{"id":4002,"date":"2016-05-31T10:06:52","date_gmt":"2016-05-31T10:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/postgraduate\/?p=4002"},"modified":"2016-05-31T10:06:52","modified_gmt":"2016-05-31T10:06:52","slug":"funding-your-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/2016\/05\/31\/funding-your-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"Funding your studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\tWith tuition fees, accommodation, day-to-day living expenses and perhaps relocation costs and conferences or other educational activities, postgraduate study isn\u2019t cheap!\u00a0 Fortunately there are numerous ways to fund your studies and support available to soften the blow.\u00a0 Here I give a brief overview of the options and tips for funding your time at BU.<\/p>\n

Fees for taught postgraduate courses at BU are anything between \u00a35,500 and \u00a311,250, depending on the subject.\u00a0 Some people are eligible for a discount on this; BU graduates are entitled to a 20% reduction.\u00a0 Also, a 5% discount is awarded for paying the full tuition free amount on enrolment.\u00a0 Otherwise, BU offers the option to pay in three instalments across six months, making the cost more manageable.<\/p>\n

Outside of BU itself, there is a range of other possible sources of funding.\u00a0 The UK government offers Professional and Career Development Loans<\/a> of \u00a3300 – \u00a310,000 for those taking postgraduate courses lasting 2 years or fewer (3 years for those including a year of work experience).\u00a0 Additionally, this year the government has launched a Postgraduate Loan<\/a> scheme, which is similar to the undergraduate Student Finance system, although happily with a lower interest rate. These are only available for English and EU students for taught Master\u2019s study.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, in some cases it is possible that an individual or organisation will pay all or some of your fees for you.\u00a0 BU offers a range of scholarships<\/a> for both UK and international students, by which they will award partial or total tuition fees to students who show an exceptional level of excellence in academia, sport or music.\u00a0 If your studies are relevant to your work, it may be that your employer will cover your fees and\/or allow you to study during working hours.\u00a0 Finally, don\u2019t underestimate the potential generosity of friends or family who may be willing to cover the costs for you, either as a gift or a loan.\u00a0 Even if you have to pay them back, you\u2019ll probably fair better than you would if you took a loan from the government and had to pay interest (I like to think friends and relatives would accept a face-value repayment!).<\/p>\n

During your studies, the most obvious way to fund your living costs is full or part-time work.\u00a0 It\u2019s important to balance work, study and leisure time, so make sure your working hours allow for this at the same time as providing you with the income you need.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t already have a job, check out my tips on part-time work<\/a> in and around Bournemouth.\u00a0 Working as a BU Student Ambassador is a particularly good option if you\u2019re looking for ad-hoc work that fits around your studies and other commitments.\u00a0 You can also minimise your living costs by living with family or finding a house-share or student accommodation.<\/p>\n\"Open-Afternoon\"\n

Extra-curricular activities such as attending conferences can be a powerful way to supplement your studies, but often conference registration and travel expenses can make this a very pricey pastime.\u00a0 Fortunately, there are various bursaries available to help find such ventures, both locally and overseas. For instance, BU offers the Santander Mobility Award and Global Horizons Fund.\u00a0 There is a wealth of other schemes available too, and applicable ones will vary depending on your subject area and the nature of the activity you want to fund.\u00a0 Two of the best ways to find out about what might be available are checking information from the governing body for your field, or a good old Google search.<\/p>\n

Finally, there are always ways to save money or supplement your income during your time at university.\u00a0 Why not see if you have any unwanted items to sell online or take to a car boot sale?\u00a0 Use one of your skills outside of your studies to make a bit of money ad-hoc, such as freelance writing or selling artwork or crafts. And spend your pennies wisely, making the most of student discounts and other money-saving tricks<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So how have I funded my own Master\u2019s journey? I consider myself extremely fortunate to have been loaned the tuition fees by my grandparents, which I can\u2019t thank them enough for.\u00a0 On the other hand, I\u2019m confident that had this not been the case I would have been able to make it work either by using a loan or saving hard and paying through BU\u2019s three instalment arrangement.\u00a0 As for living costs, I\u2019m studying part-time, which leaves enough time to work almost full-time in a good job and earn my pennies.\u00a0 This allows me to live quite comfortably; if I were earning less I\u2019d make ends meet by missing a few luxuries such as eating out and buying nice cycling gear!<\/p>\n\"Rancho-slider\"\n

By Lauren Bishop<\/strong>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With tuition fees, accommodation, day-to-day living expenses and perhaps relocation costs and conferences or other educational activities, postgraduate study isn\u2019t cheap!\u00a0 Fortunately there are numerous ways to fund your studies and support available to soften the blow.\u00a0 Here I give a brief overview of the options and tips for funding your time at BU. Fees… Read more » about Funding your studies<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1444,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1658,1663],"tags":[877,130,48,436,1882,295,1996,176,2048,2186,255],"class_list":["post-4002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-archive","category-postgraduate","tag-bournemouth","tag-bournemouth-university","tag-bu","tag-bursaries","tag-fees","tag-funding","tag-lauren-bishop","tag-loans","tag-masters","tag-postgraduate-study","tag-scholarships"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1444"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4002\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/microsites.bournemouth.ac.uk\/student-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}