Who are the new PhD loans really for?
While ?25,000 sounds like a lot, students will struggle to stretch it over four years of tuition and maintenance costs.’ Photograph: scanrail/Getty Images/iStockphoto
While ?25,000 sounds like a lot, students will struggle to stretch it over four years of tuition and maintenance costs.’ Photograph: scanrail/Getty Images/iStockphoto
W hether a university education represents value for money has been called into question in recent years, as students have seen their financial support chipped away thanks to the tripling of tuition fees, and scrapping of maintenance grants and healthcare bursaries. Doctoral education, however, has so far mostly been left untouched or at least, it had been until the recent launch of doctoral student loans.
Under the scheme, a prospective UK/EU student (starting from ) can apply for up to ?25,000 to spend over a maximum of eight years of study (full-time and part-time). The purpose of the loan is to enable around 3,000 more people per year to study for a doctorate who otherwise could not have done so. It is intended to be a contribution to the cost of the PhD, and is only available to those without research council funding who have not yet studied for a doctorate and who are under 60. It’s the final frontier for loans-funded higher education: a student can now fund their whole university education through government-backed loans.
There are things that prospective students should be aware of. While UK undergraduate completion rates are usually above 90%, PhD rates are around 70% (or worse) and 26%-27% of current students are classified as writing up (outside the funded period) according to Hesa data from and . Continue reading “Who are the new PhD loans really for?”