How are students supposed to afford University if they go on to do a Masters?

theoretica

Grants/sponsorships - there are quite a lot of different grants, many small, students can apply to.  And the harder they are to discover the fewer other people are likely to have applied...

Some students have been able to plan ahead and make savings from working during their undergraduate or vacations.

Bank loans - need paying back regardless of salary.

MoonChild91

I'm in this position - currently been saving up for a few years to be able to afford my Masters (the course I want to do is 19k in tuition fees alone, plus some living expenses as part time work won't cover them all). 

It seems to be the norm that people who go on to do a masters 2-3 years out of uni have the bank of mum and dad paying for it, everyone else just has to wait and save up or takes on more debt. Funding is extremely hard to come by and even then it often doesn't cover much.

Sorry if that's a pessimistic answer, but it's how it is!

Song

has she considered doing her masters part-time over two years?  Most courses allow this and it would give her time to work alongside the course.

annatorso

happyhero said:

I hope somebody can guide me on this.

My daughter left school did 2 years in Fashion and Textiles Print in UCA in Epsom. I think it was a Foundation course. Next living away from home she did 3 years in Rochester doing a degree and received a loan with very rough figures of £9k/y for the University fees and £9k/y for maintenance to live on, each of the 3 years.

Now she is going on to do a full time Masters course for 1 year after which she will start work, but after learning to budget over those 3 years with rent etc she now finds that they are only letting her have a loan for everything of about £11700 and the course costs about £10k or just over so if this is how it is what is the most common way that people can afford to move forward?

Her rent is £500/month and we are not in a great position moneywise to help. Our situation is complicated so I would rather not go into our side for now and concentrate on how my daughter would move forward similar to how she did in the last 3 years. Why don't they simply offer the same deal as before with student loans when doing a Masters?

We are looking at ways for her to borrow enough to pay her rent and maintenance/food bill for the year but with these ways she would have to also find money spare to pay back the loan from the beginning.

Plus as her studying has moved on its not as if she has more free time, in fact it has occupied virtually all of her free time as well, so we expect with a full time Masters she will be even busier which then makes it virtually impossible to do any part time job and even if she managed it, it would be unlikely to generate enough to pay back the loan. It all seems like too much pressure for her studying so hard with virtually no free time and now being restricted with the loan and being expected to work to pay it.

Am I missing something do I have it mixed up and what is her best way forward with affording this coming year?

Are there any student type loans like before that don't need paying straight away and are cheap?

Masters are EXPENSIVE. I'm always blown away by these fees - and I work at a university!!

I'm curious - what Masters is she hoping to go on to study? There can be different grants/scholarship opportunities depending on the subject studied.

Also, has she shopped around as to where to study her Masters, or is she continuing at the same uni? It's worth checking with her chosen uni as to scholarships available, and to talk to their admissions department directly about what kind of financial help may be available.

Would she consider studying part-time rather than full-time? This would allow here to work while studying, especially if she chooses to do a Masters online.

I work in the Online Education department at Aberdeen Uni, and we're trying to address this exact issue - more people are looking to continue with Masters/postgrad study to help them stand out in the graduate market, but it's so expensive and inaccessible. We offer many online Masters now, all flexible and part-time, designed to fit around full-time work, allowing you to take study breaks between terms if and when you need. We've broken our Masters degrees up into short-course blocks, so you can study for a Masters one short course at a time, spreading the cost and allowing you time to work while you study.

Most of our online students are working full-time and they're simply amazing in their hard work and dedication. We try and make it as affordable and flexible as possible for them - we charge per term rather than the full Masters fee upfront, and you can choose how much to study/pay each term. I'd encourage her to check out the University of Aberdeen On-demand Learning website to see if we offer her chosen subject - on.abdn.ac.uk. And I'd always encourage people to check out the Open University too, as they offer great postgrad options for people looking to study while working.

Wishing her the best of luck in her studies

Best wishes,
Anna

shadyv

Hi. I'm assuming she is carrying on at Rochester on the Printed textiles? I'm going there to that MA when I complete my BA at UCA Canterbury. I was speaking to someone on that course recently and the only have to do one actual timetabled day and then be responsible for their own timetable to get there work done and this is partly to do with the fact that most people doing teh course have to actually work so your daughter should be able to fit it around. Also it's not clear in your post but was she at home when she was at Epsom? The MA in Printed Textiles is actually moving there in 2023 so she could take a year out (which a lot of the younger students do as it's normal to do because gaining work experience is encouraged) and then do it Epsom and live at home.