PhD - council grant or part-time

J1986

Hi folks,


Have not received a grant before. Have a BA and MA. Worked this year. Missed out on funding. Think the project is great and really want to do it but cannot pay the exorbitant fee of 5,700 for the PhD over a probable four years. That is crazy. So I’ve been on to the council and forms haven’t been made available and they don’t know when they will nor do they know what the income threshold will be for it. I asked whether the threshold indicated take home pay or gross pay and they didn’t know. Can anyone tell me was the €49,000 highest threshold last year based on take home pay or is that gross pay?

Also, just to keep the option of part-time PhD open I’d love to know has anyone here done a PhD part-time, how many years did it take you (yes, I am going to look up old threads too) and as I’m getting it hard to get a full-time job here at the moment, I only have part-time work at the moment would I be able to register as a part-time PhD student if I only had a part-time job and maybe some tutorial work which would add up to being a substantial amount of working hours?




Would appreciate any help. I’m not being lazy, I am trying to ring all relevant people to try get the answers I want but as you see I didn’t find out very much from my phone call earlier. I intend to talk to head of dept or whoever next week about part-time etc. Cheers folks. Really going to be crushed if I can't get some sort of financial assistance. May forget about doing it

First of all, I assume you're aware that you can't get a grant if you do a course part-time?

For full-time courses, yeah the rules & regulations for this year are yet to be released which, again, is ridiculous but it's a yearly state of ridiculousness to be honest. But if you do the PhD full-time your funding may only last 3 years instead of 4 since you have a postgrad qualification. Best to check this out. Plus I assume you know that getting a grant would mean your fees would be paid for you up to something like €6,110 (2008 figures, based on memory may be slightly off).

As for income limits, if you leave your job to pursue the PhD full-time your income will be taken as 0 (or at least as greatly reduced) and you'd be applying under a change in circumstances, therefore your income for 2008 doesn't really matter since your income will have dropped from when you left your job. Also, the amount is according to the application form: 'Gross Income including Benefit-in-Kind'.

The 2009/10 application forms are here: http://www.studentfinance.ie/mp7658/download-maintenance-grant-application-form/index.html ... though not knowing the income limits doesn't really help things.

Hope you enjoy returning to college btw

J1986

Hi Donal,

Thank you very much for the reply. Yes, I am aware about the not being entitled if part-time. The problem with me is I live at home and am 22 (will be 23 later in the year) and so I don't think I can be considered on my own income. I have read the stuff on the maintenance grant and there is a part that says you have to be 23 on the January in the year of entry to be accepted as an independent mature candidate. Even if you are living away from home and are my age it appears you will still have to go on your parents income. At least that's the way it reads to me.

I'll try pester them again but really it seems I'm not eligible for anything. My work was part-time all year so I made less than €10,000 so it'd be great if I could be assessed on my own income or as 0 but don't think that'll happen as I live at home and am 22 so they'll look at my parents income and I think they are just over the threshold (which doesn't by any means mean they're minted and they're defo not going to pay for this)

It is crazy that the rates haven't been put up yet. The deadline for the PhD is 31st of August. They'd want to get a move on with the info!

Thank you very much but looks like I won't be returning at this rate