You have the potential to earn more with tutoring etc.

And you're in the North so salaries are generally lower, are these 'friends' in London? Because no simple office job I know of pays £25k straight off! Your living expenses will be lower up there than they would in the south.

They're all working outside London. Don't forget I was/am a student and I have student debt. They don't.

jennifernil

My daughter is just coming to the end of her PhD now, and after almost 8 years of study, with a First and now (hopefully!) a PhD, she does not have a job either. There are jobs, just not the one she really wants, it's not easy to get a job right now.

She cannot even get Job Seekers Allowance once she is finished as she has no NI conbtributions for the contributions based JSA, and because she has saved hard in the last 7-8 years, she has too much in savings to get income based JSA.

There is quite a bit you don't pay as a student receiving a stipend, like NI, Income Tax, and Council Tax. Just to have the same after taxes she needs to earn £29k.

Luckily she has no debt as we don't pay fees in Scotland, and she has worked part time to top up what we were able to give her, so no loans either.

Reactive

jennifernil wrote: »

My daughter is just coming to the end of her PhD now, and after almost 8 years of study, with a First and now (hopefully!) a PhD, she does not have a job either. There are jobs, just not the one she really wants, it's not easy to get a job right now.

She cannot even get Job Seekers Allowance once she is finished as she has no NI conbtributions for the contributions based JSA, and because she has saved hard in the last 7-8 years, she has too much in savings to get income based JSA.

There is quite a bit you don't pay as a student receiving a stipend, like NI, Income Tax, and Council Tax. Just to have the same after taxes she needs to earn £29k.

Luckily she has no debt as we don't pay fees in Scotland, and she has worked part time to top up what we were able to give her, so no loans either.

She's very lucky. During my industrial placement year I made almost £33k (of which I was taxed only 10% as it was in another country), and I haven't seen a penny as I've had to help my parents out financially.

I still have almost £15k worth of student debt. Thank god I don't get charged interest.

I wonder would I be able to claim JSA between the end of my degree (May) and the start of my PhD (October).

jennifernil

I would expect you could, or you could maybe find some part time work.

casper_g

Reactive wrote: »

My PhD is industrially sponsered and as such I'm under the impression that I will have to stick to tight deadlines with little time to muck about.

Additionally there will be large chunks of my time (several weeks at a time) spent working elsewhere (out of town) at the company's 'site', which added more weight to the argument of me not wasting £600/month on accomodation.

Several of my fellow PhD students were also industrially sponored. A few of them had been seconded by their employers to undertake research, on full pay for three years. They were in the worst possible position, as they were expected to get back to work after the three years were up. Two of them had to take about six months each of unpaid leave in order to write up. Another hadn't finished after six years, as he was unable to dedicate the time needed to write up while working full time, and had a family to support so couldn't afford to take leave.

People don't fail to complete in three years because they're mucking about, but because research is unpredictable and because, in some cases, their supervisors expect them to get involved in bits and pieces of other research....

tellmeitsfriday

I "look after" PhD students at my university - I can remember 1 who completed within her 3 years. All the others needed longer. Most about 6-9 months more; one has taken 7 years so far, and still has corrections to make!

The stipend is usually enough to live on, have a bit of a social life - but low enough to be an encouragement to get it done as soon as you can.

Usually, there is lots of teaching/lab sessions available at quite good rates of pay. We pay £43/£18 - which can end up being tax/NIable, but pretty good really

If you're not 100% committed at the start, don't do it. When the hard times come the motivation and committment is almost zero and you need the "desire" to get you through that.

Good luck Dr Reactive!

Wyndham

When I worked in an admissions office, we used to tell students that they would need around £8500 for a year for living expenses (this was PG, so was for the full year). But, this is a 'middle ground' figure - if you're eating out a lot and renting somewhere expensive, it will take more. This also didn't include the set up expenses of buying a bike or a desk. And you'll find that you need a million little things, none of which are expensive in themselves, but add up when put together.

Good luck! I'm surprised you didn't do this as an undergraduate, and I have to say that it is about time you stood on your own two feet. £19,000 tax free isn't a bad way to start!