The Official Funding questions/moans/possible joy Thread

skidmoreskidmore

Im lucky enough to have been nominated for AHRC funding (fees +maintenance) but the fees at the university I have applied to (£4,525) far exceed those provided for by the fee grant of the AHRC ( £3,390)

I was wondering whether anyone knew whether a Univeristy waivers the remainer of this fee or whether it is up to the student to pay the discrepancy... obviously it being summer and all it would be good for me to know this and prepare for any such financial hit....

Cheers all...

It probably depends on the university - I've been nominated for AHRC funding at UCL and have been told that I don't have to pay the extra. So it's worth checking.

Reply 321

seska

I would just like to say how much I *hate* this waiting till 6th August to hear back from the AHRC. My chances aren't good (the open competition is so competitive) so I mostly just want to be put out of my misery...! :s-smilie:

Reply 322

0404343m

17

seska

I would just like to say how much I *hate* this waiting till 6th August to hear back from the AHRC. My chances aren't good (the open competition is so competitive) so I mostly just want to be put out of my misery...! :s-smilie:

Is that how late the open competition is? Christ, they should really do something about that- waiting until six weeks or so before you need to move/start isn't exactly helpful. It might be because the AHRC are waiting to see how many of their BGP places they're paying out on (nominees had to be confirmed by yesterday) before they work out how many open competition places they have. But yes, considering there's about 500 PhD funded AHRC places across the entire spectrum of subjects in the entire UK, the success rate is bloody tiny- especially since there are more arts graduates than anything else. I often return to the anecdote of a friend of mine with a mid 2:1 from Glasgow University in biomedical sciences who had funding thrown at him from five universities if he wanted to do a PhD, including Glasgow, Edinburgh and Warwick. To put it bluntly, it's rare that 'just' a first is enough for the AHRC these days.

It might be worth looking around for other small grants and the like- I know someone at Oxford with me who is funded on the back of four small grants from 1-5k, which is paying fees and a stipend that at least covers his rent and bills- so his bank loan is only covering a couple of hundred a month in expenses.

Reply 323

apotoftea

OP

19

0404343m

Is that how late the open competition is? Christ, they should really do something about that- waiting until six weeks or so before you need to move/start isn't exactly helpful. It might be because the AHRC are waiting to see how many of their BGP places they're paying out on (nominees had to be confirmed by yesterday) before they work out how many open competition places they have.

Open competition funding numbers have been confirmed for ages - I've got the pdf somewhere - as they're a completely separate entity to that of BGP funding amounts.

Didn't AHRC always used to be that late anyway? Just for the last two years it's been nominations in by June with a 99% confirmation that you've got it.

Reply 324

fbbp

Yes, before BGP people routinely didn't know whether of not they had funding until late August.

Reply 325

0404343m

17

Ah, before this year I had more exposure to the ESRC system, which has been using an allocation of quotas to universities for several years before the AHRC, I assumed because it predated the AHRC's BGP then it would have had similar deadlines. Well, even still- I think not knowing if you've got funding until August is a bloody stupid idea. Oxford took that long to decide on AHRC this year in history that several people that they would have offered funding to ended up having/choosing to take funding elsewhere. I pulled out before that decision was made, so I'll never know- but at least one is going to Exeter, one to Trinity College Dublin, one to Cornell and I'm going to Glasgow after turning down St Andrews and Bristol, purely because they all had made offers of AHRC/ESRC/University studentships with deadlines for acceptance well before Oxford got around to it. Seems silly to think that Oxford actually misses out on students that it wanted to fund because of its lack of urgency, but that is the way it is this year- most of us just cannot afford to hang on that late and wait and see, especially if 3-5 years of your life is riding on it.

Reply 326

seska

0404343m

Ah, before this year I had more exposure to the ESRC system, which has been using an allocation of quotas to universities for several years before the AHRC, I assumed because it predated the AHRC's BGP then it would have had similar deadlines.

I believe the open competition for the ESRC has similar deadlines. Friend of mine who got an ESRC studentship last year heard in August. And you can only be in the '99% sure of funding by June' category if you've got a quota place. My first choice (i.e. pretty much definite) university has none of those at the moment, alas. But I agree - it's far too late. I'm having to arrange for moving etc regardless, even if I only end up doing the PhD part-time.

I do have other possible sources of funding (this being the only reason I can be sure I'm starting in September), but I do need to look into small grants. It's tricky to know which are worth applying to, though, and which are unlikely to lead to anything.

Reply 327

Sjd73

Morning all,

Quick query: Once you're nominated by a faculty for AHRC funding, am I right in thinking that the AHRC usually just approve the faculty's selection? ie, can I sleep easy at night?!

Cheers!

Reply 328

apotoftea

OP

19

Sjd73

Morning all,

Quick query: Once you're nominated by a faculty for AHRC funding, am I right in thinking that the AHRC usually just approve the faculty's selection? ie, can I sleep easy at night?!

Cheers!

The AHRC would have to have a damn good reason to say no I believe. Congrats :biggrin:

Reply 329

Sjd73

That is a relief. Thanks very much!

Reply 330

0404343m

17

Sjd73

That is a relief. Thanks very much!

As long as you (or your department) have filled in the Je-S form on time then you'll be fine. Check the last section of this link, under 'What happens next?' http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Documents/CompletingBGPJe-SNomForms.pdf

Basically, unless they find you're ineligible, they trust the judgement of the nominating institution.

Reply 331

gene-ius

6

anotherarunan

Anyone who applied/will apply for the CDL - get in touch with your experiences please!

I applied for Barclays CDL at the start of this academic year (Sept 2009) and it was the biggest hassle I've had in a long time.

They kept buggering up the paperwork, losing things I'd sent in, and failing to tell me what else they needed from me, thereby slowing down the process.
In the end it took months and one day I called up asking if they'd received my last send-ins to which they responded "It has been too long since you first applied so your application has expired. You'll have to start again".
Needless to say, they annoyed me a lot!

Johnni

I work part time (25 hrs) and afraid that because of this the living expenses part of the loan will not be that large as they might think i don't need that much money.

I am pretty sure that they always give you the maximum amount you ask for (unless of course they don't think you can repay it), as they make a lot of money out of you from it, so they are happy to give you the full amount.

Reply 332

The Last Meatbag

Right, I'm quite bad at these sort of things.

I've been accepted into an MA course at Uni. Reading, which in all probability, I'll end up taking.

I'm a bit taken confused, however, by the thought that there won't be student funding - the course price, is no problem, ( 4,200 for the course plus applying for postgrad halls ) but am I right in thinking, there are no "student loans" per se to take out?

Anyone going / went thru this?

Sorry if this is old hat (probably is!), but I'm just a little frazzled by everything administrative-wise, and something I had handled about 3 years ago! :rolleyes:

Reply 333

Little Jules

12

The Last Meatbag

Right, I'm quite bad at these sort of things.

I've been accepted into an MA course at Uni. Reading, which in all probability, I'll end up taking.

I'm a bit taken confused, however, by the thought that there won't be student funding - the course price, is no problem, ( 4,200 for the course plus applying for postgrad halls ) but am I right in thinking, there are no "student loans" per se to take out?

Anyone going / went thru this?

Sorry if this is old hat (probably is!), but I'm just a little frazzled by everything administrative-wise, and something I had handled about 3 years ago! :rolleyes:

Nope, there is no government student loan as such. Some banks, I think, offer some kind of career development loan, but I don't know much about that.

Reply 334

The Last Meatbag

Little Jules

Nope, there is no government student loan as such. Some banks, I think, offer some kind of career development loan, but I don't know much about that.

Righto. Thank you for clearing it up! :smile:

Reply 335

Sjd73

0404343m

As long as you (or your department) have filled in the Je-S form on time then you'll be fine. Check the last section of this link, under 'What happens next?' http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Documents/CompletingBGPJe-SNomForms.pdf

Basically, unless they find you're ineligible, they trust the judgement of the nominating institution.

Terrific. Thanks very much!

Reply 336

Norbeone

Hi

I think I just got confirmation of AHRC funding. I received a letter from someone at the AHRC - which was sent to my BGP co-ordinator at York uni (my email address is on the CC line) saying the following: (I'm censoring certain details)

"Dear Ms (Blank),

Thank you for submitting a Block Grant Partnership Studentship nomination for Mr (Blank) (BGP reference: AH/(Blank)).
I am pleased to inform you that this nomination has been authorised."

Has anyone else received a similar email? I just find it a bit strange since I didn't think any confirmation was supposed to come until late august or so. Anyway, I'm pretty sure this means my funding is 100% so yay!

Reply 337

0404343m

17

Norbeone

Hi

I think I just got confirmation of AHRC funding. I received a letter from someone at the AHRC - which was sent to my BGP co-ordinator at York uni (my email address is on the CC line) saying the following: (I'm censoring certain details)

"Dear Ms (Blank),

Thank you for submitting a Block Grant Partnership Studentship nomination for Mr (Blank) (BGP reference: AH/(Blank)).
I am pleased to inform you that this nomination has been authorised."

Has anyone else received a similar email? I just find it a bit strange since I didn't think any confirmation was supposed to come until late august or so. Anyway, I'm pretty sure this means my funding is 100% so yay!

Mines arrived last week. I think they give themselves until late-August to get through all of them, but you can hear pretty much any time between the deadline for nominations (29th June) and then. It should have been copied to both you and the AHRC administrator at York though- so it's just a case of the university receiving the AHRC's first installment and passing it onto you, so they should start looking for your bank details any time from now.

EDIT: That's for PhD AHRC things anyway- I've no idea if the Research Preparation Masters scheme is different, but the timetable across AHRC for PhD is the same: They say the university should release payment to you by early October and the AHRC will send them the money the week before that. This means that your course might start and you might be due to pay installments on rent etc BEFORE your first installment from the AHRC arrives in your account, so it might help to have contingency money.

Thanks, 0404343m

I applied to do an MA at UEL starting this september but it was a really late decision and a really late application. I seem to have missed any deadline for funing that may have been going so I am considering a Proffessional and Career development loan. Has anyone else used them/ even considered one?? :eek3:

Good look to everyone else that isstarting in September too!!

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