Funding a PhD - Options outside of scholarships and grants?

Valyr

Hi all, I've been reading the topics here lately and getting a lot of useful opinions and insights on the whole area of doing a PhD, but funding is the one topic that I'm really having trouble with.

I've been offered a placement for a PhD (MLitt->PhD track) pending the results of the MA that I've just finished but I haven't managed to secure any funding or scholarships to pay for it so I'm uncertain what the best financial route to take is.
The teaching prospects appear to be slim at least for the first year, so I can't really count on money from that to cover anything.

I have a previous loan out with the local credit union that I'm paying back at a fairly slow pace and I have no previous bank loans, only a student mastercard that needs to be cleared.
I'm currently living at home and will be for the foreseeable future but my PhD fees are going to be about 5k per year that I just don't have, while I'm ineligible for council maintenance grants (as far as I've been able to tell).

Is a student loan with deferred repayment from the bank my best option here, or are there other avenues that I've missed?

I thought of contacting some of the larger companies related to the area of my research and asking for corporate sponorship of my PhD but is that typical or would it just be cheeky?
Would they expect a lot in return (first dibs on potential products/code from my PhD, etc) or could they be convinced to part with 15-20k in return for a highly-educated postgrad who would be willing to work with them?
The very fact that I haven't had much luck finding information on this topic suggests to me that it isn't typical or appropriate, or that I haven't searched hard enough.

The simplest option appears to be that of just getting a bank loan to cover the fees, but obviously I'd rather avoid putting myself any further into debt than I have to and I can't help but think that I just haven't thought of other avenues yet.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks!

daragh8008

In this case I think it really depends on what your working on and who you are working with. If you have a supervisor that’s reasonable they may jump at the chance of getting an industry partner on board. This might be the best thing for a project as they may be willing to give you the inside track on whats already been done in the area or where the field is going. Naturally they will most likely want to get something in return. As you mentioned first dibs on the code etc. Either way, from what I understand what intellectual property you generate during the project remains the property of the college, so you won’t be walking away with a PhD and a dynamite new product/app. Its one or the other. Hence a lot of people believe that if you do have a fantastic idea while in college, keep it to your self until you are finished so that you can exploit it to your own advantage. In terms of the outside partner, some companies like the press that comes with it, others have very specific research needs that they will expect you to address. However some sort of agreement will need to be drawn up between your supervisor/college and the company interested. At the end of the research you may be able to walk into the job in your sponsors company, but if there is a product to be had and an external company paid your PhD to have it developed you can be sure that they will want a big slice of that pie.