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I received an offer of admission from one of the Australian Universities in Perth. My supervisor recommended my application for tuition fee waive off scholarship and university has accepted that. I have to manage my cost of living and travel expenditure. I am not sure that I will be able to manage my cost of living and travel expenses by doing part-time work. So I will be highly obliged if you can provide necessary information so that I can take a decision. Thanks...

Allure
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Tanmay
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2 Answers2

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It is next to impossible.

I cannot say about Perth, but in Sydney you need at least 15,000 AUD per year to cover your living expenses, assuming you share a room. The minimal salary in Australia is roughly 30,000 AUD per year, and as a low-skilled worker you cannot get a salary much higher than this. This means you will have to work at least a half of your time. Then it is unclear how you will be able to focus on your PhD project and become a good scientist.

In Perth, it is likely to be even worse. Perth is more expensive than the other Australian big cities, although salaries may be higher there as well.

Getting a job in Australia is not easy. I've read that according to unemployment statistics, those people who get unemployment benefits spend about half a year on average to find a new job. If you are a foreigner, and if your language skills are far from ideal, you are at a considerable disadvantage in the job market.

On top of that, there may be restrictions on the number of hours you are allowed to work as a student.

However, if your aim is not to become a scientist, but to migrate to Australia, and if you are prepared to face three years of very hard life, it might work for you, but you've got to know what you are doing. If you live in Australia for three years as a PhD student, you may be able to find a legal way to remain in Australia after your PhD program (e.g., by getting a job). Your Australian PhD degree will be a plus. Remember, however, that you cannot become an Australian permanent resident and later get Australian citizenship simply by legally staying in Australia for a certain number of years. I know people who lived in Australia for almost a decade on temporary working visas and were unable to get the status of permanent resident. The common ways of getting that status are to marry a permanent resident or get a long-term working contract whose end date is more that 3 years after the starting date. You have to be a really valuable worker to find an employer who agrees to sign such a long contract with you.

If you want to pursue an academic career, my advice is to find any place in the world where you can get a PhD stipend that will allow you to fully focus on science. If you have a good academic record, this should not be a problem. Many professors have funds on their grants and need good PhD students.

Sandra
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    Thank you so much for your valuable advice. If this is the case, then I may need to drop the idea. But my supervisor was telling me that I may get teaching assistant-ship which can help me to bear my living expenses. But as you have narrated the fact that part-time work or teaching assistant-ship may affect my PhD work and even I am not sure that will I be able to get at least AUD 20000 in a year or not? thanks – Tanmay Aug 17 '19 at 04:01
  • @Tanmay If your goal is to get into academia, TA work during your PhD would be very helpful because it’d let you refine your teaching skills at the same time as you’re refining your skills as a researcher through your PhD, and teaching and research are the two primary skills of an academic. – nick012000 Aug 17 '19 at 06:25
  • @Tanmay You should do the math. Ask the supervisor how certain it is that you will get a teacher assistant job and how much money it will bring you as well as how many hours per week you can work as a teacher assistant. Do research on the Internet about cost of living in Perth. Perth is the most expensive Australian big city. I've heard that prices are really crazy there. You need to have accurate figures for housing and food costs in Perth. For Sydney, 15,000 AUD per year is the absolute minimum. And you have to be prepared to share an accommodation (a room or a small studio). – Sandra Aug 17 '19 at 07:07
  • @Tanmay If you elect to accept the PhD project offer in Perth, you will have to make savings before coming to Australia. An air ticket to Australia costs ~1,000 AUD (depending on where you live now), and you will also need to cover your hotel costs for the initial period during which you will be looking for a long-term accommodation. And I do not know how easy or difficult it will be for you to find a part-time job in Perth. It depends on your English level and many other factors. You will have to use your savings before you get a job. – Sandra Aug 17 '19 at 07:42
  • @Tanmay It is quite possible to successfully complete a PhD project while working half-time. The problem, however, will be that you won't have many publications and won't have learned many things that you can learn by full-time research job. It is only when your mind is fully occupied by science that you can become a great scientist. If your mind is occupied by your part-time job and counting every dollar, your research work will be rather "mechanistic," i.e., you will do only the minimum required to complete your PhD project. You simply won't develop skills that make a great scientist – Sandra Aug 17 '19 at 07:48
  • Thank you so much for guidance and providing valuable information. Basically, I am an academician and last eight years, I have been working as a lecturer and I have few publications too. I thought that if I pursue my PhD from good foreign university then it will boost my teaching and research career. That is why; I applied for PhD and got this offer. As school is waiving off my tuition fee, so I have to manage my cost of living, insurance and flight expenses. But I am not sure that teaching assistant-ship or part time work will help me to bear all expenses or not. – Tanmay Aug 17 '19 at 09:12
  • @Tanmay Concerning working as a teacher assistant, you have to ask your supervisor about details. I do not know the situation in your prospective university in Perth. I do not know whether your job as a teacher assistant is guaranteed and how much you will be paid for that job. It may well be that you come only to discover that all teacher assistant positions are already occupied. I also do not know how easy or difficult it is for a foreigner to find a part-time job like cleaner, seller, construction worker, etc. I do not know what restrictions will be there on your student visa. – Sandra Aug 17 '19 at 09:45
  • @Sandra As I have to resign from my current post, so after reaching Australia, my only support will teaching assistant-ship or part-time job. that is why; I was seeking for your valuable advice. few of my students are there in Perth. They were saying that around AUD14000-16000 is required for cost of living in one year and I am not sure that will I be able to earn that or not. My supervisor told me that as long as I will not be in Perth, he can't say about the number of hours of TA. My students are doing part time job like cleaner. But pursuing PhD is totally different from purisuing Master. – Tanmay Aug 17 '19 at 09:50
  • @Tanmay As you already have a few years of experience, you can easily complete your PhD in Perth while working half-time as a cleaner to cover your living expenses. The legally minimum salary in Australia is a bit higher than 30,000 AUD per year, and you almost do not pay taxes from that amount. If 15,000 AUD per year is enough for Perth, and if you find a half-time job, then you will definitely survive. The only issue is to actually find a job and whether your student visa will allow you to work half-time. – Sandra Aug 17 '19 at 09:57
  • @Tanmay You should ask your students how easy or difficult it was for them to find part-time jobs. And you should check whether there won't be any legal obstacles in getting a half-time job on your student visa. There might be two kinds of obstacles: (1) the Australian immigration law (i.e., your student visa may simply not allow you to work more than a certain amount of hours per week; it depends on the exact type of the visa), (2) the internal requirements of your university. You have to find out these details in advance. – Sandra Aug 17 '19 at 10:02
  • @Tanmay Also note that for foreigners, Australian doctors are extremely expensive. You will have an insurance, but its purpose is to cover things like surgeries. A visit to a GP will cost you about 60 AUD, and a visit to a specialized doctor (e.g. endocrinologist) will cost you about 200 AUD. I do not think that your insurance will cover such things, although it might partially compensate the costs. It depends on the insurance. I strongly recommend getting all dental work done in your home country before flying to Australia. . – Sandra Aug 17 '19 at 10:16
  • @Sandra I asked my students and they told me that master degree students can work maximum 20 hours in a week and unlimited hours during break. But for PhD students, I found over the internet that there is no limit on number of working hours. I am not sure about internal requirement from the university. Regarding part-time jobs, yes competition is high even for cleaning job also. Initially my students also faced difficulty to get part-time job. but now, it is fine for them. – Tanmay Aug 17 '19 at 10:24
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It would be impossible...

I’ve lived in Aus as an international student and submitted my PhD 4 weeks ago with a stipend, a top-up scholarship and a fee waiver. Even with that, it was a struggle at the best of times.

The cost of living is extremely high i.e. rent, food etc.

They have strict regulations regarding your work hours during study time which would make living here a struggle.

If you had a stipend, I would say “go for it and don’t look back” and also work part-time to get by. Otherwise, I would say approach with caution.

Rumplestillskin
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  • Thanks for sharing your experience. As per my offer letter, school will cover my tuition fee. I have to take care rest of the things such as health insurance, living expenses and travelling cost. My supervisor was telling that I may get teaching assistant-ship which can help to bear my living expenses. But as per your suggestion, it seems that it would be a really challenging job if I don't get full-scholarship which will include everything. Actually getting a response from a PhD supervisor is really difficult. That is why; I was thinking about the offer. thanks – Tanmay Aug 17 '19 at 04:13
  • I may be wrong but I thought it was compulsory for the university to provide overseas health cover for international students as a bare minimum? Again, the details escape me so I can’t be certain. Good luck. – Rumplestillskin Aug 17 '19 at 04:15
  • Actually on my supervisor recommendation, school has waived off my 4 years PhD tuition fees. But as I didn't get Australian post graduate research award, so I didn't get full scholarship which will include stipend, top-up, fee-waiver and health insurance. That is the reason, I posted the question that by doing teaching assistant-ship, part-time limited hours work, can I manage my cost of living in Perth or not? Thanks for your response... – Tanmay Aug 17 '19 at 05:10
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    To be frank, I don’t think it is possible to manage without a stipend. – Rumplestillskin Aug 17 '19 at 08:11