The Official Funding questions/moans/possible joy Thread

Curious about this - did Durham not live up to your expectations?

I actually did my UG at Durham and honestly I love the city and my department! What did you not like about it? Refreshing my inbox every 5 mins for NWC right now

There's some hope of an Oxford trickle-through till June (and possibly beyond?) I'm not sure about all of the London unis, but those in the LAHP consortium are releasing their outcomes now.

Ah ok cheers. Just wondered as if they’d released their funding offers then I thought perhaps my chances of getting off the NB reserve list might go up a bit, but if it’s not until June and beyond it looks like I could be waiting a loooong time

I think those that were offered NB have two weeks to accept, so I'd imagine we'd hear then rather than long after, but I'm new to this, and so far, it seems like a highly unpredictable process.

They have 2 weeks - but I imagine some people may accept the offer while waiting to hear from others, then perhaps rejecting it in favour of another. Not sure of the ts&cs of the offer. I’m hoping it’s closer to 2 weeks too but honestly I think it could end up being anytime before the studentship commences in August time. Super unpredictable I agree, this is my first time round too. The running theme seems to be waiting. My supervisor basically said sit tight it’s not over until it’s over. Easier said than done

Jeez, mine too. It is difficult not to give up hope. Best of luck!

Just got rejected for SWW DTP, sadly. Hope others have better news!
Can anyone confirm that the OOC DTP awards for Cambridge have already been announced? That was my last hope of an AHRC studentship, the website said results would be posted today but posts here have suggested successful applicants from all three unis had already been notified. Can't take much more waiting at this point
Good luck to everyone still waiting x

AFAIK, the OOC DTP award-winners are notified directly by the OOC DTP (rather than by individual universities) and the first round of offer emails went out on the 31st of March. Offer holders had ten working days to accept or reject, though this was impacted by the Easter Bank Holidays around that time.

However, because this was relatively early, many people may have accepted provisionally while waiting for other offers to come through as well. For instance, I accepted my offer from OOC DTP provisionally while waiting to see if I would be successful in getting an offer from another place where I had applied. In the meantime, I got my official research degree registration paperwork and had fourteen working days to return that, which would have taken me up to the 7th of May. The other offer did come in (yes, I know, but this is after four years of trying to get funding and being rejected!!!) and having looked at both of them, I then rejected the second offer and sent in my registration paperwork - which means a person who is on the reserve list at the other uni will be getting an email in the next day or so to say that they're being offered the funding.

BUT: having sent in my paperwork, I still have fourteen working days, in theory, to change my mind and withdraw from the uni place and funding. That means people from the OOC DTP reserve lists could still hear something right up until the end of May! If you haven't heard anything at all, the best bet is to email the OOC DTP directly and ask if you've been put on the reserve list - I've seen other people say that they've emailed about this, and the DTP is happy to share this information.

This is very helpful, thank you! And congratulations on your scholarship

I received an offer from the SWW-DTP a few hours ago. Good stuff!

I received an offer from the SWW-DTP a few hours ago. Good stuff!

Has anyone here looked into self-funding for the first year and reapplying to AHRC next year?

I’m wondering if taking out a post-grad doctoral this year will mean that I’m ineligible for funding next year, as I know that you can’t apply for the loan if you already have a studentship. Any thoughts?

You're completely OK to do this, and I know people that have done it successfully in the past. My uni recommended it to me as an option for if I didn't get my studentship, in fact - though they said most people register as part-time for the first year when doing this and then move to full-time when they get the funding. Your PG loan would be paid to you in three installments each year that you're a PhD student, so what happens is that if/when you do get your AHRC funding, you let the Student Loans Company know and they cancel the rest of the loan. From that point on you're covered by the AHRC funding. It means that you will get less AHRC funding overall, because they won't backdate payment of fees or maintenance to cover the period of study that you've already undertaken, but you get full funding from that point on, unaffected by the loan.

Has anyone here looked into self-funding for the first year and reapplying to AHRC next year?

I’m wondering if taking out a post-grad doctoral this year will mean that I’m ineligible for funding next year, as I know that you can’t apply for the loan if you already have a studentship. Any thoughts?