How does PHD funding work?

Question

Do you get eg. 14k sponsership eg..through teh ERSC research peopl a y ear and need to make the rest of the funds elsewhere. How do you live on so little money? do you live in at the university for the 3 years? Ive read on uni websites but its not really clear. and does it really take 3 years to do? im thinking of doing mine in social science.And how do you get research published and teaching experience to become a lecuturer with it!

no not received any funding yet, ive just read that 14k is the average you get in sponsership

Answer 1

To begin with, 3 years would be an absolute minimum amount of time for a Ph.D, and very few people finish that quickly. A few years ago, a lot of Ph.D. programs tightened up on the requirements so that people would finish more quickly, because too many people were taking decades to finish, but most people take somewhere between 4 and 6 years for the Ph.D., in my experience.

As far as funding goes, I don't know what ERSC is, but most of the Ph.D. students I've known have gotten a tuition remission and stipend the first year, with teaching and/or research assistantships for the next few years. The money is generally not enough to support a family on, but it will allow you to live a very basic lifestyle. A number of people pick up odd jobs to make a bit of extra money - while I was in my Ph.D. program, I served at parties, housesat for some of my professors, and analyzed data for my advisor, in addition to teaching some extra courses, for additional cash. I also had to take out some loans, because I did NOT get a stipend my first year, but once I did well, I was funded for the rest of the program.

With regard to whether you live in at the university, I did go to a university with graduate dorms, but only a few of my classmates lived there. Most of us found it easier to live in apartments off campus, but I guess that depends upon where the university is and what kind of housing is available.

Your last question is more complex. As far as getting research published, this is one of the most important things you will learn in your program. When you start taking courses, you will get to know your professors, and you will have opportunities to work with them on their research at first, and eventually to work with them to develop your own research interests into publishable papers. They should be able to help you to navigate the system in your field. Teaching may work similarly; you may be assigned as a teaching assistant to help in a class taught by one of the professors in your department. It will allow you to see what s/he does from a faculty perspective, which will help you to learn how to develop your own courses. Eventually, you may be assigned independent courses to teach. One of the best aspects of a Ph.D. program is that you will NOT be just one of dozens or hundreds of students in a class. You will have an opportunity to work intimately with your professors, spending a lot of time with them, and this will allow you to get a strong feeling for the profession during your program. In a way, these professors are replicating themselves by training you. They have a strong interest in having you do well, because it reflects upon them personally in a way that you never impacted them as an undergraduate student.

Good luck with what can be an incredibly exhilarating, but very frustrating, enterprise!

Answer 2

Neniaf's answer is reall a good one. She obviously has been through this process!!!!

I would add that there is no point in doing a PhD unless you truly love the subject you are studying and are near-obsessive about working with it.

When you finish a PhD the main way for you to get a job and repay all those bills is to be a college teacher. When you go to apply for a job as a professor you will be measured against all the other people who have similar degrees. Probably 30 or 40 other people with the same degree will apply for the job and you have to be the best. - You have to be the best informed, the most eager, the one who has written and talked about it the most -- If you arent totally in to that subject, how will you ever accomplish that?

You do not make a huge salary as a PhD, so it has to be a labor of love...

Answer 3

I am a university Professor and I have taught at many universities around the world.

So, what are you asking here? Are you telling us you have this funding already? Or that you are thinking of applying for a Ph.D.? The two are NOT the same thing.

Presuming you have the offer of funding, then yes, you live on that money. If you dedicate yourself 100% to your Ph.D., it will take you between 4 and 5 years to complete it (your funding is for three years only). If you do not dedicate yourself at 100%, it will take between 6 and 7 years to finish it.

If your research is of any real value, your Professor will ensure it is published. But, in his/her name, not yours. Your teaching experience will come from doing the teaching your supervisor will not want to do.

Live where you want.

Answer 4

You get a few grand that you drink and piss up the wall, then spend the next 15 years trying to pay it back