Got a question about this, so thought I’d do a proper post.
Cost
So the first issue is the cost. Tuition seems to be about £10k, give or take. (See my post on tuition fees and also my work on tuition fees per school.) Our annual living expense budget is about £25k/yr–housing, food, limited travel, etc.–based on a family of 4. We’ve not budgeted to go home over our time here. We found that we spent more settling in than expected, so I’ve gone with a conservative estimate to help one be realistic. That produces a total 3 year cost of ~£90k-100k or ~$160k-180k (see my post on exchange rates). Don’t let this scare you off, but it is real money.
Financing It
Here are the options that I’ve seen, most with some combination:
- Borrowing money–student loans and from family.
- Spouse working. It seems that ~£15-20k/yr is a basic full-time salary. If one has other skills, etc., it would be more. Most seem to start out using a temp agency. (Spouses can work full-time on a dependant-of-a-student visa.)
- Working yourself. Most don’t have a regular job, but it’s common in the 2nd or 3rd year to tutor and get paid. A friend in Aberdeen made ~£5k/yr on a bursary (part scholarship, part wages) doing this. At Durham bursaries (scholarships) are separate from teaching. For a standard TA position for a course you’d get about £300/yr. (A student can work up to 20 hrs during term and full-time off term, on or off campus.)
- Donations. Quite a few people solicit donations from family, churches, etc. to help fund their studies. I know a few who are doing ministry here in one form or another, and have worked out for peoples’ donations to be tax deductible in the states.
- Scholarships. Unfortunately the UK gov’t fazed out ORS, and it seems that about one or two new students get the Durham Doctoral Fellowship, so competition is fairly tight. John Barclay offered these criteria for a strong fellowship (and admittance) application. Durham also offers a handful of £1k-£2k scholarships that are decided upon by application in October for that current year.
- Spending savings. N.B. I know at least one couple here whose visa initially got delayed because they couldn’t show adequate funds to the UK gov’t. They had to secure a letter of intent from a family member that they would loan them money. So it’s wise to send off the visa application early in case there are any snags like that that need to be ironed out.
Friday, 2 February 2007 at 4:10 am
Again, thanks a bunch. I’ve got a number of friends asking a lot of the questions you’ve been answering; I’m planning on linking here from my blog. While it’s a lot of $$$ or pounds I guess, seeing some real figures is very helpful.
Friday, 2 February 2007 at 8:02 am
Glad to help. I had a friend or two that went to other UK schools that gave some of this, but other things we’ve just accumulated. I figure I’ve done all this work, why not let somebody else in on it.
Wednesday, 7 February 2007 at 4:28 pm
My wife is expecting to work full-time while we’re in Durham. So the money we’ll need month-to-month should come in accordingly. However, how much would you recommend that we have in pocket when we move? Assuming that it could take a month or two before she gets a stable salary, how much should we expect to spend settling and such for the first 2 months? And we have no kids… Thanks!
Wednesday, 7 February 2007 at 9:28 pm
Here’s the post I did about moving costs. Several things will be pre-move, like plane tickets, but most are post move: http://dunelm.wordpress.com/moving-to-the-uk/costs-for-moving-to-the-uk/. Let me know if this doesn’t answer your question.
Wednesday, 7 February 2007 at 9:43 pm
Ben,
vis-a-vis your ability to work; my understanding is that for US students in the UK, our visa permits 20 hours a week in term, but Durham only permits you to work 6 hours a week in term for pay per hour. I could be wrong, but I think I read this in a few different places. I’ll see if I can track down a reference to it.
Wednesday, 14 March 2007 at 9:58 pm
I noticed that 6 hr work week limitation on Oxford’s website, so maybe that’s where you are thinking of. I haven’t seen anything at Durham to limit it.
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 at 10:38 am
And I definitely worked more than 6 between my NTW work and teaching.
Friday, 13 July 2007 at 8:52 pm
Ben,
Thanks for your great blog! My husband and I are in this process and applying for our Visas right now. I am curious if when you sent in your application and supporting documents if you sent in proof of funding? Did they need to see that you were covering/covered for 100% of your tuition, etc? Just curious about what all we should send along as far as proving our finances go. Thanks for your help.
Friday, 13 July 2007 at 9:50 pm
Hope that all goes well for you. I remember that they want every piece of documentation about you that exists. On the finances, we were in a special situation b/c of my fellowship. However, I asked my friend who had issues b/c of that how their situation shook out. What I would say is send everything you have that shows every bit of money you’ve got (even any investments if there are any) and any loan agreements you’ve already set up. For my friend the visa people didn’t think it was totally sufficient on paper, so he had to submit a letter showing the availability of a personal loan from family. His wife got a FT job once they got here and that (as far as I know) didn’t occur. Anyhow, I’ll post his answer as soon as I hear back.
We’ll have to meet y’all in person in Edinburgh sometime.
Friday, 13 July 2007 at 10:06 pm
Thanks Ben and I will await your further response. Yeah, let us know when you are coming to Edinburgh! We are so excited to move over to the UK and your blog has proved most helpful.