The Student Room Group

How can people afford a Masters and live away?

Unless you can attend an appropriate masters at a local university, or you’re fortunate enough to have parents fund you, how can you afford to do it?

It seems impossible to me. The tuition fee loans for Masters are fantastic don’t get me wrong, but how can you afford to live while studying?
People work and get government funding. Lots of masters aren't that hands on in terms of time, so it's more than possible to work part time at the least. Similarly people take time off between their degree & masters to work and build up savings.
Reply 2
Personal savings or parents willing to help.

Universities also offer bursaries to certain students of a specific course or financial situation. It's quite a healthy sum too and that usually covers most if not all of the tuition fees.
I would agree with the others. I think I'm lucky in that my university offers discounted course fees to student alumni's, and with rent being relatively cheap in my are around uni, for the first time ever my loans have been able to cover both tuition and rent (which is crazy to think about).

I also work part time to cover my food costs, and to generally live off of, but I know parents are able to help out if times get tough. It's difficult, and I think most people go and work somewhere, save money, and then come back, but there are some possibilities if you're willing to work at the same time as studying.
Original post by Waldorf67
Unless you can attend an appropriate masters at a local university, or you’re fortunate enough to have parents fund you, how can you afford to do it?

It seems impossible to me. The tuition fee loans for Masters are fantastic don’t get me wrong, but how can you afford to live while studying?


I am in a similar situation where I'm thinking about commuting to a different university to do a masters. So my loan for it will pay for the course, my commuting and that's pretty much it. I've worked out that to afford to live I'll have to work 3 days a week so I've applied for a part time masters course so I can afford to do that.
My son has been lucky. When he was applying to do his undergraduate course at Uni, the department head strongly advised him to choose the 4 year Integrated Masters course as he would be funded by Student Finance for the lot from the start. It’s a shame more Uni’s don’t offer a more comprehensive choice of Integrated Masters courses.
People take responsibility and work for a bit. Simple.
In my case I was fortunate enough to receive a generous scholarship from my undergraduate studies that covered both tuition and living costs. By living with my parents and extreme tight budgeting I was able to use the living cost portion to fund my research master's studies overseas for 2 years. On the side I have a freelance job that could also help pay off the maintenance.
I used savings to cover fees and living costs (I'd been working for four years beforehand) and also got a job as an RA in a halls of residence, which meant I had free accommodation and food and could live within walking distance of uni. That made it a lot more affordable! Otherwise I'd have probably done the course part-time.
Reply 9
Original post by UWS
Personal savings or parents willing to help.

Universities also offer bursaries to certain students of a specific course or financial situation. It's quite a healthy sum too and that usually covers most if not all of the tuition fees.


Not everyone has the fortune of savings or parents who can help!
Reply 10
Original post by PlayWithMarkers
People work and get government funding. Lots of masters aren't that hands on in terms of time, so it's more than possible to work part time at the least. Similarly people take time off between their degree & masters to work and build up savings.


I could work and fund myself if I commuted to a local university, but that’s impossible if you want to attend a university further away.

Even if I took a part time masters and worked part time alongside it I wouldn’t be able to get by.

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