Sum win, sum lose

Changes in studentships will penalise some postgraduates. But teaching assistantships are becoming more common, says John Davies.

Postgraduates beginning their study this autumn face quite a few changes in income and expenditure, with the net effect probably a negative one.

Although changes to research council studentships were intended to be purely administrative, some people will be worse off. The basic increase is in pace with inflation - for example at the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council the basic award will go up by about 2.7 per cent. But if you are 25 and coming to your PhD from a job you will be more than Pounds 700 worse off than you would have been if you had started last year.

This is because the older students' allowance and the incremental postgraduate experience allowance (for having spent two years in a relevant job) no longer exist. They have both been replaced by the mature students incentive. It is worth Pounds 1,400 a year but the age limit has been put up from 25 to 26.

If you have dependants then last year you would have received Pounds 1,915 for a spouse or other adult. For dependent children there were four different rates depending on their age. Now there is Pounds 1,700 for the first, Pounds 1,000 for the second and nothing for subsequent children.

Postgraduate studentships from universities are mostly comparable to those from the research councils, although some have cut back on their extra allowances.

But graduate teaching assistantships and similarly named schemes are increasing. In return for an annual income exceeding, perhaps by Pounds 1,000 or Pounds 2,000, a research council grant, postgraduates do a few hours' teaching a term.

At London's Queen Mary and Westfield College such a scheme pays Pounds 9,500 a year (plus course fees) in return for up to 15 hours' teaching a week. The postgraduate is paid to take four years to complete the PhD.

Shane O'Neill, a graduate teaching student in inorganic chemistry, is reasonably satisfied with his studentship but points out that it is taxable.

No package deal seems quite to rival QMW's, although a recent advertisement from Strathclyde offered Pounds 8,200 a year for four years for a graduate teaching assistant in pharmacy who would spend a quarter of the time teaching. At Warwick around 50 postgraduates this year will do about five hours a week and in return get fees paid and a salary of over Pounds 6,500.

When Angus Cameron began a PhD in politics at Sussex he had a bursary that paid him Pounds 1,600 a term, but no extra for his two children, and he was expected to teach four hours a week. He worked in an off-licence to make ends meet for a time.

Jeremy Hoad of the National Postgraduate Committee says: "Teaching assistantship schemes are often implemented in a haphazard way without any clear contracts. People tend to be given a lump sum then find out later what the conditions are."

Those who teach to supplement a grant will get better pay from new universities than old ones, thinks James Irvine, former NPC chair. They will often pay the Natfhe-agreed rate of Pounds 23.30 an hour for part-time lecturers. "But more work is being classed as demonstrating rather than tutorials, and so is paid less," he says.

Hourly rates vary enormously. At Lancaster one postgraduate reports getting Pounds 14.50 an hour for a seminar, while Edinburgh's rates are Pounds 16.10 an hour for tutoring, and Pounds 8.05 for demonstrating. A Nottingham postgraduate did six practicals at Pounds 50 a time last year - Pounds 8.17 an hour.

A demonstrating rate of Pounds 10 an hour has been quoted at Huddersfield although the administration says it is lower. Sheffield's rates this year will be: Pounds 5.35 per hour for studio demonstrating/marking/course preparation; Pounds 8.05 for lab demonstration and fieldwork; Pounds 10.70 for small group tutorials and problem classes; and Pounds 16.05 for large group tutorials.

One worry in relying on teaching as a source of income is that as the number of postgraduate students has gone up the amount of teaching available has gone down. Irvine notes a tendency of departments "to give the impression that there is teaching work available when you're interviewed, but when you get there you'll find there's not enough to go round".

There is also a fear that universities may start claiming money in top-up fees. Last November's threat of a top-up fee of Pounds 30 for every postgraduate student at Lancaster has gone. But Ewan Gillon, general secretary of the NPC says: "We've heard talk elsewhere of postgraduates being charged an annual fee for registering and writing-up fees of about Pounds 50 to cover use of facilities."

Unexpected costs such as these cause the most grief. Using the "last straw" principle, perhaps it will be photocopying costs and interlibrary loans that really lead to bankruptcy. Both are rising. Sheffield's charges have recently gone up from Pounds 3.50 to Pounds 4.20 per volume, while Nottingham charges Pounds 1 a volume for the first 20 and then Pounds 5.50 a volume.