Exciting News

When I was applying to Aberystwyth University, some people were astonished that I would pay to get my PhD, when so many schools will offer assistantships and grants to pay for someone to attend school. In America, I would agree, which was a large reason I turned down an acceptance to the University of Washington that came without any funding. The price tag there was roughly $50,000 for tuition and living expenses. Some of that, of course, would be offset by the job I might get. Still the school suggested that going to the University and living in Seattle would have cost close to $50,000 a year. With the possibility of a six-year program, I was looking at roughly $300,000 dollars in debt when I finished. This is a staggering number, and one that would have made many future plans null and void (like owning a new car or any sort of house).

The British schooling system, until recently, has been free. About five years ago or so, with the economy dipping, the University system was forced to strap a price tag onto the value of an education. Per year, British students pay between £3000 and £3460, depending on when they were accepted (the price is locked for the duration of one's stay). The current tuition is £3460 which is, as of today, about $5,318. From where I am, this is a surprisingly cheap price tag for what is almost certainly necessary for a meaningful job in America. My British friends are outraged that they have to pay at all.

And that price, £3460, is the British citizen's price, or if you come from a European Union country. Most of the European countries are part, save oddly, Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland; several of the newer Balkan countries, like Serbia, Montenegro, and Albania and a good chunk of the former Soviet states are either excluded or have chosen not to join. I'm told that the biggest concern here is often financial, and with the Soviet countries, there is a lot of concern about kowtowing to the West by joining the EU. Belarus, for example, is called a Republic, but is run like a communist country, with a state owned economy; Alexander Lushanko has been described by the rest of Europe as being a bit of a dictator. Not a likely candidate to join the No Dictatorship/No Communist Club (recently, they have been more interested in joining up with Russia anyways, another non-EU country; also, clicking the above link will take you to the English version of the Internet available to Belarussians). Turkey, Croatia and (here is a mouth-full) The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are candidate countries, and will soon have access to the impressively powerful Euro currency (which, if given trends, will soon over take the Great Britain Pound; as of today, the rate was 1 pound = 1.14 euro).

Non-EU tuition to Aberystwyth is a paltry £8870 pounds (roughly, as of today, $13,634). Because my time here will be three, maybe four years at most, I will be paying significantly less than an unfunded American school. In fact, the total for a three year course here is ten thousand less than a year at Washington ($40,902 to $50,000). With the option of two unfunded schools, it made more financial sense to pack up, leave the country and relocate to the Welsh countryside.

Then, yesterday, I got the exciting news to which this blog refers: I won the Aberystwyth International Postgraduate Research Studentship Competition, which covers the difference between the non-EU tuition, and the UK/EU tuition, a savings of £5410 pounds a year or about $8,314. And, happily, if I continue to progress academically, I will get this award to cover the three years I am here, saving £16,230 or about $24,942 (almost half the price tag for a year at University of Washington).

To qualify for the competition, the University had to submit your proposal to the University, and the University selected up to six to grant this award. Originally, I was told that the fund was canceled due to money issues, so I resigned myself to paying the higher price tag. Yesterday, I received a letter that said, "Recent developments with this year's (2009-2010) AIPRS awards have resulted in changes that have only just been confirmed. I am pleased to inform you that you have been successfully in securing one of our AIPRS awards this year. This award will cover the difference between the Home (UK/EU) tuition fees and the relevant Overseas (non-EU) tuition fees and is tenable for the first year, subject to satisfactory academic progress. This fee difference is for the current session from January 2010 to July 2010 and hence the value of your AIPRS award for the coming year will be £3,094." If I am reading this correctly, the award was retrospectively awarded, and saves me money this year as well.

According to the letter, "The standard of this year's AIPRS competition was particularly high. To have been nominated by the Department of English and Creative Writing is a reflection of the esteem in which they hold your academic ability and potential for research. I must congratulate you on this achievement." Having been canceled, I assumed my chances at this were past. I feel, and this might be some pompous jackassery speaking here, that my proposal must have made a mark on some people, for them to give me money halfway through my first term here, rather than just bank the money for next year's award.

At any rate, I am pretty excited about this, and promptly added it as a line on my visa. I take this as a bit of validation. I get a lot of strange looks when I tell people that I am writing about comic books, even stranger looks when people find out I am writing about comic books for my PhD. I more often than not get this question: "You can do that?" What this award says to me is that, yes, in fact, one can do that, and one can get money that others are not allowed, if one does it well. I feel slightly bad that some of the students I took my writing class with, who are looking to actually better the world, don't get this money. But, then again, I think I will still sleep pretty comfortably.