Talk to anyone about the perils of postgraduate study and the conversation rarely strays far from money: tales of students struggling to pay fees, working long hours in supermarkets or living on the poverty line.
Everyone has a dreadful story to tell you about a student they know of who is forced to live in a cardboard box while finishing his dissertation - well not quite, but you get the picture.
But at last, someone has conducted research into the area of postgraduate finances and while the survey confirms some of those hard-luck stories, it also challenges a few preconceptions about postgrad study.
The body which represents postgrad students' views nationally, the National Postgraduate Committee, commissioned the University of Warwick Students Union to carry out a national survey of UK postgraduate students.
The brief was to find out which factors students consider when deciding to pursue postgraduate study, how they fund their courses, and to discover the wider implications of these funding choices.
The research team sent out a questionnaire earlier this summer and received 982 responses from UK-based postgrads studying at 17 different institutions across the UK. These are its preliminary findings:
Finance
Without doubt the headline statistic from the survey is the fact that just over half of postgrad students describe their funding as "not sufficient", while 15% have tried to get access or hardship funds from their institution. Just 8% claim that their funding is "more than sufficient" and more than 70% of respondents are doing paid work alongside their studies - with half describing the income derived from that work as "essential".
The pollsters surveyed students on full and part-time courses and found that 29% were in full-time, professional employment.
Of the rest, 22% were employed doing teaching or other work at their institution, while 18% were doing casual work elsewhere.
Fees
Contrary to the perception that most students have their fees paid, the survey found that 64% of postgrads are paying their own tuition fees. But the size of fees varies dramatically - from just £250 up to almost £20,000. The average fee for part-time courses is £1,550 and £3,780 for those attending full-time. The main sources of funding for those who had fees paid for them are government awards, including research councils (39%), higher education institutions (24%) and employers (22%).
Income v expenditure
Despite these scary figures, the survey also reveals that a tiny majority of postgraduates have a higher income than expenditure. Of those respondents who gave full details of their income and expenditure, just over half have a greater income than expenditure, 16% are breaking even, and a third have a greater expenditure than income. The average income of respondents is £15,273.
The most common sources of income are paid employment (65% at an average of £13,638), followed by postgraduate awards from research councils etc, with 34% getting, on average, £7,529. Just under a third of students rely on an overdraft of on average £1,319. A fifth spend £3,624 of their savings, while 16% touch their parents for around £3,000. Interestingly, career development loans only account for 9% of students (average award £4,436) while institutional scholarships give an average of £4,000 to 8% of students.
Meanwhile, the average expenditure of respondents is £12,958. The main items of expenditure, in addition to tuition fees, is rent/mortgage (average £3,531), food/household goods (£2,218), household bills (£1,354), entertainment/socialising (£1,289), travel (£1,155), clothes (£584) and course materials (£400). Nearly 13% of respondents have childcare or child-related costs, at an average £3,317.
As you might expect, the survey found that those students reporting the greatest shortfall between their income and expenditure are more likely to be young (20-25), full-time students on taught postgraduate courses in the arts, humanities or social sciences.
Surprisingly just under a half of those surveyed own their own home, while only 9% live in halls of residence or other accommodation provided by their institution. Of the rest, 29% live in private rented accommodation while the remainder (12%) risk the odd row by staying with their parents.
Debt levels aren't as high as might have been expected. Among those surveyed, there were average debts of £6,442 before commencing their current course and debts of £7,775 by May. Postgrads anticipate an average debt of £8,513 upon final graduation.
Cheerful note
In spite of the fact that 75% of respondents say they have to overcome significant financial obstacles in order to pursue postgraduate study, the overwhelming majority (86%) feel that the money spent on their current studies will be a good investment in their future. The average salary respondents expect to earn on completion of their postgraduate studies is £22,000.
Most cite the fact that "the course/area of study is exactly what I wanted" as the most important factor in choosing a particular course - other important priorities were the location and the reputation of the institution. Factors such as living accommodation offered, and social and recreational facilities provided by the institution, are seen as less important.
Almost three-quarters say they decided to pursue postgraduate study to improve their career prospects - 68% wanted to continue studying their subject, and 30% say personal development was a key factor. Significantly, 36% of respondents say that financial considerations had a strong influence on where they studied, and 39% say that financial considerations had a significant influence on their choice between full or part-time study.
The future
One of the most interesting findings of the survey is that 21% of respondents have changed their career plans since starting their course. Around 40% expect to go on to work outside of higher education, but in an area related to their subject, with 22% expecting to go into research or teaching in a UK higher education institution.
Just 16% expect to go into academic research, teaching elsewhere, or into further postgraduate study. Only 6% expect to go into work not related to their subject area.
