Funding for non-integrated masters - plant biology specifically

[FusionChefGeoff]

My Goddaughter is at Norwich currently and, as far as I understand it, if she stayed on for an integrated masters would be able to access further student loans for fees and maintenance.

However, she has her heart set on a specialist masters at Kew Gardens in plant biology which it looks like she would have to completely fund herself - including fees and obviously very high living or commuting costs for London. She could look for work alongside her studies of course but it’s still going to be a huge amount to find.

She is doing her own research into funding but I thought I’d ask on here to see if I can help her with it. Her mum didn’t go to Uni and she is the eldest so first experience. She is very bright and highly motivated - but as a family there’s no way they could afford this which seems very unfair if there really aren’t any other routes to funding.

Does anyone know of any bursaries or grants perhaps in this field she could apply for?
Are there any organisations who help with London accommodation for students that aren’t actually at a Uni?
Does the ‘non-integrated’ thing really block further loans for Masters study??
Any other ideas?

Thanks so much

There is a loan for postgraduate studies. I think it is about £12000 currently, but if that even covers the cost of the masters, she'd still need living costs. Plus you have to pay it back concurrently with the other loan.

It's a bit of a shame they won't allow you to add on to your undergrad loan of you do a masters in a STEM subject - which are often needed. And often are more specialist than doing an integrated masters.

As the previous poster said, there’s a masters loan of £12k. It won’t cover the full fees or any maintenance though. I think it’s only offered FT as well. She could take a year out after her BSc to work and save?

A gap year is a good idea - I’ll suggest that as well as making sure they already know about the post grad loan

From a quick glance at the course, she’ll be short about 4k for the fees and then needs living costs plus money for quite an expensive field trip! A gap year is probably the best option here, although check the Turn2Us grants search as well

DD worked for a year to save enough for her fees. We pay her accommodation and all other costs, to avoid taking out the matters loan. It seems very unfair, but there is negligible funding available for masters degrees.

Government Postgraduate Loan:

https://www.gov.uk/masters-loan

There are a few exceptions, but this is the obvious place to look first. Eligibility has nothing at all to do with the postgraduate degree being ‘integrated’ - I qualified for one decades after my first degree, studying a completely unrelated subject at an entirely different institution.

An integrated masters is eligible for a 4th year of undergraduate funding, so both tuition fees and a maintenance loan.

A stand alone masters falls under a different regime with a single loan. It gets repaid alongside undergrad loans, so at 15% above the earnings threshold.

DD2 did a London-based STEM Masters in 2022 @FusionChefGeoff. The masters loan covered tuition and we helped with living expenses. She also worked for about 4 months between finishing BSc and starting MSc.

Her Masters was a course and institution which is renowned for her particular field of study. I don’t know but I suspect that a qualification from Kew in plant biology would hold the same level of kudos. DD would say it was well worth the extra costs - her Masters is viewed as being at the top of the tree and a higher level than if she had opted to stay on a year at her first university. It has afforded her options for further study as well as job offers.

DD did an integrated STEM Master's degree (graduated three years ago). Her original research project involved travelling overseas but this was scuppered by Covid so her uni department came up with a UK based alternative under the guidance of a PhD student at Kew. As a result, DD spent a portion of her fourth year in the labs at Kew. Obviously this is not the same as a standalone Kew Master's degree but it might be worth your goddaughter checking whether her current uni has any ties with Kew.

FWIW, DD's experience at Kew was a great addition to her CV and was looked upon favourably when she applied for her first job as a biologist after graduation.

@thing47and @ofteninaspinthey are both fascinating perspectives thank you so much! And @AelinAGill make sure she’s looked at the Turn2Us options

The Kew degree is in part delivered by Queen Mary University of London. This may be helpful?
https://www.qmul.ac.uk/scholarships/items/masters-scholarships-1.html

I took out PG loan for my MA (didn’t have an UG loan so it was the first loan) but immediately started PhD and got a student loan for that… which I found hard to fathom as I am in my fifties so will never repay either of them. So, there is definitely funding for further/PG education.

Why do you find it ‘hard to fathom’ @CautiousLurker01? Intellectual stimulation, social interaction and general challenge and activity are desperately needed as we mature though middle age into old age. Even setting aside whatever your research and work offers for the public good, the activities you’ve been engaged in will have fortified your brain for the rest of your life. Pretty cheap compared to care home fees …

Pensioners still have to repay their loans you know…. Obvs if your pension is tiny you’ll be under the threshold, but a work pension giving you only £12k a year will still put you above the repayment threshold.

Won’t have any pensions other than state pension as been a SAHM of SEN children and a carer for the last 20 years. I am also unlikely to get much more than a PT job at my age, either, and certainly not one that takes me over the repayment threshold in the intervening period between completing and reaching statutory retirement age. So, no, I will most certainly not be paying much/any of it back.

https://www.gov.uk/repaying-your-student-loan/when-you-start-repaying

Thank you - that was my reasons for doing the degrees in the first place, I just found it hard to understand that the govt would underwrite it with little prospect of my ever repaying it. I’d assumed there would be a max age limit of 45 or something but, apparently not. My loans are plan 4, so they are in fact written off at 65. Just went and checked that…

Sorry @FusionChefGeoff for that total derail… but rest assured your goddaughter will be able to access funding for a PG degree or two should she wish to go down that route. Several of my friend’s children are doing PhDs and have grad loans too - though when you get to that stage in STEM there are often bursaries and funded research places.

It might be worth her researching organisations that offer placements/bursaries for her particular course - some of them may advertise or be linked to the course pages on the university website itself - and it’s also worth speaking to the department to find out how other students have funded it as they can advise whether there are known/linked sponsors.

A quick google brought the following up, for instance:

https://www.thescholarshiphub.org.uk/scholarships-women-stem-subjects/

As far as I remember the cut-off limit for eligibility for Government postgraduate loans is that you be under 60 on the first day of the course. So up to 59 and 364 days.

I wish more people knew about this.

(It’s actually one of the reasons behind the setting up of MN’s Mature Study and Retraining board - to disseminate information that will reassure mature people that study and training are possible.)

Somehow missed that board @ANagsHead !

They’re no longer written off at age 65 - only if you took your loan out before 2006.

But - good for you! Plenty of evidence that learning throughout life keeps mind and body healthy and thus reduces need for NHS so net benefit to society.

Thanks, this thread reminded me to go and check as it was years since I took it out - and it’s 30 years for post grad loans and repayment commences at a salary of £21k, so unless the government radically ups the state pension my loans will be written off in due course. Naturally, if I find myself earning over that I have no issue with paying some of it off, and I would love to think someone will hire me in my late fifties with no recent work experience other than being a SAHM/carer/student, but it is highly unlikely given recent university cuts so I suspect it will never be repaid. They must know this when they allow people in their fifties to take these loans out, so I just wonder what the business model is as it has built in bad debts.

The positive is that OP’s GodD does have access to these funds to pursue a STEM masters.

Alas @EwwSproutsthe course she’s interested in is on the Ineligible list I think.

Have sent her the scholarships list @CautiousLurker01and also your general point about asking the course leaders / former students