Work while studying ??

Do you have the correct visas/paperwork to work in the UK?


I personally didn't work because I was fine just working through the holidays (I count as a low income family so my loan was pretty hefty) it is totally doable. The university does recommend you do no more than 16 hours a week though, which probably won't be enough to completely support yourself unfortunately. I know plenty of people who worked weekends or evenings in restaurants etc and managed the balance fine. I just don't think you'd have enough time to earn enough to cover rent, food,transport and socialising!

Thanks for your answer.

Sorry, I forgot to mention that I am from an EU member state, so I will not need a work permit.
Regarding loans, I will only be eligible to receive a tuition fee loan, so for the rest, I'll have to work I guess. I will though come to England with, say, £3000, but that's about it.
I may be able to avoid transport cost as I will probably stay in halls which are close to the university, and also socialising, because, after all, I go to university to learn and not to socialise.
And maybe if I will have good grades I will receive a bursary or something.
Anyway, I really hope I'll manage to survive with money obtained from work, because I have no other choice

Unfortunately, you're going to struggle. As tillytots says, the uni recommends that you work no more than 16 hours a week during term time. You'll need at least £7000 a year to live off, and as a student you can only realistically expect to earn £6.19 per hour (minimum wage).

If you were to only work during the 32 weeks of term time, then you would have to work 35 hours a week, which simply isn't compatible with studying - that's a full time job.

If you were to use the £3000 during first year, and then work full time (40 hours per week) during the subsequent 12 week summer holidays, you'd have to work 20 hours a week during term time, which is still going to have a severe impact on your ability to study.

These are the details of the bursaries available - there's nothing towards living costs for EU students http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/studentfinance/home-eu-2013/university-scholarships-and-bursaries/

These are the scholarships, and there's nothing available for biology students http://www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/studentfinance/home-eu-2013/university-scholarships-and-bursaries/subject-awards/

Is there really no one at home who can contribute? This isn't a situation that I'd like to find myself in

It's doable, depending how much you value your studying and how many contact hours you have in your course. In theory you could work loads during the first two terms of the year and then buckle down to study in term 3 so you pass your exams for the year - if that's how the Biology course at Manchester is assessed. Look at the assessment methods/periods for your course, you obviously can't work much during those periods but you'll be able to work more during general term time.

I do a humanities subject and work a lot. The only times I don't work much is around exams really, my timetable allows for that.

Of course I will value my studies allot, that is why I am very disturbed that I can't afford to do my studies without working and dedicate my entire time to study.
I know someone who says that he manages to work 20 hours per week and still have time to learn, but he is a student at a less demanding university (Northumbria University), but I guess you just can't compare Northumbria with University of Manchester ...

Why do you assume Manchester will be a 'more demanding' university? The demands of a course depend on a number of factors, not just how well respected it is. I go to Warwick, and because my course has few contact hours (and even if you don't turn up to most of those it's not a big deal) it could be defined as 'less demanding'.

Well the a biology degree it is in itself demanding, being a science degree. And I think that the more prestigious and pretentious the university is, the more expectations it has from its students ...

Yes, a science degree will be more 'demanding' in that you have more compulsory hours in labs etc that humanities students don't have, you're right.

But it's not always the case that the more prestigious a university, the more 'demanding' it will be. I depends on the department, the tutors, some at less 'prestigious' universities will demand more than tutors who are far more laid back at a higher ranked uni.