I got funded for an MA in London. Hooray! Now how the hell will I pay the rent?
April 22, 2011 3:25 PM   Subscribe

I got funded to do an MA in London, but I still don't know how I'm going to afford it. What jobs could I do that will allow me to study and live without insane financial stress?

I got funding (fees paid) for a taught MA at a really good university and intend to relocate to London in September. However, I have no idea what I am going to live on when I get there.

When I go, I’ll be finishing my year’s work at an academic library for which I was paid about €1500 per month. I paid off debt at the start of the year and have since saved about €4000. This was actually quite good, as I live in an expensive place, and I hope to save a bit more. Nonetheless, my savings are still only about £3,500 sterling, which will pay about 2 months rent and a deposit at best. I am assuming that, with studying, sleeping, relaxing sufficiently and eating, I’ll be able to work about maximum 20 hours a week alongside my course without getting insanely stressed out. I want to live reasonably close to central London in a safe area, which (it seems) will cost over £100 in rent per week at the very least. This MA will qualify me as an information professional, and I have good experience in tertiary teaching, research and journalism.

I don't want to get a bank loan. My recession experiences have taught me never to get into personal debt again.

What are reasonably well renumerated (paying more than £10 per hour, but at less than 21 hours a week) job options beyond retail/museum/library assistance that won’t cause enormous stress and should make me over £200 a week?

(Bonus question: What are my alternatives to expensive rented flat shares? I’ve looked into property guardianship and am open to lodging, but they seem fraught with potential stresses, and I'm really want to avoid any extra problems when I'm already moving to a new city, starting a new course, job, being separated from my friends and family, etc.)
posted by anonymous to Work & Money (5 answers total)
 
This is something to be open about with the people at the university that is funding you. They want you to come there or they wouldn't have reached out to you and given you free tuition. They certainly understand that grad students aren't made of money and they know the local area and how students live. If you put this question to them, they might be able to arrange for a stipend to help cover living expenses or to help with work-study jobs within the department or elsewhere on campus, such as working as a TA or adviser. They can also put you in touch with current students in the program who can give you information about rent in the area and other expenses.
posted by zachlipton at 3:55 PM on April 22, 2011


Not sure what country you're in at the moment but it sounds like it's in Europe? And you have a passport or visa that will allow you to work?

1/ Talk to the university's accommodation office - they will be able to point out all your options for accommodation and advise you how to go about finding somewhere to live. And they can point you to further information. Contractual arrangements can vary considerably between countries, as can level of deposits for example. Don't dismiss lodging out of hand - the fact that it is less formal can give rise to problems but it also gives you much greater freedom to simply move on if it doesn't work out for example.

2/ You need to be realistic about pay - you may be looking at minimum wage for some of the part time work you listed. You also need to learn about tax and national insurance in the UK to work out what your take home pay is likely to be. Again, you ought to be able to get advice on that from the university.

3/ The figures you're throwing around don't really add up - £3.5k lasting 2 months rent plus deposit doesn't compute with the weekly rent you quote. Please sit down and set up a simple spreadsheet working out your minimum weekly/monthly expenses for the time of your stay. Then work out how much money you have and what your shortfall is and what you'll need to earn to make up the difference.
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:55 PM on April 22, 2011


Freelance editing of journal articles for non-native English speakers.
posted by Jacqueline at 4:18 PM on April 22, 2011


I did an MSc in info sci/librarianship in London & lived in Uni housing. It was good enough and cheap enough (I am USian and the exchange rate killed but it was WORTH IT). Does your postgrad office have housing assistance?
posted by pointystick at 4:35 PM on April 22, 2011


Well, students here on the max government bursary get just under £150 a week or something like £7,800 a year and that has to include everything so that's potentially your bare minimum for the year. It is possible to get very cheap places to rent that aren't awful, you just need to speak to the uni acommodation office or look on www.gumtree.co.uk or www.moveflat.co.uk (be careful of scammers though, don't send any money until you've seen the place in person and met your potential flatmates). I know plenty paying £350 including council tax for a decent sized room. If you live in the outer edges of Zone 2 you will pay less rent. And the best thing you can do as a student is buy a cheap bike and cycle everywhere or if that's not an option, get a bus pass as it's cheaper than a bus/tube pass combination.
posted by ozgirlabroad at 7:10 AM on April 23, 2011


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