tuition fees over the age of 60 for a Master's or PhD

is the SLC able to offer tuition fees for people over 60 wanting to study a Master's or PhD please

Hey @Scandistudy

I looked on the student loan company's website and found this for Master's and PhD: "You must be under 60 on the first day of the first academic year of your course."
Here are the links for eligibility:
https://www.gov.uk/masters-loan/eligibility
https://www.gov.uk/doctoral-loan/eligibility

However, I'd definitely recommend looking into university or research council funding/scholarship opportunities. For postgraduate study (especially PhD), most students tend to get funding from the university itself/other research bodies to cover their tuition fees and also get an additional top-up for living expenses; this is known as a doctoral stipend. There are also sometimes similar opportunities available for master's students. You can generally find university funding opportunities under their scholarships pages or by contacting the university itself.

Best of luck with everything!
Natalie
University of Kent Student Rep (2nd year PhD Psychology)

scholarships are meted out on a rationed basis to university consortia such as the Northern Bridge, this is government money for example for the humanities, Northern Bridge, a group of 5 or six universities offer 'up to 63 funded studentships per year to outstanding postgraduate researchers across the full range of Arts and Humanities subjects, including Creative Practice disciplines' funding though has or is going to be reduced by 25% as well as being forced to offer a third overseas. I haven't the exact number of universities that belong to a group offering scholarships but do the Maths, each member of a consortia is only going to get on average 5 scholarships to offer. I have a PhD proposal seen as really worthwhile by academics as it benefits communities, where heads of departments have volunteered enthusiastically to be my supervisor. However I have no funding, I have been trying since 2021. Am I to be written off and the potential benefits of my research left on the shelf because of my age? A first class degree and life and carrer experience count for nothing it seems.

Hi,

I understand your frustration and that PhD funding is extremely competitive. However, it's important to note that Northern Bridge will not be the only partnership fund that will offer studentships. It is worth contacting these institutions that were interested in you and investigating their funding opportunities if they were so keen to take on your research; my PhD scholarship is actually from the university itself and I know of other students at different universities who have received similar opportunities.

Moreover, I am unsure of your specific subject area, but it is worth investigating the research council associated with your subject pathway. For example, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) offers studentships at a range of universities. This studentship covers a variety of subject pathways (Business and Management; Linguistics; Politics and International studies; Psychology; Science; Technology and Sustainability Studies; Social Anthropology; Social Work and Social Policy; Socio-Legal Studies; and Sociology). There are similar research councils which also offer studentships for other subjects, such as the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) which covers Natural Sciences, Computing, Engineering and Mathematics.

Again, if you contact specific universities, they should be able to direct you to their available funding opportunities. Funding is extremely competitive, which I'm aware can be very frustrating, however it is, unfortunately, part of the PhD application process. I'm sure it has nothing to do with your age and that your life/career experience would be looked on favourably, so please do not give up!

Best of luck with everything!
Natalie
University of Kent Student Rep (2nd year PhD Psychology)

scholarships are meted out on a rationed basis to university consortia such as the Northern Bridge, this is government money for example for the humanities, Northern Bridge, a group of 5 or six universities offer 'up to 63 funded studentships per year to outstanding postgraduate researchers across the full range of Arts and Humanities subjects, including Creative Practice disciplines' funding though has or is going to be reduced by 25% as well as being forced to offer a third overseas. I haven't the exact number of universities that belong to a group offering scholarships but do the Maths, each member of a consortia is only going to get on average 5 scholarships to offer. I have a PhD proposal seen as really worthwhile by academics as it benefits communities, where heads of departments have volunteered enthusiastically to be my supervisor. However I have no funding, I have been trying since 2021. Am I to be written off and the potential benefits of my research left on the shelf because of my age? A first class degree and life and carrer experience count for nothing it seems.

Thank you for your lovely response, however the funding system is ageist in as much the loan has a cut off age.
My PhD proposal is one based on the health and mental well being of ethnic minorities in relation to cultural perceptions of walking, and an extension of this would be to mitigate organisations which try to encourage the activity. My target audience being refugees those settled) and asylum seekers. Soi if there are any universities out there who can respond I would be most interested.

You only mention Research Council funding, there are very many other options. Universities have their own funding and scholarships. It sounds like you research will have real life applications, so have you looked into whether there are charities, minority support groups etc that might be able to sponsor some or all of your costs?

I am not employed, that is the point, over the age of 60

is the SLC able to offer tuition fees for people over 60 wanting to study a Master's or PhD please

Doing a high level bit of research is great, but very rarely leads to significant changes, particularly if the research does not already have buy in from a research council. Even if you do get funding, the best outcome is often just being published in a high impact journal, with your research often just being a footnote for the next researcher. So what im saying if you have a good, meaningful idea that you think can make a difference, doing a PhD is not always the best avenue.

How you considered volunteering/liaising with any specific organisations/charities in your specific area, and seeing if you could help them get some research our via them or ask them for support? While this can sound fanciful, i did manage to work on some really good research via coldcalling a charity, as they had their own research hub also. A lot of big charities do have this, as they do research alongside or sometimes completely independently of universities, and they have the buy in and clout to make real changes also, particularly if they are already working with the population they are researching.

Dont give up just because you think all the doors are closed, you only need to open another one.

Greg

Research Council funding doesn't (or at least didn't last time I looked) have any age limits. I was funded by the AHRC and the only thing they checked was nationality and residency. It is still incredibly competitive in most fields, though.

Hello,

Here at York we have lots of scholarships and bursaries that could help: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/finance/bursaries-scholarships/

It might be worth contacting PG admissions too as they usually give good advice: https://www.york.ac.uk/students/finance/bursaries-scholarships/

Hi Tony thank you for your encouraging email, it would be better for the work to be financed as we are already (my wife and I) helping refugees and asylum seekers in the north (we live in the south) with essentials which we finance ourselves, a state pension doesn't go far!. The people who have come to the UK would be my target audience as we know them but they are also in need of help. Best wishes David

My pleasure David, i love what you are already doing and what your big ideas are. Research aside, i can see you are already making a meaningful impact on people's lives.

AHRC very competitive and reducing by 25% and a short number of scholarships available national something in the region of 45 (it was in the region of 60ish last year), government awarded funding which is reducing all the time.

Yeah, it is difficult. There were 3 across the wholse University when I was applying, hardly encouraging.

However, yours sounds like something the research councils would in principle like to be involved with - it is making real-time, real-world change, in a current and controversial (well, to some people, looking at you, Suella) area - it has to be worth a wee look?