How do people fund postgraduate degrees?

flibbage0 said:
Just curious as to how people fund postgraduate degrees

Especially with the new £9,000 tuition fee in place soon
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Get a funded place! Preferably not in the UK.

Put it this way, I just finished my PhD in Swityerland and due to exchange rate shenanigans my salary was around 48,000 GBP! And taxes are much lower in switzerland than the UK. Thats about 4 time the going rate in the UK.

Of course a lot of that is due to the collpasing pound. But when I started 5 years ago I was getting around 24,000GBP gross.
Living costs to me were about the same as back in Edinburgh for most things, with some things being much more expesnive like restaurants and bars.

Now the GBP has plummetted what you can save during a PhD in switzerland will go a long way to buying a house in the UK. I know someone who was puttign 20,000GBP a year into a saving account while maintaing a reasonable livign style.
 
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D.P. said:
Get a funded place! Preferably not in the UK.

Put it this way, I just finished my PhD in Swityerland and due to exchange rate shenanigans my salary was around 48,000 GBP! And taxes are much lower in switzerland than the UK. Thats about 4 time the going rate in the UK.

Of course a lot of that is due to the collpasing pound. But when I started 5 years ago I was getting around 24,000GBP gross.
Living costs to me were about the same as back in Edinburgh for most things, with some things being much more expesnive like restaurants and bars.

Now the GBP has plummetted what you can save during a PhD in switzerland will go a long way to buying a house in the UK. I know someone who was puttign 20,000GBP a year into a saving account while maintaing a reasonable livign style.
Click to expand...

This.

I start a funded Phd in January. Basically it is a paid research position.
 
D.P. said:
Get a funded place! Preferably not in the UK.

Put it this way, I just finished my PhD in Swityerland and due to exchange rate shenanigans my salary was around 48,000 GBP! And taxes are much lower in switzerland than the UK. Thats about 4 time the going rate in the UK.

Of course a lot of that is due to the collpasing pound. But when I started 5 years ago I was getting around 24,000GBP gross.
Living costs to me were about the same as back in Edinburgh for most things, with some things being much more expesnive like restaurants and bars.

Now the GBP has plummetted what you can save during a PhD in switzerland will go a long way to buying a house in the UK. I know someone who was puttign 20,000GBP a year into a saving account while maintaing a reasonable livign style.
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BRB moving to Switzerland.

Oh wait, I can't speak French. :p
 
Castiel said:
This.

I start a funded Phd in January. Basically it is a paid research position.
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I just started a PhD and got 9 weeks paid up front for summer work.
Then when the PhD starts I wil lget £13500 PA, plus a free subwarden flat (free bills and food included). There is also a chance of me getting £5000 more PA from the company I will be doing the PhD with.
I also pay no income tax, no NIC, no pension and no council tax.
I also get the course fees paid.

My advice is do a postgraduate in engineering as there is lots of funding about.
Don't bother with a postgraduate in something crap as the phrase 'polishing a turd' applies - For example my friend going back to Hudderfield to do an Msc in Business Studies. You can throw glitter at the turd and polish it all you like, but it will always be a turd.

Castiel said:
This.

I start a funded Phd in January. Basically it is a paid research position.
Click to expand...
Yep.
I get PAID to become a Doctor!

I am in the UK btw. Not as good as Switzerland it seems, but still a good deal :p.
 
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D.P. said:
Get a funded place! Preferably not in the UK.

Put it this way, I just finished my PhD in Swityerland and due to exchange rate shenanigans my salary was around 48,000 GBP!
Click to expand...

****! I'm not long back from a workshop in Switzerland and guessed you guys would get paid more than us in the UK, but I didn't think it would work out that differently! Why the hell didn't I apply for a PhD there instead...

Like the others said, get a funded position. I'm on ~£13,500 PA + fees as well, it seems to be about the standard rate in the UK.

kenmare said:
BRB moving to Switzerland.

Oh wait, I can't speak French. :p
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Some areas speak German...!
 
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mglover070588 said:
I just started a PhD and got 9 weeks paid up front for summer work.
Then when the PhD starts I wil lget £13500 PA, plus a free subwarden flat (free bills and food included). There is also a chance of me getting £5000 more PA from the company I will be doing the PhD with.
I also pay no income tax, no NIC, no pension and no council tax.
I also get the course fees paid.

My advice is do a postgraduate in engineering as there is lots of funding about.
Don't bother with a postgraduate in something crap as the phrase 'polishing a turd' applies - For example my friend going back to Hudderfield to do an Msc in Business Studies. You can throw glitter at the turd and polish it all you like, but it will always be a turd.


Yep.
I get PAID to become a Doctor!

I am in the UK btw. Not as good as Switzerland it seems, but still a good deal :p.
Click to expand...


Although I agree in general that the field of post grad study is important, you shouldn't under estimate some of the bussiness related postgrads.

My GF did a PhD basically in bussiness studies (Bussiness ethics actually), she now earns about 140,000USD with significant pay rises to come, remaining in academia. Her collegues from her doctoral studies are on similar amountw, some entering industry are getting closer to 170-190,000CHF:eek:. You don't want to translate that into GBP, you will turn green.

I have a PHD in essentially Computer Science from an even more respected university, in industry I am looking at no more than 80,000USD probably less. Friends back in switzerland with Comp Science and engineering PhDs are getting 75-95,000CHF while remaining in engineering. Those that move to managment are getting much more, some are at McKinsey on 130,00CHF.

I certainly would have much preffered to do a PhD like my girlfriends and have the job opertunities she has with those kinds of benefits.

As I am unemplyed and searching hard for jobs it makes me wonder if getting a PhD in a numerate subject was really that benefitial. The actual PhD was, I mean I was getting paid more than all my collegues, some of them who went from undergrad to consulting in London. However, if I could get such commanding job positions without doign maths or programming, wow.
 
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Doing an MRC-funded PhD here. Pay's rubbish in comparison to what I could get in other places, but then very few other places do what I want to get into.
 
D.P: You don't need a degree to make it in life. Doing a crap degree doesn't mean you won't get a good job but you would probably have progressed just as well without the crap degree (and the debt)!! My cousin is pretty thick and got into Huddersfield without 3 Alevels (he got rejected from Lincoln ffs).
Someone I know was the thickest person I knew at school. He opened a 2nd hand cooker shop and now has more money than anyone I know.

The subject of the PhD is very important too. Someone I know of (only the name and the PhD) did a PhD in dance and then wonders why she didn't get a good job afterwards.
 
Err I saved up, doing various contract jobs in the holidays, and part time work. It's pretty easy to do over the course of 3 years, if you don't waste it. I also had a year in industry. Since my undergrad wasn't from great university, the masters is, and helped me secure a funded phd at 15k.
 
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