PhD Loans and STEM Studentships - Further Updates for 2017

PhD loans have been on the radar since 2015, but many of their details have been a little obscure.

In fact, it was only a couple of weeks ago that we highlighted some of the biggest questions about the plans: from EU eligibility, to the availability of loans for existing students.

As of yesterday, the waiting is over.

The UK Government restated its commitment to postgraduate doctoral loans during the 2017 Spring Budget. Better yet, it also released the results of a consultation on the plans. Better still, the Chancellor also announced plans for new PhD scholarships in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineerng and Mathematics) subjects (we'll get to those further down the page).

This means that the PhD loan plans are now mostly finalised, barring a few details to be confirmed in 2018.

It also means that all of the questions we asked in our last update have been answered, in some form or other. It's as if we had a crystal ball or something (we wish we did).

Until yesterday, the PhD loans had only ever been spoken of in reference to English-resident UK students.

It wasn't that EU students were declared to be ineligible. It was simply that their eligibility wasn't being mentioned.

Whereas the Government's recent Masters loans were always intended to include EU students (subject to residency criteria) this detail has been left out of the PhD loans at every stage. Until now.

Yesterday's consultation response states that:

The eligibility of EU students for the doctoral loan will be announced by the Government ahead of the 2018/19 academic year.

It's not very much. But it is quite encouraging.

At the very least it confirms that EU eligibility is being considered. It's also worth noting that the 2018/19 academic year begins after current fee and funding guarantees for EU students expire. Will the Government extend these? We'll be keeping students updated.

The news isn't so good for postgraduate researchers already studying a PhD, or planning to begin one in 2017.

The Government has confirmed that current students won't be eligible:

The loan will only be available to those starting an eligible level 8 qualification from Academic Year 2018/19.

This is as expected - and follows the precedent set by the Masters loans in 2016. Unfortunate as it is, it's good to have the situation clarified, at least.

Other funding is still be available to PhD students in 2017, of course - including our own scholarships.

Previous announcements had set a maximum length of six years for loan-funded PhDs. This was intended to reflect the typical length of a part-time PhD (studied at 50% of the intensity of a three year full-time PhD).

The problem, as some respondents to the Government's consultation observed, is that PhD study is often much more flexible than this.

It's not uncommon for a full-time PhD to include four years of research, taking the part-time equivalent to eight years. Nor is it rare for students to add an extra 'writing up year' to the end of a doctorate.

Setting a maximum length of eight years for the loan makes this funding available to the vast majority of students.

Of course, the total amount a student can borrow won't be changing. That's still going to be £25,000. An eight year part-time PhD would therefore receive around £3,125 a year.

The Government added an 'interesting' detail to its consultation on the loans, with the suggestion that loans might be limited to a certain number per university.

This would have introduced a competitive element to the loans, similar to existing Research Council funding.

It wasn't quite clear how the selection process would have worked, but there's no need to worry now. The Government has abandoned the policy:

The doctoral loan will be available to all eligible students in relation to all eligible courses. Applicants will apply directly to the Student Loans Company for the loan, and there will be no institutional cap on number of loan places.

This is a situation in which no (more) news is good news.

As well as confirming the loans for 2018-19, the Government's consultation response also offered an insight into the application timeline:

The Government confirms that it will be moving forward in the development and build of a doctoral loan product with the features set out in Annex B. We intend the product to be launched for applications in Spring/Summer 2018, in time for the 2018/19 academic year.

Translated, that means that loans - and applications - will be available in time for students starting a PhD in autumn 2018.

The specific date isn't given, but we know that applications for the first year of Masters loans opened in June 2016. We'll announce as soon as we know more.

We'd expected to hear something about doctoral loans at the 2017 Budget, but we were pleasantly surprised to see another PhD funding announcement making its way into the Chancellor's statement.

We now know that part of the Government's new National Productivity Investment Fund (NPIF) will be used to fund 1,000 new PhD studentships. Most of these will be in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, with a total of £90 million available.

Further information about this funding is expected in due course, including details of eligibility criteria, application processes and a timeline for the scholarships' launch.

As always, we'll do our best to keep students updated.

A few other details also emerged from the PhD loan update:

• PhDs by publication won't be eligible. In order to receive a loan students must be actively researching their doctorate at a university.
• NHS funding won't be compatible with PhD loans. Like Research Council scholarships this is considered to be an alternative form of direct Government funding.
• Minimum length for a loan-funded PhD will be three years. This further confirms that students won't be able to apply for a loan to upgrade an MPhil with an additional year of study.

You can read the most up-to-date information on the plans in our full PhD loan guide.