Please Help!

D

======= Date Modified 06 30 2010 19:30:24 =======
Hi All
Could anyone please suggest me on funding. I have got admission in University of Kent, Cardiff and Sussex for the september-2010 intake. I have no money to fund my PhD( English Literature). Had applied for commonwealth scholarship. Was short- listed but not selected. Can anyone pleas e suggest me what to do?

D

Have you asked the departments whether they have specific bursaries or a list of university scholarships you can apply for?

B

I'm guessing from the mention of the commonwealth scholarship that you're an international student? Have you tried asking the British Council in your country whether there are any scholarships aimed specifically at people of your nationality? Unfortunately there's very little funding for English Literature for UK students either so competition for anything university-based open to all students is going to be intense, although it's obviously worth trying, even though it's late in the year and deadlines often are earlier. Make sure the departments are fully aware that you have no money, as if a UK student had been provisionally offered some internal funding, but then was successful in the Arts and Humanities Research Council competition, then funding might be released late in the summer - this is a very long shot though.
Obviously if you have no money, you won't be able to get a visa to come to the UK, as they insist you show you have the course fees plus a year's maintenance funding to get the visa. Most of the international students I knew were sponsored by their governments - is that an option, even if you had to defer your place for a year to get it sorted out? Deferring for a year to give yourself time to look for funding, is a much better idea, than trying to scrape together enough money for the first year, and then nothing working out so having to drop out, in my opinion.

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