Doing a PhD with mortgage and baby

[MoonlightDream]

I’ve always felt my academic experience was incomplete but back then I wasn’t sure which field I wanted to specialise in, so I headed off into the world of work straight after my undergrad degree and worked a couple of years like this until I had my DC.

After a year of failed job applications during my maternity leave this past year and unclear career progression, I’ve recently been grappling with the idea of applying for this 4 year MSc/PhD science program which is in a field I’m greatly interested in and will benefit my future career, and bonus it is fully funded plus tax free stipend of £21k.

Now the issue is I have a mortgage, bills, food and DC to pay for on my own (I have just the one DC who’s my entire world at this point, social life is next to non-existent but I’m ok with that for now) although grandparents live nearby and can help, I’ve been told it’s not sensible or realistic to have career aspirations and do a PhD at this point in my life. Concerns are it won’t be sustainable to survive on especially as things get more and more expensive, and it won’t give my DC a good quality of life and stability in their early years, but I felt this PhD could get me a better job and get us out of the one bed flat to somewhere with more space. And I have a small cushion of savings to fall back on if things get dire.

I have a STEM PhD and I have a few questions before I answer.

1. What scientific field?
2. How flexible is the grandparent childcare?
3. Will you need nursery?
4. What's the budget like at the moment?

Dunno how old your child is but the university may have a nursery with preferential places and reduced fees for students (many do), plus you'd probably be eligible for 15 free hours.

Either way, doing a PhD opens up lots of flexible opportunities to earn extra money while you study— demonstrating, marking etc. so you could be taking in a little bit more than the stipend.

Ultimately it depends how much your mortgage and living expenses are, but I assume you've done the sums. Quite a few PhD students are parents, you wouldn't be the only one.

Doing a PhD is basically like a 9 to 5 job, no reason you couldn't do it with a child. There's more flexibility too and depending on the subject you could potentially work from home , flexible hours etc to an extent. Not if you have to be in the lab all the time though. 21k is tax free and no council tax either so it's not too bad, but it would obviously depend how much your living expenses are.

I would question what you plan to do afterwards. Academic careers are very competitive, short term contracts are common, it's not that well paid. A low proportion stay in academia, most leave because they don't progress to a permanent position. You might be better retraining to something more lucrative or with a guaranteed job at the end.

@DinosaurMunch mine ended up more like 8-8.

I came here ready to say no, but 21k tax free must be about £25k, if it will really help your career I'd be tempted, it's hard but make the sacrifices now and you can probably offer your child a lot more in the future, my fears would be cost of childcare, if needed, and rent. If you can manage them plus bills and food I'd probably go for it and save like crazy for the next nine months.

It is very hard to say without knowing what your living costs are.

You will have a tax free income of 21k plus child benefit? I assume you can't get UC while a full time PHD student but do check that for sure. You may be able to do some paid work while a PHD student (supervising labs, seminar discussion groups etc) so mah have some additional income.

What is your mortgage cost, council tax, utility bills, childcare bill?

What are your realistic employment and earning opportunities at the end of the PHD? Are you trying to get into academia or is this qualify you for a role in the private sector? Bear in mind jobs in academia are poorly paid, hard to get and would require you to move, most likely.

People do PhDs with small children. It's hard work of course but so is a full time career job with small kids and you can at least do a fair amount for work from home in the evening after your child goes to bed.

If the PhD is something like qualifying as an Ed Psych, then crack on, there are lots of jobs out there.

However I would also suggest you reflect carefully on why your job hunt has been unsuccessful. Are you sure it is just the lack of a PhD that is holding you back? Are there either skills or areas that you might be able to straighten without committing to a four year PhD?

Currently doing a STEM PhD with two young kids. It does not have to be like a 9-5 job. I make the hours work around my kids, so I will work when they’re in bed a lot of the time. Yes I’m tired, but there is flexibility. I’m doing a computational PhD though. Being tied to a wet lab might prove a little different. I would also ask if you think a PhD will really open doors for you. What are you going to do with it? My partner works in pretty low grade jobs with lots of people with PhDs. They are sometimes more of a hindrance than a help. A MSc might be more cost effective .

My PhD almost broke me mentally. Be very sure of your motives for doing it

The value of a PhD from a career perspective entirely depends on the subject and your chosen field. I work in recruitment and the only time I've ever been interested in candidates educated to PhD level is in academia or some form of research. A PhD in academia in particular is an enormous advantage and sometimes essential but it's much less relevant in much of the commercial world.

If you have the intellect to do a PhD, it can't be beyond you to put together a budget of your current/expected living costs and work out whether you can afford it?
If you are relying on your parents to contribute financially or with childcare, make sure that they agree to this in advance.

Agree with PP about career & salary expectations post PhD - I've worked with many PhDs who are on fairly low salaries and in some cases not really related to the qualification - and had plenty of job applications from people with a PhD qualification where I've not shortlisted because they were overqualified for the role in question.

This - I had an interview where I’ve been asked to explain why my. PhD shouldn’t count against me 😂 You need to be really clear from the start about what the benefit of it is.

I’m not clear from your post whether you’ve already got the place/funding but if not make sure you build in plenty of time for your application, interviews etc as it’s a very competitive process - just this part will take a chunk of time and of course this won’t be paid.

But having said all that there’s no reason not
to do it if you can make the finances work. My university provided meet ups and groups for PhD students with caring responsibilities and there were lots of us 🙂

Thanks everyone, I decided to take the plunge and applied but didn’t realise how competitive it was and was met with rejections. I thought I had a decent shot given my 6 years work experience to back up my 2:1 degree. Might put this thought aside for this year and see what the next round of applications bring.

Try again next year!

You probably need a first these days.