Three MA students give their views on the postgraduate experience

Matthew Crowley

Matthew Crowley, 29, is a primary school teaching assistant in Hackney by day and studies for a master's in modern and contemporary literature by night. Birkbeck College, University of London, specialises in full- and part-time evening study at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. Students support themselves with a day job while studying, while a lucky few manage to get bursaries that cover part of their course fees.

Combining study with employment is a difficult juggling act even if you work part-time like Crowley, who, a few months ago, became a father. "I work 30 hours a week at Lauriston primary school helping special needs pupils to read," he says, "and I attend lectures or seminars one night a week in addition to a lot of reading for my class preparation and essays. "

Half of Crowley's course fees are paid for by a £1,500-a-year, means-tested bursary from international law firm Denton Wilde Sapte. The grant was set up with Birkbeck and is currently offered to 12 students.

After his master's, Crowley hopes to move into teaching, doing either a PhD and teaching at undergraduate level, or a postgraduate certificate in education.

Birkbeck development manager Kate Glennie says that their "limited research council funding" goes mainly to doctoral students, "so we put a lot of emphasis on fundraising for postgraduate bursaries and scholarships. This can be individual donations from former students or by establishing programmes with prominent local businesses such as Denton Wilde Sapte and Man Group." Birkbeck's alumni office has around £1m to distribute in bursaries and is one of only a few universities to have this kind of scheme in place.

Fiona Stow

Mature postgraduate students are mainly self-financing. Studying for her master's in cities and culture (London studies), former secretary Fiona Stow, 56, works part-time for the Rothschild Archive in the City. She says: "I'd just taken early retirement and was offered the job in the archive at more or less the same time I started my MA. My pension covers my small mortgage and my work covers my course fees and living expenses. It was a wonderful coincidence. I'd recently finished a history degree with the Open University and the opportunity to take it to the next level was not to be missed."

Stow has the added advantage that her work in the archive has provided the inspiration for her dissertation. "I came across some household receipts for a Rothschild house in Mayfair, and intend to examine those in conjunction with contemporary topographical sources of the shops and commercial outlets that existed at the time."

Jay Amin

Jay Amin, 26, is studying for an MA in 3D computer animation at Bournemouth University. He chose Bournemouth because of its close links to the industry and the fact that it is home to the National Centre for Computer Animation. The MA is the realisation of a long-cherished ambition: "I had begun a degree in fine art at Portsmouth University which I never completed. I got married and my wife gave birth to twins, so I had to find a job to support my family."

In the intervening years and by now head of catering at a local restaurant, Amin honed his artistic skills and created a showreel which persuaded the course tutors at Bournemouth to accept him on the MA. His employer is part-funding his degree in recognition of his loyal service.

"It's a very full-on course," he says. "The degree is a good combination of technology and artistry."

Amin's ultimate goal is to work as a 3D animator with Pixar or Dreamworks, both of which are based in California. The aims are realistic as every week Bournemouth postgrads are given master classes by practising animators. He says: "I would uproot the whole family, if it meant following my dream." His wife and kids welcome the idea. "When I create my cartoons, I'm testing them out on my five-year-old daughters," he says. "They laugh their heads off: they're my biggest fans!"