MPhilStud Loan

Hello,

I am in receipt of offers for the Philosophy MPhilStuds at UCL and KCL. These are fairly unique courses, which are essentially the first two years of a PhD and lead on to a two year PhD afterwards. My question is regarding which student loan I would be entitled to? The from the second year onwards, I am eligible to apply for a AHRC studentship, and this would be my first master's course, which would lead me to believe I should apply for a master's loan for the first year, and then a PhD loan for the 3 or 4 subsequent years of the PhD.

Thanks - I

Hi there,
In order to determine your eligibility, please confirm:

1. Which university and course you are looking to start your studies with? The exact course name please.
2. How old you are.
3. Your nationality, current status and time spent within the UK.
4. Any previous study and qualifications you may hold.


Thanks, Isaac

1. Which university and course you are looking to start your studies with? The exact course name please.
Philosophy Research Masters in Philosophical Studies, MphilStud at King's College London
2. How old you are.
24
3. Your nationality, current status and time spent within the UK.
British by birth
4. Any previous study and qualifications you may hold.
Bachelor's degree (graduated 2020)

The course "Philosophical Studies in Philosophy" is a postgraduate masters course on the database and you can apply for a postgraduate loan http://ow.ly/Ny1s30oSf1Y for this.
Thanks, Isaac

OK thanks very much, do you know if it would be eligible for the Doctoral loan from the second year onwards, if I don't get AHRC funding?

You would have to withdraw from the postgraduate course as you can't be receiving a postgraduate loan to apply for doctoral funding.

Can you confirm the name for the doctoral course so I can check if it's on the database.

Our guidance states:
Students who are in receipt of any of the following will not be eligible to receive a PGDoctoral loan:

Research Council (RC) studentships, stipends, scholarships and tuition fee support
Social work bursary
Educational Psychology Bursary and their course starts on or after 1st August 2020
NHS bursary
National Institute for Health Research bursary
Postgraduate Loan for Masters course
Undergraduate HE funding (except PG DSA)



Students must be undertaking a full level 8 doctoral course which must last between 3 and 8 academic years. The course also must have started on or after 1st August 2018.

The course can be any of the following in order to be eligible for funding:

Full time
Part time
Distance learning (see Distance Learning information below)

The following courses will be eligible for support:

Subject specialised doctorates
Integrated subject specialist doctorates
Professional and practice based doctorates

The following courses are ineligible for support:

Doctorate by retrospective publication
Higher Doctorates


https://www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan

Thanks, Isaac

Hi there,

Would you mind just clarifying this: "You would have to withdraw from the postgraduate course as you can't be receiving a postgraduate loan to apply for doctoral funding". I can't even apply for funding if I'm receiving a master's loan?

The PhD course is the "Philosophy Research PhD". My query is related to the fact that after successfully completing the MPhil course, the PhD only lasts two years, hence it would seem I couldn't apply for a PhD loan then.

Thanks

If you are applying for the postgraduate doctoral course after completing your postgraduate masters then that is fine.

But when you said "do you know if it would be eligible for the Doctoral loan from the second year onwards" It sounded like you were transferring credits over. Your doctoral course needs to be a full course.
Thanks, Isaac

Hi Isaac,

This is what KCL have to say about the course: "Relation between MPhilStud and PhD:

Students who wish to move from the MPhilStud to the PhD programme normally do so at the end of their MPhilStud course. At the point of transition, they will be asked whether the PhD project they propose to work on is a continuation of their MPhilStud thesis project. If it is then they will be registered for a further two years. If the PhD project is not a continuation of the MPhilStud project then the student will be registered for a further three years as a PhD student. However, such a student will be admitted only provisionally to the PhD programme and will have to upgrade to full PhD status after their first year."


As you can see, the MPhilStud leads on to a PhD, potentially for only two years. Does this mean I'm eligible for a master's loan, followed by a doctoral loan, or does the doctoral loan extend across the four or five years of the MPhilStud + PhD?

Thanks

Can you confirm the name of the doctoral course so I can see if it's on the database please.
Thanks, Isaac

Philosophy Research PhD at KCL

That's the course you provided before but it's a research masters, postgraduate masters loan but a postgraduate doctoral course.

Philosophical Studies in Philosophy
Research Masters
2 Years (24 Months)
Course code 773173

Once you have completed this postgraduate masters course you could then study a postgraduate doctoral, if you provide the name of the doctoral course then I can check the database but the course you provided is just a masters course.
Thanks, Isaac

The full course title is "Philosophy Research MPhil/PhD, option of joint PhD with NUS or Humboldt" , the link can be found here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-courses/philosophy-research-mphil-phd

The link to the research master's you have referenced above is here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-courses/philosophy-research-mphilstud - they are two distinct courses.

You'll see on this link that KCL provide three postgraduate courses in philosophy: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/philosophy/postgraduate

The route to a PhD is EITHER:

1 year MA + 3 year MPhil/PhD

OR

2 year MphilStud + 2 year PhD

Thanks