Funding Masters

[Allfurcoatandnoknickers]

Our DD has gained a place at LSE to study a Masters. Course fees are £18k and she's got £12k in student finance. We've spent some time looking at bursaries/grants etc., to top up the shortfall, but a lot of the funds are already closed. Has anyone got any pearls of wisdom?

A career development loan? Generally, the only way to have a Masters funded is by landing Research Council funding for a combined Masters/PhD programme. They're quite rare, but there are some STEM programmes that offer funding this way.

Study part time and work, defer for a year and save. Their Masters fees are eye watering though - that one is cheap!

Not LSE but one of my DC persuaded a uni to give him alumni discount (20% because of covid) even though he wasn't an alumni (was of another uni in same city). I suspect they were more desperate than LSE though.

Someone DD knows did a GoFundMe for Oxford (didn't get enough but you never know).

Is the Masters a qualification that will enter him directly into a profession?
My daughter’s Masters led her straight into social work so she had a huge chunk funded by the social welfare budget.

This is about the size of it. Most scholarships have closed by now. Some will open in sept once students have registered, has she had a look at the Turn 2 Us grants search?

Thanks all - she isn't doing a qualification that would lead her directly into a profession, more a 'generic' MSc. I'll take a look at the Turn2Us grants search thanks. She's been working in part time jobs since she was 15 and basically worked through her final year in a restaurant - hopefully she can use those skills and find a few shifts a week. Thankfully she's really good at saving (certainly better than I was at that age...)

Does she have to study at LSE? There are plenty of places that offer a masters within loan figures. I'm doing a part time masters soon at Uni of Law for £12k.

Do they allow part time masters and then she could work proper hours too to fund it? Is there anything you can add onto it up a bit?

She’s accepted the place and was really happy to get in there as it was her top
choice.
Not sure about part time study but she will definitely be looking for part time work to help her out

Bank loan.

She should definitely take the LSE place.

Sounds like a great opportunity and I would fund it for them

My DD is studying politics at Westminster, just finished 2nd year as an overseas student (because we live abroad), so I'm paying for everything. I'm expecting her to approach me soon about doing a masters.

But I'm really sceptical as to what career advantage this will give her - I'm tending to the view that it's mainly a way to defer attempting to enter the job market for a couple of years, at my expense. At 22 both I and DW were in paid employment.

So I think you need to understand, if they are continuing in full time education after a bachelors degree, what's the benefit/objective?

Are you and your DD aware of the repayment conditions of the postgraduate loan? If she has an undergraduate student loan, she will have to pay both of them back concurrently, adding quite a hefty graduate 'tax' onto her first pay cheques when she gets her first job. This mighty be worth it, if the masters is going to lead to a huge salary, but it's something to consider.

LSE offers a big big career advantage and would be worth it.

Bank of mum and dad then.

Otger people do fine at much cheaper places. LSE charge high fees because they know people will pay them.

Yes, a smart student will do well elsewhere. But doesn't hurt to have LSE on the CV.

The two places, Westminster and LSE are not remotely comparable other than the fact they are each based in London. LSE ranks in the top 3 nationally in the Complete University Guide, while Westminster ranks #123 out of #130

The value of an MA from LSE is most likely to out rank one from Westminster by a very, very long way in the minds of future employers and future PhD admissions. Those who do look at where you got your MA or your MSci.

I feel your pain. My dd was offered a place at Edinburgh Uni for hers with fees at £14k. Accommodation also mega expensive there. I said she would need a loan and then somehow we would work it, there are savings etc. But in the end, she didn't want the debt so she will stay in Belgium and has a place at KU Leuven instead. Fees are 1k!

When are fees due? Presumably she’s working now all hours to save. Even on min wage she’ll make a decent amount this summer assuming she’s living at home board free.
There’s some random scholarships linked to parents’ trade or specific characteristics like vegetarian but not huge amounts.
Other option would be to defer a year to work and save to fund it.

There's no vegetarian scholarship at LSE.

Never said there was?
Op was asking about scholarships or bursaries generally. As I said there’s some connected to parents’ trade or some random ones like veggie.
www.thescholarshiphub.org.uk/unusual-scholarships-and-bursaries-uk/

It did read as a genuine statement.

KCL, Imperial, LSE & UCL are notorious for failing to offer any funding for students even from exceptionally deprived backgrounds. Their fees are eye watering and the post grad loan from Student Finance comes nowhere near them, before even considering how to pay for living expenses.

The fees are likely to be payable in 3 instalments of around £6k each. Presumably she will be living st home, so you will be funding her accommodation etc. If not, she's likely to be looking to find around another 3x £4k for accommodation with food, travel etc on top.

DD ruled out London universities for her postgraduate after her first degree at Oxford. She worked for a year first and is now completing her masters without adding to her student loans by going to a good RG in a far more affordable location.

I would suggest your DD seriously considers the costs v benefits if the masters is what you describe as "generic". The costs of postgraduate degrees from the London top 4 are extortionate. Without a very healthy bank of Mum & Dad as a back up option, the finances are challenging. (That's not to say that you're not interested position to fund her yourself!)

If she already has a first degree, she could work, gain experience and then fund it herself? This is what ds did, he point blank refused to accept any further financial contribution from us, he said we had done enough which we felt was really sweet of him. Also, though, having a few (four) years work experience behind him really helped him with his Masters, which was a different specialism.