Funding for accomodation during a PHD

At the moment, I have just started a degree in Psychology. I would like to do a masters and then go onto completing a PHD in counselling psychology. I've been researching funding and all that I am able to find is that I'd be entitled to a doctorate loan. It works out to only cover tuition fees. I would like to stay in the city that I would end up studying in rather than having to commute by train. I was wondering if anyone knows if there's any way I could get some kind of extra loan for accomodation similar to the maintenance loan you get when completing your undergrad? I was thinking of getting a job and saving up with the time i have now but it wouldnt be enough to cover the two/three years of rent. It could probably only be enough to commute with which I wanted.

Reply 1

artful_lounger

Universities Forum Helper

Several things:

a) If your goal is to become a professional psychologist, a PhD is not the route you should be aiming to take. You should be aiming to do a DClinPsy/DEdPsy etc as appropriate to the field you want to go into. A PhD prepares you for a career in academic research, not working as a professional psychologist.

b) PhDs are normally funded by research councils or sometimes other funding bodies, this will normally cover the full fees of the PhD plus a yearly tax free stipend which is to support the student's living costs. In a number of fields doing a self-funded PhD (which a doctoral loan would be considered as) is seen with some stigma as the key to an academic career is securing funding for your research, and not getting funding for a PhD is seen as failing the first attempt at doing that. This does vary somewhat and is more prevalent in STEM fields.

c) Usually for full-time PhDs you're expected to be working more or less 9-5 on the PhD. It's a job. It's not like doing an undergrad or even masters degree where you go and do a few hours of lectures, some assignments, and whatever after that. You are being paid to do full time research. Therefore it's usually not possible practically to work during a PhD outside of paid teaching/marking/demonstrating activities within your department. Also I think it's typical for most PhDs to require their PhD candidates to receive approval from the supervisor before seeking external employment, for full time PhDs.

So I think you need to firstly figure out if a PhD is actually the qualification you want/need to get to pursue your goals, and if so you should be looking at funded PhD positions for pre-existing projects or crafting a very strong research proposal and applying for research council funding.

Reply 2

mnot

Universities Forum Helper

Original post by Haider203

You’ve just started an undergraduate degree, at this point you don’t need to be worrying about PhD logistics. You should focus on developing your academic skills, areas of interest, knowledge & a track record of success.

If a PhD is right for you you would be really looking at fully funded stipends, these cover all tuition, budget for travel & a tax-free living stipend. These are competitive & will require strong undergraduate & masters performance as well as relevant research experience (through internships & dissertations).

Find an area you are passionate about & want to work in, then see if a PhD would be valuable.