Financing Master's degree and working full time

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I've been offered a place on a Master's Degree for September. It will be self funded, my fee is £7400 approx and the maximum entitlement for a Postgraduate loan is approx £11800. My course would be part-time over 2 years.

That means around £4400 stipend over 2 years, or approx £183 to support living costs. As I've understood, there isn't such thing as a maintenance loan for Masters, one lump sum designed to cover both tuition fees and living costs, and my Masters is on the cheaper side so I've no idea how others go on.

Anyway it seems that a minimum of 17 hours a week is expected for part-time Master's self-study. I'd be able to drop my hours slightly thanks to the extra £180 odd per month, but not by much, probably around 5 per week. I'd still be looking at around 33 hours a week.

I'm a bit concerned about whether I'd be able to manage this plus a part-time Master's. I'm sure some people do manage it, but would be interested to hear from people who've done or are doing this and how you've found it?

My Degree will be 100% online too

My dd did similar, except hers was a full time online masters over 1 year. She worked between 25-30 hours per week during term time and did her studies on her day off or in the evenings. I have no idea how many hours of studying she did. She found it hard going at first as had a year out after doing her first degree. And about half way through she said she wished she had done it over 2 years, but she persevered and completed it. It probably helped that it was during lockdown so didn't have much of a social life. While she is not a natural academic, she is highly organised with a lot of self discipline and that must have helped. She graduated with a great mark and is now using that qualification.

If you were embarking on a full time course there’s a chance you might struggle - but with a part time course you honestly shouldn’t find things impossible.

By the way - there is a dedicated Mature Study and Retraining board, here:

www.mumsnet.com/talk/mature_students

where countless people are considering exactly these questions. Might be helpful - even if you’re too young to consider yourself mature!

I did a part-time MSc alongside a full-time job but it was funded and supported by work, so I was released for one day a week to attend classes during the academic year. I doubt I hit anywhere near 17 hours a week study, although near deadline times I did take leave or spend weekends working solid to get work done. If your work are flexible and would let you drop to 4 days a week you could spend that 5th day working on uni work. Between that and weekends I reckon it's totally doable but would also depends on other commitments (any childcare/other caring responsibilites?)

I think it depends on lots of factors. How tired you are after your job, what the masters is, additional responsibilities like kids or an active social life etc.

I'm doing an MBA through OU. I'm on maternity leave so doing two modules at the same time. Most people on the course work full time and are doing one module at a time. The tutors recommended one module at a time if working full time. Personally as I have a very supportive partner I can manage the two modules but I certainly couldn't if I was also working.

If you are doing it through a bricks and mortar uni then it depends on the course and your job. I have friends who did English lit/ history of art masters and they had limited contact time so worked alongside that in a job like retail or hospitality that they could leave when they walked out the door and had some flexibility around peak times. Another friend who did a drama masters did pick up some shifts in a bar but they needed to be in uni full time so very limited employment opportunities.

Thanks everyone! It's a Masters in Education and I'm currently a supply teacher and healthcare assistant.

You can manage whatever you want to manage. If you're passionate about your job and your studies it will work.

I self-funded a GDL whilst working full-time in a demanding position. It was a time in my life when I was just go go go. No kids, no serious relationship, and the money was going to be wasted if not spent there, so I spent it there. I found it fine because I enjoyed the subjects, I did well in the exams. It was the job I found unbearable but not because of the studies, just because of the job. So I ended up quitting and moving to a cheaper part of the country and could no longer afford my studies but I didn't mind as the money would not have gone anywhere more meaningful anyway.

There's no reason you can't do this if you want to.

I've done exactly as you have described. Evenings and weekends are when you will need to study. Some weeks are easy 4 to 5 hours, others are much more. You work at your own pace so can get ahead on easier weeks. I took the full loan. You start paying it back after you finish.

I did a full time MSc while working a minimum of 20 hours a week. The degree wasn't online so the 3 days I went into uni had a 3 hours round-trip commute. I think what you are planning is easily doable provided you are motivated.

Do you have young/ dependant children or the main caring responsibility for a parent/ sibling/ disabled partner or similar?

If no caring responsibilities it's very possible though full on - I did a masters in two years while working full time (50 hours in the office on average but no expectation to take work home and occasionally I could do bits of masters study at work as long asI was careful not to take advantage or let ot impact my paid work). Mine was a taught masters in person (6 hours of evening lectures, supposedly 14 hours of private study per week but obviously this varied depending upon deadlines etc. and was sometimes a lot less, sometimes more - I got a distinction).

I had no children when I did that (and was in my early 20s with apparently a lot less need for sleep as I also found the time for a very busy work and non work social life and to meet my now DH 🤣)

I career changed and did a different vocational degree in my early 40s with three primary aged children and working only 20 hours and it honestly nearly killed me. I have a DH who was working in the office full time (working from home wasn't allowed for anyone in his company for specific reasons then - finished before covid, when miraculously the reasons were overcome...) but no other family support and juggling was extremely challenging. The degree did make a comfortable balance an almost impossible juggling act. I couldn't have worked full time and studied without a stay at home/ flexible part time partner for the children, or a proper reliable nanny (which wasn't in our price range).

I did a self-funded PT Masters

Mine was taught not online, and the university was a dedicated evening university - so full time work during the day - 2 evenings at Uni per week for 2 years.

Just got on with it really and managed.

I did a FT MA while working FT. Luckily I was in the type of job that allowed me to fit in Uni work during my work hours (unofficially) otherwise I would have had problems I think.