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Financially struggling MA Social Work Student

beckys1989

Hi, I am a postgraduate student, currently studying a Masters in Social Work.
As I am from Northern Ireland I do not receive the NHS bursary, nor do I receive the placement travel funding.
I am experiencing complete and utter difficulty funding my first year. I have paid the full tuition fees for the year up front so I feel like leaving would be such a waste. Especially as I am loving the course, however at the minute it feels like I have no other option.
I have an appointment with student funds tomorrow, but was wondering if anyone has been in a similar position and what the outcome has been or what resources you have found?
Many Thanks :smile:

Reply 1

username47781

Moved to Student Financial Support :smile:

Reply 2

Klix88

Original post by beckys1989

I am experiencing complete and utter difficulty funding my first year.

To give us a better idea of your circumstances, could you tell us how you were planning to finance your study? Did you have something planned that fell through, or which didn't work out? Has something been a lot more expensive than you'd expected? Understanding your expectations would help us advise.

However I have to say that there are no magic bullets that I know of. I can only speak for the Humanities, but academic funding (e.g. from research councils) at Masters level is rare. I had savings in place before I started my Masters and had a year-long budget worked out in advance. None of the people I studied with had any sort of external funding - they used savings, worked part-time or in one case, took out a Career Development Loan.

I'm not sure whether a CDL would be something to consider? It's a commercial-style bank loan from the Co-Op or Barclays Banks and you can get up to £10,000. However there are some significant downsides. Like other commercial loans, your application will be credit-checked. If you have a poor credit record or the bank thinks that there's a risk that you won't be able to repay, then you can be turned down completely, or offered less than you've applied for. Also, repayments start on a fixed date after you take out the loan - whether you're in a position to pay them or not.

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