Caregiver of disabled teenager returning to study, but can't find funding. (UK) Any thoughts?

Question

I am a parent of disabled teenager. My career has been interrupted, as has my academic path. My son is in and out of hospital and school. But now I am doing a PhD at a top UK university and am winning awards for my projects and am devising and teaching courses. Only problem, I can't get funding. I keep missing out on Studentships as they go to people half my age with straight A academic results. Well, this is what I am told. I think this is discrimination. Someone with my background - even with a brilliant, original research project - is never ever going to get a studentship if the decisive criteria is your undergraduate and MA results. Studentships are lucrative (16K a year in London) and people like me, in the, um, diversity and inclusion basket - are told to search through the Alternative Funding Guide and 'write lots of letters'. It would take a professional fundraiser a year at least to raise the same amount as a studentship! Does anyone have any experience of seeking funding as a carer doing a PhD, or even some good practice from their institution to share? I'm in the UK so UK examples would be most helpful to me.

Edit 9/22:

My first years part time were funded by my part-time work in a related industry, but due to my teaching and PhD commitments, and Carer commitments, I haven't had time to seek more clients. So that's dried up. I also received a discretionary fund fee waiver for the fees - this wasn't an advertised hardship fund, this was a result of asking and asking until finally finding something was available. You are only supposed to apply to this once during your degree, but I have applied once again because there just is nothing else. Awaiting outcome.

I've had success with small funding for trips abroad to conferences and considerable success with funding for public engagement projects - but I can't pay my living costs or wages with that.

My supervisor thinks that my identity as a carer is something that we can't seem to escape from, so we it is something that will be addressed in my thesis (that's ok with me, and it sits nicely with my ambition to teach creative writing and to explore under-represented groups in film and tv).

I never intended to campaign on this issue, but since posting this question, I have been successful in getting the student union to take up the issue of Carers at our university as one of their priority vulnerable groups, and the first thing we will ask for is for Student Records to include Carers in the equality and diversity questions (not a statutory requirement for this data to be collected, but why not). Our university is behind others in offering support and recognition for carers. Secondly, within the graduate school, the student advisor I was talking to has recommended Carers be considered under the university's Widening Participation policy. And just the other day, I got to explain to the Vice Dean of the Faculty what a Carer is -- it's someone who looks after someone else who has a life limiting condition such as a disability or illness -- for more than 35 hours per week (that's the statuory number of hours in order to apply for Carer's Allowance, a means tested benefit).

So, no studentship yet but I have delegated my campaigning tendencies! I will keep this trail updated and hope others continue to contribute.

Answer 1

But now I am doing a PhD at a top UK university and am winning awards for my projects and am devising and teaching courses.

In my experience, once you start a PhD in the UK, it is extremely difficult to get a studentship. It is not clear if you are looking for a full time studentship or a part time studentship. UK studentships tend to come from four sources of funding: university/school level funding, doctoral training center (DTC) grants, individual grants from charities and research councils given to a supervisor, and individual studentships awarded to the student.

As UK PhDs generally last 3 years of full time work, asking for less than 3 years of funding will result in odd gaps on any type of grant. While funding directly from the university or school is more flexible, unfortunately, if they did not offer you funding when they accepted you, they likely are not going to offer you funding now.

That leaves you with "special interest" funding, but again, having already started, will put you at a disadvantage.

Answer 2

I don't know the system in the UK, so I am afraid I only have one suggestion, but I hope it will be helpful as a start.

Find allies. Networking is part of this but there's more to it than that. Places to look:

• disability rights organizations
• caregivers' support groups (I think in the UK the term is carers)
• returning students groups
• in case you are female: women's groups
• parents groups

I was a returning student at one time, and there was a group on campus that gave me key financial and moral support at a critical juncture.

One minor additional suggestion: My impression is that the concept of a returning student is more supported in the US than in the UK. So, if you can find some respite care for your teenager for a few days, attending a conference in your field in the US might give you a shot in the arm. Visiting a supportive environment can be remarkably helpful.

Answer 3

First of all, this is from a UK perspective but a different discipline (science).

You strongly imply in two areas that you think your academic record is affecting your success:

Studentships [...] go to people [...] with straight A academic results.

and

Someone with my background [...] is never ever going to get a studentship if the decisive criteria is your undergraduate and MA results.

It would be easier to tell if you provided some information about your academic track record (although of course you don't have to), but most sources of funding I'm aware of wouldn't directly select against applicants with caring responsibilities, so if your track record appears poor (which was in turn a consequence of your caring responsibilities) I suspect that is more likely to be the problem. Most sources of funding will be highly oversubscribed and may use grades/degree class as a screen before reading applications in detail, even though they shouldn't.

If this is the case, then references and letters of support from previous supervisors or lecturers that draw attention to your circumstances may be the most effective way to get funders to consider this, rather than attempting to argue your own case. Also make sure you have a strong reference from your current supervisor. (I'm assuming you had similar caring responsibilities during your A-levels, undergrad and MSc as well, by the way; if you can point to a change in your achievements when these began that might also strengthen your case.)

Lastly, even if the funders accept that your caring responsibilities affected your previous results, they will want to be confident that you will attain a high level of performance in your doctorate. It sounds like you are already doing well so you can just point at your recent track record, but mention any change in your circumstances since the previous degrees (if the amount of care required has reduced, or if you are receiving additional external support) that will improve your ability to focus on academic performance.

Sources of funding: One other part of the problem may be the bodies you're applying to; as @StrongBad notes, many will only fund students starting a doctorate, rather than partway through. There is some useful information on ways to fund a doctorate here and a list of some charities that fund doctorates here. Finally, it may be too late to help you but from 2018 the government will offer £25k loans for doctorates (link).

Finally - what does your supervisor say? Supervisors are there to help with all aspects of study and will understand your individual situation better.

Answer 4

Hopefully information brought to light in this thread will help the next Carer applying for studentships.

Apparently it is key to get the carer role situation documented in the support letters from the start. I know I am disadvantaged by having already started, but it's not unheard of to get funding mid-doctorate.

I have applied for a second discretionary fund fee waiver for the fees - this wasn't an advertised hardship fund, this was a result of asking and asking until finally finding something was available. You are only supposed to apply to this once during your degree, but I have applied once again because there just is nothing else. Awaiting outcome.

I've had success with small funding for trips abroad to conferences and considerable success with funding for public engagement projects (although I can't pay my living costs or wages with that).

The following action steps look promising for helping with this general problem, in the long term:

• get the student union to take up the issue of carers
• ask that Student Records include carers in the equality and diversity questions
• recommend carers be considered under the university's Widening Participation policy
• explain to the Vice Dean of the Faculty what a carer is: a person who looks after someone who has a life limiting condition such as a disability or illness for more than 35 number of hours per week (that's the statutory number of hours needed to apply for Carer's Allowance, a means-tested benefit).